Jacob’s Pillow schedule August 2014
Article by Dave Read.
During August 2014 at Jacob’s Pillow Pacific Northwest Ballet, David Rousseve/REALITY, Companhia Urbana de Danca, doug elkins choreography, etc., Chet Walker, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, LeeSaar The Company, will perform in the Ted Shawn and Doris Duke Theatres. Jacob’s Pillow Contact info. and links
Pacific Northwest Ballet – August 6-10 – Ted Shawn Theatre
Under the direction of former New York City Ballet principal Peter Boal, one of America’s top ballet companies makes a rare East Coast appearance. The company’s program includes British choreographer David Dawson’s exuberant A Million Kisses to My Skin and Nacho Duato’s Rassemblement, inspired by and danced to the music of Haitian singer Toto Bissainthe. The remarkable Twyla Tharp’s Scottish-inspired Brief Fling, originally created for American Ballet Theatre in 1990, openly contrasts the ballet vocabulary…with her own spiraling, slouching modern-dance idiom (Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times).
David Rousseve/REALITY – August 6-10 – Doris Duke Theatre
Victoria Looseleaf of The Los Angeles Times calls choreographer David Roussève’s latest contemporary dance-theatre work Stardust, a transcendent coming of age tale. In this 80-minute work, the exceptional performers of David Roussève/REALITY explore the world of a young, gay, African-American man through arresting choreography; video projections including unanswered texts; original music by composer d. Sabela grimes; and classic songs interpreted by Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Johnny Mathis. Poignant, riveting, and challenging, Stardust depicts a moving portrait of the struggle for love and acceptance.
Companhia Urbana de Danca – August 13-16 – Ted Shawn Theatre
Choreographer and Artistic Director Sonia Destri Lie is recognized for combining hip-hop with dramatic, creative contemporary choreography. Her company, founded in Brazil in 2004, features dancers from the suburbs and favelas of Rio de Janeiro, who have developed a range of movement vocabulary that incorporates hip-hop, urban, contemporary, and Brazilian social dance. Following their Pillow debut in 2013, Companhia Urbana de Dança brings an all-new program of contemporary hip-hop dances. With recreated works like Na Pista and Suite Funk, the virtuosic dancers of Urbana burn up the floor with joy and athleticism.
doug elkins choreography, etc. – August 13-17 – Doris Duke Theatre
Roslyn Sulcas of The New York Times calls Doug Elkins one of the most musical, witty and inventive choreographers of his generation. Following two sold-out Festival runs of Doug Elkins and Friends’ Fräulein Maria, a beloved re-imagining of the classic film The Sound of Music, the witty choreographer returns with new works. Mo(or)town/Redux explores Shakespearean themes of power, love, jealousy, and betrayal to a Motown-inspired soundtrack. Hapless Bizarre offers a cheeky mash-up of physical comedy, dance, and romance, performed by a merry band of dancers and one vaudevillian clown. The delightfully eclectic score includes music by the Swedish electronic jazz duo Koop, remixes and samples of 1950’s dating etiquette videos and more.
A Jazz Happening – August 17 – Ted Shawn Theatre
This benefit for The School at Jacob’s Pillow is a one-night-only event featuring the 22 international students of Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance Program. Directed by Broadway’s Chet Walker, A Jazz Happening features original choreography by faculty of The School and live music by an onstage jazz band. For Walker’s involvement with the current Broadway revival of Pippin, he received both the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography. Walker has served as the Director of the Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance Program at the Pillow for 15 years. Proceeds benefit The School at Jacob’s Pillow.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet – August 20-24 – Ted Shawn Theatre
Under the direction of Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet made its Pillow debut in 2003 and has since returned in three subsequent seasons. For the final week of the Festival, the company delivers three stylish contemporary ballets by international dancemakers. Spanish-born, Munich-based choreographer Cayetano Soto’s dramatic Beautiful Mistake was commissioned by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and premiered in 2013. Square None by rising young choreographer and Juilliard School graduate, Norbert De La Cruz III, mixes electronica music with arias by George Frideric Handel. Finland’s Jorma Elo, who is now resident choreographer for Boston Ballet, offers his vigorous Over Glow, with music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn, to close the season.
LeeSaar The Company – August 20-24 – Doris Duke Theatre
Actress, director, and writer Lee Sher and dancer/choreographer Saar Harari founded their dance company in Israel in 2000. In 2004, they relocated to New York City where they have been intriguing critics and audiences and receiving numerous prestigious awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship. The LeeSaar dancers hail from Taiwan, Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Canada and Israel and are expertly trained in Gaga technique, a dance style pioneered by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. This season LeeSaar performs Grass and Jackals, a sensual, inventive, and visually stunning spectacle of dance and light. With arresting, eccentric choreography and immersive lighting by Bueno Avi-Yona (Bambi), the acclaimed designer perhaps best known for his work with Batsheva Dance Company, Grass and Jackals pushes physical and emotional boundaries for both performers and audiences.