Becket — Dancers from around the world will take part in the 93rd season of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, from late June to late August.
This year, performers will include the Prehistoric Body Theater from Indonesia, African dance from Omari Wiles and his mother Marie Basse-Wiles, the Trinity Irish Dance Company, the Calpulli Mexican Dance Company, a collective of singular performers led by Ephrat Asherie and Michelle Dorrance, and many more dance troupes.
Pamela Tatge, who has served as the organization’s executive director since 2016, said that this season will be historic with the reopening of the Doris Duke Theater after it was destroyed in a fire back in November 2020.
In November 2022, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awarded Jacob’s Pillow a $10 million grant that went towards the $30 million to build the new theater. The project received further financial support from The Knight Foundation, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, the Barr Foundation, Sarah Arison and the Arison Arts Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund.
“It has been five years of not having a third theater for Jacob’s Pillow,” Tatge told The Berkshire Edge. “This year, we will open it and it will be reimagined. It’s a testament to our community and to the dedication of so many people that we’ve been able to do this and look forward to this hopeful, transformational moment for Jacob’s Pillow.”
The theater will officially reopen with an event on July 9, which will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and an inaugural program featuring:
- Shawn Stevens and Friends of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans;
- A movement score by Annie-B Parson performed by Bebe Miller, Susan Marshall, Brian Brooks, Eiko Otake, Irene Rodríguez, David Thomson, Liz Lerman, David Dorfman, Dianne McIntyre, Dormeshia, Doug Elkins, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar;
- The American premiere of an excerpt from “OTMO Live” by the Alexander Whitley Dance Company from the United Kingdom;
- An excerpt from the film “Superradiance” by Memo Akten and Katie Peyton Hofstadter;
- A performance by body percussionist and Guggenheim Fellow Ryan Johnson, artistic director of SOLE Defined; and
- A dance party featuring musician JD Samson.
“After the fire happened, we had a desire not just to rebuild but also to build a vision,” Tatge said. “We wanted to build a theater based on the needs that artists and audiences will have in the future. We also wanted to build a theater that is respectful to this astonishing land that we dance upon.”
The theater is designed by Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo, led by architect Francine Houben, with technical theater consultant Charcolblue and artist Jeffrey Gibson.
“We wanted to build a theater that’s deeply grounded in the earth, but connected to the ether,” Tatge said. “Over time, it will be one of the most important technologically equipped theaters for dance in this country.”
Tatge said the original Doris Duke Theater was primarily a studio and performance space. “It didn’t have a lot of modern amenities,” she said. “It was not handicapped accessible, and it did not have a lobby or an exhibition space. It didn’t have adequate dressing rooms for artists to work, or even storage. And it didn’t even have the technical capabilities to accommodate technology—it had to get retrofitted for it. Now, with the new theater, we are set up with a top-notch spatial sound system and the ability to handle whatever technology we need, depending on the work we are presenting.”
According to the organization’s website, the new theater will seat between 220 to 400 audience members and is 20,000 square feet in size, a substantial expansion over the original theater’s 8,500 square feet. The new theater will also house a rehearsal space, an exhibition space, and two lobbies with sliding doors.
Of the many performers this season, Tatge the Trinity Irish Dance Company will be a “big treat.” The Irish-American dance company will have performances from July 10 to July 13. It is the 35th anniversary season for the company, and the July appearance will be their first time performing at Jacob’s Pillow. “This is the first time in our history that we will give a traditional Irish dance company a full evening in the Ted Shawn theater,” she said. “Not only do they do traditional Irish dance, but they also have contemporary influences.”
Another highlight for the season is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returning to Jacob’s Pillow for the first time in 62 years, performing during the final week of the season from August 20 to August 24. “It’s a big dance company, and you need resources to be able to bring them, and the timing needs to be right,” she said. “They had a window, and we were able to pull it off this summer.”
Tatge said that celebrating multiple cultures has always been important to Jacob’s Pillow. “Our founder, Ted Shawn, really believed that the world should be a place where all cultures are welcome,” she said. “Jacob’s Pillow had the first performance by an African artist on a concert stage: Asadata Dafora from Sierra Leone. Ted Shawn brought artists from Korea to perform at the time of the Korean War to humanize and educate on what Korean culture is. There are many examples of that being a value at Jacob’s Pillow, and we have continued that value, really, with a desire to amplify voices that have been underrepresented and should be celebrated. And I think what’s wonderful is that we have an audience that’s excited to welcome the new and discover new forms and genres alongside traditional performances.”
For more information about Jacob’s Pillow, visit its website.
