This performance took place July 12, 2023.

A leading contemporary dance company in the global arts and social justice movement, Ananya Dance Theatre is composed of cultural activists and BIPOC women, womxn, and femme artists who believe in the transformative power of dance. Their artistic work unfolds through Yorchhā™, a unique movement aesthetic of contemporary dance that draws on traditional Odissi, the martial art Chhau, and Vinyāsa Yoga, and a social justice choreographic methodology, to celebrate a transnational feminist practice. In dancing stories where the lives and dreams of typically marginalized communities occupy the center, they build understanding about arts and social justice and empower artistic voices. At Jacob’s Pillow, the company performed the work Nün Gherāo: Surrounded by Salt, a historical and political work developed in a Pillow Lab residency about the 1978-79 massacre on the Marichjhapi Island in West Bengal, India. The work encompasses the spirit of unwavering resistance, tremendous love, and promise of transformation, together.

Watch Ananya Dance Theatre on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive:

• Nūn Gherāo (surrounded by salt) from 2022

This performance took place July 8, 2023.

A dance collective of fierce young performers from different dance backgrounds, MasterZ at Work ignites the stage with jazz, hip-hop, street jazz, house, African, vogue, and contemporary dance. Led by Black trans femme choreographer Courtney Washington Balenciaga—a legend in the ballroom community—the company creates dances that represent resilience, and which foster community in under-resourced areas of Brooklyn.

This performance took place July 7, 2023.

Tommie-Waheed Evans merges urban street dance and contemporary dance through movement propelled by gospel music and polyrhythmic sounds. He established waheedworks in Philadelphia in 2006 with a mission to create a radically collaborative body of work that speaks to human life through movement. At the Pillow, Evans and his company presented Bodies as Site of Faith and Protest, a work that explored the idea of bodies uniting in protest, moving alongside and within Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “We Shall Overcome.” This performance directly followed a free onsite PillowTalk, presented with Great Barrington’s Du Bois Freedom Center and the Du Bois Forum, titled “Legacies of the Black Berkshires: An Evening with David Levering Lewis.”

This performance took place July 6, 2023.

Latin dance rounded out week two of the Festival as Boston salsa troupe Querencia Dance Company performed on the outdoor stage, with high-energy dances by performance teams as well as a duet by company leaders Michelle Garcia and Julian De Las Nieves. The performance included audience engagement and a mini social dance at the end of the performance, where audience members were invited to salsa dance together.

This performance took place July 5, 2023.

Internationally acclaimed, award-winning ice skaters bring Berkshire audiences a rare opportunity to enjoy ice skating in the summer, performing on ice skates atop a special flooring. With a professional company of figure skaters and choreographers including World, Olympic and National champions, Ice Dance International showcases skating as a performing art for communities across the United States. Founded in 2014 and based in Maine, the organization has built its local, national, and global image through live and virtual performances, including the company’s recent 18 city U.S. tour of GRACE; the creation of two hour-long public television specials that aired nationally on PBS; and its educational and engagement programs.

Watch Ice Dance International on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive:

• In Flight from 2014

The presentation of Ice Dance International was funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

This performance took place June 30, 2023.

SOLE Defined is the Washington, D.C. metro area’s leading arts organization specializing in percussive dance, using the body as an instrument creating sonic and kinetic embodied storytelling. Advancing styles such as Tap, Body Percussion, Sand Dance, and Vocal Percussion, this BIPOC-led company infuses powerful skills to delight and inspire audiences. Founded in 2011, the company produces immersive performance experience promoting an understanding and appreciation for African-American percussive dance forms rooted in the African Diaspora.

This performance took place June 29, 2023.

Te Ao Mana expands the presence of Indigenous Polynesian culture worldwide through creative projects, dance classes, workshops, and community gathering and sharing. The dance company began in New York City among a group of friends with a passion for the cultural arts of the Polynesian Islands. Led by directors Anthony Aiu and Kaina Quenga—lifelong practitioners of Hula and Ori Tahiti—the intergenerational group shares an appreciation of Mana, “the heart of Polynesia and the very genesis of everything in existence,” and to identify more deeply with nature and each other, “living in a place of constant creation and discovery of oneself and one’s connection to the natural world.”

This performance took place June 28, 2023.

A New York City-based contemporary dance company founded in 2014, Kyle Marshall Choreography sees the dancing body as a container of history, an igniter of social reform, and a site of celebration. Expressing “a choreographic voice like no one else’s” (The New York Times), Kyle Marshall Choreography believes in the creation, sharing, and teaching of dance as a way to deepen our knowledge of who we are as individuals, how we develop relationships, and ultimately societies. At Jacob’s Pillow, the company performed the work Onyx, a work that dug into the origins of Rock and Roll, revealing the Black and Brown people whose sounds, performances and personalities created this revolutionary genre.

Dance Party with Martha Graham Artists
Saturday, August 19, 2023

Following the Saturday evening performance, our celebration of Martha Graham Dance Company’s return to the Pillow extended to a special themed dance party with company dancers. We danced the night away in our chicest club outfits with DJ Devoye’s pulsating beats & dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company teaching us some moves!

DJ Devoye is a multifaceted DJ, producer, and musician. Revolving around a unified house and techno music groove, he often weaves in many genres of dance music from around the world.

This performance took place August 9-13, 2023.

Making their Jacob’s Pillow debut this summer, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) is a 38-year-old jazz company from Calgary, Canada, dedicated to the rich traditions and boundless future of jazz dance. DJD is a crowd-pleasing favorite with a style that has been described as ‘music for the eyes.’ They are known for exceptional musicality and a rhythmic, percussive aesthetic, and will perform with live music.

DJD dances in the spirit of jazz, recognizing themselves as guests in a form born out of Black American culture and the African American experience. Championing jazz in a time when not many dance companies are, the company was also featured in the documentary Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance. The full company comes to the Pillow this summer accompanied by the six-piece Rubim de Toledo Ensemble with vocalist Karimah.

All performances by Decidedly Jazz Danceworks were preceded by a free 15-minute Pre-Show Talk led by Pillow Scholars-in-Residence, held in Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before showtime.