This performance took place on August 27, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Founded by internationally recognized performer and choreographer Yue Yin, YYDC came to Jacob’s Pillow with two recent works. The first is Ember, commissioned by Asia Society Museum, New York, this piece features fluid yet dynamic unison while exploring individuality and the possibilities that interdependence offers in a diverse society. The program was followed by another ensemble work Ripple, an intimate and intricate work representing the spectrum between order and chaos, which premiered in 2021 at the 92nd Street NY Harkness Mainstage Series in New York City. Yue showcased her signature movement language called FoCo Technique™ in this double bill presentation, which draws from Chinese classical and folk dance, ballet as well as contemporary dance vocabulary.

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This performance took place on August 26, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Kayla Hamilton is a Black Disabled choreographer, producer, and educator originally from Texarkana, Texas, who now resides in the Bronx. For her Pillow debut, Hamilton brought her newest work, Nearly Sighted/unearthing the dark, which explores how we gather information from artistic experiences without relying on eyesight, and challenges the audience’s imagination by providing multiple ways in which to “see” the movement. Hamilton is a member of the 2017 Bessie Award-winning collective “the skeleton architecture, or the future of our worlds.” Her work has been presented at Gibney, Performance Space New York, and New York Live Arts.

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In the Press

“Not all of Hamilton’s work takes place in the dark, of course, but the use of audio description (AD) and American Sign Language (ASL) are integral to her process and product. That’s evident in her new piece, “Nearly Sighted/unearthing the dark,” which the Bronx-based artist brings to Jacob’s Pillow on Friday for one performance only.” Read more in the Times Union.

Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

This event took place on August 25, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Under the co-artistic direction of Jessie Jeanne Stinnett and award-winning, Dutch-Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, Boston Dance Theater (BDT) is committed to presenting works of socio-political relevance that challenge the edges of current world issues. BDT matches the talents of Boston-based dancers with those of acclaimed global choreographers in a tour de force of performative dynamism, community connection, and trans-national ambassadorship. The stunning dancers of Boston Dance Theater performed works by Rosie Herrera, Itzik Galili, and Marco Goecke, celebrating the range of vocabularies this company is known for.

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Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

This performance took place on August 24, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Performed by the all-female intergenerational Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective (LOHHDC), the Black Dancing Bodies Project is an ongoing journey through layers of identity and existence for Black women in street dance and the world at large. Exploring the elegance and power of women in hip hop, LOHHDC builds on the shapeshifting paths laid out by generations of Black women artists and activists on and off the stage. Commissioned by Works & Process, this project received a 2021 bubble residency and 2022 LaunchPAD residency and premiered at the Guggenheim this past March.

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Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

Watch Ladies of Hip Hop Dance Collective Inside the Pillow Lab:

• Inside the Pillow Lab: Ladies of Hip-Hop

This event took place on August 19, 2022. Scroll for more information.

The Northeast United States is an incubator for some of the country’s most globally influential street and social dance styles. This high-energy program featured leading culture bearers from the New York City, Baltimore, and Washington DC dance worlds, particularly from the Lite Feet, Flex, Baltimore Club, and Go-Go communities. This presentation featured an exciting lineup of performers from across these regions making their Pillow debut, including Breakfast Club (New York City), Bmore Than Dance (Baltimore), and Beat Ya Feet (Washington DC). D.R.E.A.M. Ring (New York City) will return to the Pillow after making their debut in FLEXN in 2016. Dancers in this presentation competed in a Freestyle Dance Battle on August 20.

Check out our Red Bull feature about East Coast Styles: Street and Social Dance.

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In the Press

“Hosted by Princess Lockerooo and judged by Maria Torres, Buddha Stretch and Michele Byrd-McPhee, the Freestyle Dance Battle demonstrated how competition is central to street dance culture and has allowed dancers to push their limits, explore opportunities, build community and escape through their performance.” Read more in Red Bull. 

Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive

This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

This performance took place on August 18, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Opening act by Estrellitas de Sorto

HUSTLE—the Latin Hustle—is a child of the 70’s disco era from NYC. Named after its fast-paced stepping style, this dance is a part of the American cultural legacy and continues to capture the interest of people across the globe and age gap. A groundbreaking movement genre that brought together queer and straight communities through touch and rhythm, Hustle is a form of partner dance where the roles of leader and follower are not gender specific, and can be perceived as a joint celebratory outburst of energy.

Abdiel, Alessandra Marconi, and Joana Matos joined efforts to bring the Hustle to the Pillow. Audiences experienced the roots and influences of the Hustle as we know it today, and explored some of its cultural elements from the dancer’s perspective to the beat of a live DJ set.

Hustle at the Pillow is part of a consortium of partners led by Works & Process at the Guggenheim that together will support the premiere of Do the Hustle.

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Estrellitas de Sorto is a nationally recognized Latin dance program that originated at Promise Academy within Washington DC’s beloved KIPP school system. Led by Edwin Sorto, this program connects children to Latinx culture, with an emphasis on its African roots. Through dance, Estrellitas broaden their experience of the world while building social and emotional skills. Estrellitas de Sorto have been featured dancers at the Chicago International Salsa Congress, the Capital Salsa Congress, BailaCura in North Carolina, and DCBX in Washington DC.

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Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

This performance took place on August 17, 2022. Scroll for more information.

La Mezcla is a polyrhythmic, multidisciplinary San Francisco-based dance and music ensemble rooted in Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous traditions and social justice. Founded in 2014 by Dance/USA Artist Fellow Vanessa Sanchez, the grassroots group brings together Tap, Son Jarocho, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms to share the often unseen histories and experiences of communities of color on stages, streets, and fields. In their Jacob’s Pillow debut, the company performed selections from Pachuquísmo, a multi-disciplinary, rhythmic performance with a live band that unveiled a forgotten history of Mexican-American female youth, and explored the struggles that communities of color continue to face today, through a blend of tap dance, Mexican zapateado, Son Jarocho music, and jazz.

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Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive 

This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

This performance took place on August 5, 2022. Scroll for more information.

The three members of Soles of Duende are bonded by a deep love of music, craft, and connection. Formed in East Harlem, the multicultural, all-female percussive trio is on a lifelong mission to elevate the joy and music of true collaboration across disciplines. The group celebrates connections across different styles of dance and music-making, based primarily in the sounds of Tap (Amanda Castro), Flamenco (Arielle Rosales), and Kathak (Brinda Guha). They performed at Jacob’s Pillow for the first time this summer.

Also making their Pillow debut, Freedom Dabka Group is a professional brotherhood dedicated to preserving and celebrating Palestinian culture. Established in 2012 among six family members, Freedom Dabka Group has become a cultural icon of the New York and New Jersey Middle Eastern community, bringing a modern interpretation to Dabka folk dances and to Zaffa music and songs by performing in celebratory and cultural events across the United States and Canada.

Please Note: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Freedom Dabka Group was unable to take part in the live performance.

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In the Press

“Can We Dance Here? is remarkable for how it brings their styles into unforced, candid conversation. This fluency — which extends to the musicians, who breezily complement the women’s footwork on violin, trumpet, piano and percussion — seems to spring from their relationships as people, as friends.” Read the full review in the New York Times.

Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

Watch Freedom Dabka Group:

• Coming Home film trailer, featuring Freedom Dabka Group

This performance took place on  August 3, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Les Ballet Afrik’s mission is to represent dance styles from Africa and the United States, with an emphasis on West African, Afrobeat, House, and Vogue. Company founder Omari Wiles—the founding father of the House of Oricci and a legend within the ballroom community—has previously danced with Ephrat Asherie Dance Company, and participated in Pillow Lab residencies prior to founding Les Ballet Afrik. Les Ballet Afrik has been supported by Works & Process at the Guggenheim with a series of bubble and LaunchPAD residencies spanning 2019-2022, and performed in the museum’s famous rotunda.

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Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

Watch Les Ballet Afrik:

• New York Is Burning by Omari Wiles, from Works & Process at Lincoln Center

 

This event took place on July 15, 2022. Please scroll for more information and resources.

Passion Fruit Dance Company is a New York-based street dance theater company with socially engaged art projects. Founded by Tatiana Desardouin, the group incorporates hip-hop, house dance, and other street dance styles. Passion Fruit performed Trapped, which focuses on the stories of a mosaic of six women, ready to reveal their pain and their path to joy. With the intention of healing, the dancers used street and club dance styles to invite us to unfold, release, and clear mental blocks.

This piece was commissioned by and developed during Works & Process bubble residencies made possible by the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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The New York City duo Baye & Asa will perform John 4:20, a 9-minute duet that interrogates the dancers’ shared history and explores their identities as New Yorkers, jews, Black youth, and male dancers. The personal dynamics of their relationships (Baye and Asa met at age six) address the larger political landscape of their upbringing. John 4:20 captures their relationship as brothers working through these ideas as artists, struggling to show the reality of violence while communicating a necessity for empathy.

EXPLORE PASSION FRUIT DANCE COMPANY / BAYE AND ASA

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Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive
This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.