BODYTRAFFIC

Festival Week 2 | Wednesday, July 2 – Sunday, July 6 | Ted Shawn Theatre
First Appearance Since 2022

With a compelling style that reflects the “invention, attitude, and urban edge” (Boston Globe) of its Los Angeles home, BODYTRAFFIC returns to the Pillow with a program that dives into the power of memory sparked by unexpected reminders. Whether it’s a painting, song, or sensation, the associations we make with the world around us forge lasting connections that provoke deep feelings of nostalgia.

For Festival 2025, BODYTRAFFIC will perform a program featuring:

• Blue Until June, set to the songs of Etta James by their new Creative Partner Trey McIntyre
• Flyland, created by David Middendorp and produced by Another Kind of Blue
• Juel D. Lane’s Incense Burning on a Saturday Morning: The Maestro, honoring the life and work of painter Ernie Barnes
• I Forgot the Start, created by Matthew Neenan, “one of America’s best dance poets” (The New York Times)

This will be the company’s Ted Shawn Theatre debut, having previously performed on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage in 2022, and in the original Doris Duke Theatre in 2013 and 2015.

Founded in 2007, BODYTRAFFIC tours the country and the globe spreading the joy and positive spirit of their home city. Dance Magazine named the company one of “25 to Watch” in 2013, and this past year, Forbes magazine wrote that BODYTRAFFIC’s “incredible” work in the decade since has “made the case for how Los Angeles is becoming a home for great dancers.”

“invention, attitude, and urban edge”

Major underwriting support for the presentation of BODYTRAFFIC at Jacob’s Pillow is provided by Gerry and Hank Alpert.

Huang Yi

Festival Week 9 | Wednesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 24 | Doris Duke Theatre
Pillow Debut

Named by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to Watch” in 2011, Taiwanese dancer, choreographer, and inventor Huang Yi creates partnership between humans and robots. Huang will appear for his first-ever engagement at Jacob’s Pillow to present Ink, in which he and audio-visual pioneer Ryoichi Kurokawa dismantle and reconstruct the lines from a hundred artworks in renowned calligrapher Tong Yang-Tze’s Silent Music series.

Exploring textures of movement, sound, visual art, and space, Huang and his dancers perform alongside stunning holographic projection and two industrial robots. Mixing movement with mechanical and multimedia elements to create dance that corresponds with the flow of data, Ink makes each performer, whether human or machine, a dancing instrument.

Ink was co-commissioned by the National Taichung Theater and National Theater, Taipei in Taiwan and had its world premiere in June 2023.

The presentation of Huang Yi is made possible in part with support from the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan and the Taipei Cultural Center of New York.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Festival Week 9 | Wednesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 24 | Ted Shawn Theatre
First Appearance by Full Company Since 1963

An unrivaled force since 1958, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the most acclaimed dance companies in the world. With a repertory that boasts close to 300 works by more than 100 choreographers, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed in more than 70 countries on six continents, and has been designated by the United States Congress as a “vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World.”

This summer at Jacob’s Pillow, for the first time in 62 years, the full company of extraordinary dancers will bring to life audience favorites and thrilling new works by choreographers for whom Alvin Ailey paved the way, reminding us that dance is both a reflection of our past and a guide to our future.

Alvin Ailey began his close association with the Pillow in 1954 as a performer, choreographer, and acting director of the Lester Horton Dance Theatre, and he first brought his company here in 1959. He adapted Revelations from its original form for Pillow performances in 1961, and this landmark work—which has been internationally celebrated ever since—will be part of the company’s mixed program this summer, along with Amy Hall Garner’s CENTURY (2023) and Lar Lubovitch’s Many Angels (2024). Additionally, the company will perform Cry (1971)—the signature work that Alvin Ailey created for Judith Jamison—on opening night only, Wednesday August 20.

In addition, programming on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage during this week will feature works by artists connected to the lineage illuminated in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s recent Edges of Ailey, the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate Ailey’s enduring legacy. Artists include Yusha-Marie Sorzano in her Pillow debut, a presentation of Sacred Songs by Matthew Rushing and Ailey Extension dancers, and the Pillow debut of HopeBoykinDance. Events on the outdoor stage are ticketed separately.

Forged during a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was established to uplift the African American experience while transcending boundaries of race, faith, and nationality with its universal humanity. With dancers of all backgrounds, an extraordinary library of works, and wide-ranging collaborations with choreographers, it was truly the first modern dance company of its kind.

“A vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World.”

The presentation of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Jacob’s Pillow is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and made possible in part with support from the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation.

Major underwriting support is provided by Denise Sobel, with additional support from Nancy and Michael Feller.

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Watch Portrait of Ailey, a unique documentary in eight chapters about the life and work of Alvin Ailey.

This film series charts the course of Mr. Ailey’s life, from his early childhood influences to his professional collaborations with composers, designers, and generations of dancers. Combining rare archival performance footage with interviews and historical images, Portrait of Ailey is a beautiful way to learn more about Mr. Ailey and his artistic accomplishments.

Learn More & Watch the Series

Elle Sofe Company

Festival Week 5 | Wednesday, July 23 – Sunday, July 27 | Doris Duke Theatre
U.S. Debut | U.S. Premiere | Live Music

Hailing from Norway, Elle Sofe Company make their U.S. debut with Vástádus eana – the answer is land, a “powerful” (Vancouver Sun) and critically-acclaimed performance that combines dance with yoik, a traditional singing style of the Sámi people who are Indigenous to the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

Supported by polyphonic music and costumes inspired by traditional clothing, the piece is inspired by political demonstrations, Sámi spiritual practices, and formation dance. Vástádus eana – the answer is land explores community and kinship between people, nature, and the earth. The yoik, composed specifically for the performance, serves as a musical pillar throughout a performance that reflects on the power of standing together and the awareness of the earth we all stand on and share.

Company founder Elle Sofe Sara is a featured artist at the Arctic Arts Festival in Harstad and a winner of the 2019 Moon Jury Award at the Imagine Native Film Festival. Now coming to the U.S. for the first time, Vástádus eana – the answer is land has toured internationally, and received the 2021/2022 Norwegian Critics Award for Dance.

The presentation of Elle Sofe Company is made possible in part with support from the Norwegian Consulate General in New York and the American-Scandinavian Foundation.

This program is supported in part by the Neil Chrisman Fund for International Dance.

Sekou McMiller & Friends

Festival Week 6 | Wednesday, July 30 – Sunday, August 3 | Ted Shawn Theatre
World Premiere | Live Music

With a musical flair and explosive energy, dancer and choreographer Sekou McMiller is at the forefront of Afro Latin Dance performance and education. His unique fusion style, rooted in Afro-Caribbean traditions and laced with a range of dance techniques from the African diaspora, brought Jacob’s Pillow audiences to their feet dancing last summer as Sekou McMiller & Friends performed on the outdoor stage.

For Festival 2025, in his Ted Shawn Theatre debut, McMiller will present the world premiere of Urban Love Suite, the latest incarnation of his dance and music project Afro Latin Jazz and Soul Experience. A joy-filled rhythmical journey through African American, Afro Latino/a/e and West African music and dance traditions, Urban Love Suite celebrates the cultural love affair between Black and Brown peoples, through encounters in cityscapes including Harlem, the Bronx, Dakar, São Paulo, Los Angeles, and Chicago. This world premiere is supported by the Joan B. Hunter New Work Commission and is co-commissioned by Lincoln Center.

McMiller’s diverse career as a dancer, choreographer, and educator has garnered him broad recognition worldwide. His choreographic work has been featured at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dance Chicago, The Actors Fund Theater, New York City Center, Ailey CitiGroup Theater, Symphony Space, Edison Ballroom, and the United Nations General Assembly. He has appeared in films including In the Heights, performed off-Broadway, and performed and choreographed for Pitbull and Madonna and for top Latin music artists including Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willie Colón, Tito Rojas, and Tito Nieves. He has also performed at numerous Jacob’s Pillow special events, participated in the Pillow Lab residency series, and served as Choreographer/Director of the Musical Theatre program at The School at Jacob’s Pillow in 2024.

“Innovative, cutting edge, and soulful are just a few words to describe Sekou McMiller.”

Faye Driscoll

Festival Week 8 | Wednesday, August 13 – Sunday, August 17 | Doris Duke Theatre
First Appearance Since 2018

Faye Driscoll is a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award and Doris Duke Award-winning performance maker who has been hailed as a “startlingly original talent” by The New York Times and “a post-millenium postmodern wild woman” by The Village Voice. She returns to the Pillow to present Weathering, first developed in a Pillow Lab residency in 2022.

Weathering is a multi-sensory performance sculpture made of bodies, sounds, scents, liquids, and objects, in which ten people enact a glacially morphing tableau vivant on a mobile raft-like stage surging through the Anthropocene, with the audience embanking the performers. This symphonically active, luminously living work is a breathing, leaking, choreography of micro-events within a momentum thrusting from just beyond the perceivable.

Driscoll received the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in 2018 and has been presented across the U.S. and internationally at Tanz im August, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, La Biennale di Venezia, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Melbourne Festival, Belfast International Arts Festival, Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens, and Centro de Arte Experimental in Buenos Aires.

“An enthralling, epically adventurous work.”
– The New York Times

The Sarasota Ballet

Festival Week 4 | Wednesday, July 16 – Sunday, July 20 | Ted Shawn Theatre
First Appearance Since 2015 | World Premiere

Beloved among ballet fans the world over, The Sarasota Ballet returns to Jacob’s Pillow for the first time in ten years. Pushed to new heights under the leadership of director Iain Webb, assistant director Margaret Barbieri (both formerly of The Royal Ballet), and executive director Joseph Volpe (formerly of the Metropolitan Opera), the company has garnered a reputation for its truly diverse repertoire of works.

This summer, the company returns to the Ted Shawn Theatre with a mixed program including Sir Frederick Ashton’s Dante Sonata (1940) and Birthday Offering (1956), and a world premiere by American choreographer Jessica Lang, the Virginia B. Toulmin & Muriel O’Neil Artist in Residence at Sarasota Ballet, who has presented three previous world premieres at Jacob’s Pillow with her own company, as well as two premieres with other groups.

The Sarasota Ballet is recognized for its unparalleled active repertoire of the choreography of Sir Frederick Ashton, and is known worldwide as the main exponent of his ballets outside of the United Kingdom. The company has presented an expansive range of over 180 ballets by acclaimed choreographers, including George Balanchine, Sir David Bintley, Gemma Bond, Sir Matthew Bourne, Michel Fokine, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Twyla Tharp, Antony Tudor, and Christopher Wheeldon. The company works to infuse their community and beyond with the highest quality and diversity of dance in America. According to The Guardian’s review of the company’s 2024 tribute to Sir Fredrick Ashton at The Royal Opera House: “the whole programme, danced with grace and care, is a history lesson and a delight.”

“The whole programme, danced with grace and care, is a history lesson and a delight.”

Major underwriting support for Jacob’s Pillow’s presentation of the Sarasota Ballet is provided by Charles Huisking and the Huisking Foundation. Additional support for Jacob’s Pillow’s presentation of the Sarasota Ballet is provided by Dan and Carole Burack, and the Marilyn G. Harwell Fungible Fund.

The Center Will Not Hold: A Dorrance Dance Production

This performance occurred on June 25 – Sunday, June 29.

Jacob’s Pillow fan favorites and close collaborators Michelle Dorrance and Ephrat Asherie kicked off Festival 2025 with a lively celebration of street, club, and vernacular dances, born from their many years of creating together. Originally crafted in 2022 as a short duet, The Center Will Not Hold premiered as a 30-minute piece at New York City Center’s 2023 Fall For Dance Festival.​​

Now, in this reimagined evening-length work, Dorrance and Asherie offered an eclectic ensemble of 11 performers, each deeply rooted in regional music and movement—from tap dance and hip hop to breaking, house, Chicago footwork, Detroit jit, litefeet, Memphis jookin’, and body percussion. The Center Will Not Hold featured original music composed by Donovan Dorrance with live percussion by world-class drummer and percussionist John Angeles.

Jacob’s Pillow has long been an artistic home for Michelle Dorrance, a tap performer, choreographer, teacher, and the Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance, which has headlined at the festival nine times, most recently in 2021 and 2023. An artist “with a transcendent strength of spirit” (The Washington Post), Dorrance received the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in 2013 and a MacArthur “Genius” Award in 2015. Ephrat Asherie is a b-girl dancer and choreographer whose works are hailed as “a magnificent celebration of movement and art” (Charleston City Paper). She has performed at Jacob’s Pillow numerous times since 2013, and her company, Ephrat Asherie Dance, developed its break-out work Odeon in the Pillow Lab in 2017 and had its world premiere at Festival 2018. Both based in New York City, Dorrance and Asherie have also served as Program Directors at The School at Jacob’s Pillow.

An artist “with a transcendent strength of spirit”

This production includes the use of haze and strobe lights. 

Fourth Annual Du Bois Forum Roundtable & Celebration at Jacob’s Pillow

Friday, July 18 at 4pm | Pillow Grounds

At this fourth-annual gathering of the Du Bois Forum at Jacob’s Pillow, leading writers and artists will reflect upon the intellectual and artistic traditions that W.E.B. Du Bois shaped and the urgency of this work in our current historical moment. We will honor the inaugural Du Bois awardees, including former Governor and First Lady of Massachusetts Deval and Diane Patrick, Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch, and Executive Director of Embrace Boston Imari Paris Jeffries.

In addition to the awards presentation, ticketed programming will include a roundtable featuring Secretary Lonnie Bunch, Thavolia Glymph, Elizabeth Hinton, Nathan Connolly, and Brandon Terry; a book reception with Du Bois Forum authors; an evening performance by Red Clay Dance Company; musical selections by singer/songwriter Candice Hoyes; and a Du Bois-inspired menu curated by James Beard award-winning chef Bryant Terry, author of Black Food.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

KanKouran West African Dance Company

This performance took place on August 14, 2024.

Pillow Debut | Live Music

The outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage hosted KanKouran West African Dance Company for a special one-night-only performance on August 14. This performance included a “Choose What You Pay” ticketing option, with a suggested ticket price of $25.

A beloved home for West African dance in Washington, D.C., KanKouran came to Jacob’s Pillow after celebrating their 40th anniversary. The company—whose members are from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean—is dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional West African culture.

KanKouran was formed by Artistic Director Assane Konte and former Director of Music, Abdou Kounta, who grew up together in Dakar, Senegal. The company’s wide-ranging appeal and sense of community ownership has made it a creative cornerstone for generations of dancers, students, and musicians who have studied and come out of its ranks over the decades. While KanKouran has performed at venues including the Kennedy Center, National Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and myriad universities, this will be their Jacob’s Pillow debut, celebrating 40-plus years of tradition.