STEP SHOW: THE MUSICAL | December 9, 2023
Maxine Lyle

Co-Presented with MASS MoCA

Initially developed at MASS MoCA in 2021, Maxine Lyle’s new work STEP SHOW: THE MUSICAL is a two-act theatrical production, currently in progress, that showcases African American step dance and its role in Black college life. Infusing body percussion with hip-hop, R&B, and soul, this intergenerational coming-of-age story takes a riveting ride through the world of step dance and its imprint on Black culture. The characters usher the audience into the atmosphere of a traditional step show, inviting them to join in raucous verbal and rhythmic call and responses and tune their ears to heavy, bass-driven beats. STEP SHOW considers the stakes for self and community when the transference of a powerful oral and physical lineage is lost or interrupted in Black bodies and Black spaces. See this new work while still in development this fall.

This performance took place July 29, 2023.

The outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage celebrated the artistry of Katherine Dunham, and the anniversary of The School at Jacob’s Pillow’s 2002 Dunham Legacy program. This program featured works by alumni from the program: Paloma McGregor Founding Artistic Director of Angela’s Pulse; Michelle Grant-Murray Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Theatre; and Stephanie McKee, Executive Artistic Director of Junebug Productions.

The School at Jacob’s Pillow: Tap Dance Performance Ensemble

Saturday, August 16 at 5:30pm | Henry J. Leir Stage 
World Premiere | Live Music

Performances by The School at Jacob’s Pillow Performance Ensembles showcase the work of the next generation of dance artists. This performance is the culmination of a three-week Tap Dance Program, featuring original repertoire by leading choreographers who serve as Artist Faculty: Program Directors Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia.

Dancers of The School at Jacob’s Pillow are apprentices, trainees, pre-professionals, and early-career professionals from around the world. The School’s professional advancement programs are held onsite during the Festival to nurture the artistic voices and growth of the dancers.

This performance took place August 16, 2023.

Âs Nupumukômun (We Still Dance) is a theatrical composition created in close collaboration between Danza Orgánica and members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe. Adhering to Indigenous storytelling, dance, song, and installation, Âs Nupumukômun explores what it means to be Native today by highlighting traditional and contemporary stories of the Aquinnah Wampanoag People. This collaboration, which started in Winter 2018, was made possible through a partnership between the Aquinnah Cultural Center, The Yard, and Danza Orgánica.

About Danza Orgánica
Founded in 2007 by Taíno Afroboricua artist Mar Parrilla, Danza Orgánica is a Boston-based dance theater company whose work is centered around equity, social justice, and decolonization. With dancers from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Spain, Danza Orgánica brings forth a multiplicity of experiences with the common themes of migration, decolonization, and the embodiment of a liberated future. The company’s programming includes performance, education (Dance for Social Justice™), and the annual We Create Festival. Members of Danza Orgánica “honor our right to express our BIPOC experience, joyfully reimagine ourselves in liberated BIPOC bodies, and leave a legacy that sheds light upon an untold side of history.” This year, Danza Orgánica celebrates its 16th anniversary, and 10 years of the We Create Festival.

This performance took place August 3, 2023.

This wide-ranging collective of empowering female dancers lit up the Henry J. Leir Stage for one night only, as part of our “Hip Hop Across the Pillow” week-long mini-festival celebrating 50 years of hip hop. The members of Nefer gather to build meaningful relationships and sisterhood through connection and collaboration, creating a passionate shared platform to empower and celebrate women and girls of color within dance, music, art, and fashion. “Nefer,” which means “beautiful on the inside and out” in ancient Kemet (Egypt), marks the group’s commitment to sharing histories and opening up opportunities for expression.

This performance took place August 2, 2023.

In this evening of dance with live music, tap dancer and choreographer Brinae Ali put her “invigorating, inspirational, progressive” imaginings into a performance alongside her band members. A tap dancer and a vocalist, Ali led the audience on a journey through the rich sound textures of jazz and tap culture. Born and raised in Flint, Mich., she is an interdisciplinary artist who believes in using the power of the arts to transform the conditions of the human spirit. Among her many roles as an educator and grassroots organizer, Ali has worked as the artistic director of Tapology, Inc., a youth based outreach program in Flint that believes in preserving the art of tap and jazz culture through education and performance. 

Among her many roles as an educator and grassroots organizer, Ali is currently touring a show in collaboration with trumpeter Sean Jones called Dizzy Spellz while scaffolding a new work in progress supported by NEFA National Dance Projects and Johns Hopkins University Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts called the Baby Laurence Legacy Project, which is an archival/performative process to create an integrated work of jazz tap dance and jazz music that investigates and celebrates the artistic and social influences that “Baby Laurence” Donald Jackson had on the culture of Tap Dance and Jazz Music.

This performance took place July 27, 2023.

Almanac Dance Circus Theatre is an award-winning contemporary circus company dedicated to original, genre-defying works. Based in Philadelphia, Almanac’s multidisciplinary ensemble comes from a range of backgrounds including theater, dance, circus, gymnastics, education, event production, and advocacy. The result is a company that combines the storytelling of theater, the movement of dance, and the acrobatics of circus to create brand-new, virtuosic works of art. Since its founding, Almanac has premiered 11 full-length shows, touring across the United States and internationally in Mexico and the United Kingdom. At Jacob’s Pillow, the company performed Communitas, a work in which human sculptures and acrobatic encounters animate the tale of the founding of a civilization. An original musical score by award-winning composer Jordan McCree intensifies the relationship between performers at the edge of their abilities and an audience witnessing genuine risk.

This performance took place July 26, 2023.

This physically inclusive company, based in Taiwan’s rural south, performs works that explore the human condition and the possibilities of an inclusive world. With fresh and inventive kinetic explorations of space, time, action, and gesture, Resident Island Dance Theatre’s emotionally charged and socially engaged works disrupt limitations and challenge society’s expectations. Founded and directed by maverick choreographer Chung-An Chang, Resident Island Dance Theatre is one of the few professional theaters outside of Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei, to tour abroad, collaborating internationally with contemporary dance makers and integrating dancers of differing abilities into its company. At Jacob’s Pillow the company will perform Ice Age, a physically integrated quartet co-choreographed by Chang with French dance maker Maylis Arrabit.

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.