This event took place on August 21, 2021. 

A true original in the performing arts, Streb discusses her concepts of extreme action, which challenge the assumptions of art, aging, injury, gender, and human possibility.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on August 1, 2021.

This craftsman who provided the Ted Shawn Theatre’s immense beams was a local hero, a pioneering Black businessman connected with W.E.B. DuBois. Local historian Bernard Drew will be in conversation with Director of Preservation Norton Owen, and members of Davis’s family will be in attendance.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on July 11, 2021.

This impressive Cuban-American artist talks about her success in boldly traversing the worlds of social dance, political activism, community organizing, and art making.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on July 25, 2021.

Ted Shawn’s instructions to architect Joseph Franz provide the title for an exhibition and this discussion of Pillow performance spaces, past and present.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on July 18, 2021.

Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge joins new Pillow associate curators Melanie George and Ali Rosa-Salas in discussing how Festival 2021 came into being and the role of dance in a changing world.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on July 4, 2021.

Remembered today as the “accidental anarchists of downtown dance,” this seminal 1970s performance group is chronicled in a new book by Wendy Perron, who will participate in a book signing after the talk.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on August 8, 2021.

Revered as the oldest continuously operating professional dance company in Dallas, this versatile ensemble is making its long-awaited Pillow debut.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on August 15, 2021.

As a foremost tradition-bearer of Black American social dance, LaTasha Barnes places jazz dance in the context of House, Hip-Hop, Waacking, and Lindy Hop.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

This event took place on August 29, 2021.

Mirroring the current performance program, this discussion includes Pacific Northwest Ballet’s artistic director, Peter Boal, Houston Ballet’s Harper Watters, and Boston Ballet’s Lia Cirio, with Scholar-in-Residence Theresa Ruth Howard.

PillowTalks are a curated series of entertaining and informative discussions with choreographers, writers, filmmakers, and cultural experts. Moderated by Pillow Scholars, PillowTalks provide an opportunity to gain behind-the-scenes insight into the field of dance. Hour-long PillowTalks take place on-site on Sundays at 3:30pm at Blake’s Barn (next to the Box Office), and are free and open to the public with advance registration. Recordings of online PillowTalks will be shared throughout the summer, premiering Fridays at 4pm.

The 2021 PillowTalk Series features conversations with Festival Artists like Ana Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of CONTRA-TIEMPO, choreographer and founder of STREB Action Company, Elizabeth Streb; and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron. For the first time, the PillowTalk Series will feature two exclusively online talks: one with MacArthur Fellows Saidiya Hartman and Okwui Okpokwasili; and another with South African artist William Kentridge.

PillowTalk: Black Creatives: Revolution, Representation, and Responsibility | Friday, August 28, 2020 at 5pm

Theresa Ruth Howard addresses both past practices and the changes afoot in this country’s established institutions, with panelists Kyle Abraham, Donald Byrd, and John Perpener.

A Pillow Scholar-in-Residence and former dancer, Theresa Ruth Howard is founder and curator of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet. Read the August 8, 2020 New York Times profile of Howard here:

• She’s Been a Force for Change in Ballet. The World Is Catching Up. (article by Siobhan Burke)

This event runs for approximately 45 minutes.

This event is produced in collaboration with

Nel Shelby, Producer | Loren R. Robertson, Assistant Producer/Editor
Cherylynn Tsushima, Project Manager | Vincent Vigilante, Videographer
Benjamin Richards, Videographer/Editor/Graphic Animation
Ashli Bickford, Videographer/Editor | Amber Schmiesing, Editor
Jacob Marks, Recordist | Kathryn Brodie, Intern