Artists of the Berkshires
At outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage: Aug 16
Event Dates
About
Artists of the Berkshires
August 16, 2024
6pm | Henry J. Leir Stage
The outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage hosts Berkshire Regional Artists for a special one-day-only performance on August 16, as part of Jacob’s Pillow’s annual Community Day. Community Day programs are free and no tickets are required. Artists this year include Eventual Dance Company, SHINE, and a Zumba performance with Luana Dias David & students.
Community Day
From 3pm to 6pm
Everyone is invited to this free, kid-friendly, all-ages Friday afternoon, featuring performances, movement classes, dance-themed children’s activities, face painting, a drum circle with Aimee Gelinas, crafts with TG’s Clubhouse, Drag story time, popcorn, and more.
Support for Community Day at Jacob’s Pillow is provided in part by Highland Street Foundation.
About the 6pm Artists
Directed by Caitlin Canty, Eventual Dance Company makes dances for the stage and screen. Using elements of theater, circus, and film, EDC dances mine a private human emotional experience in an attempt to breakdown an illusion of loneliness and posit imaginative possibilities that make noise and glitter. Their work has been presented across Massachusetts, including Cambridge Community Television, The Foundry in Cambridge, MA, The Salem Arts Festival, The Somerville Theater, and The School for Contemporary Dance and Thought in Northampton, MA.
SHINE is a vocational dance troupe based out of Berkshire Hills Music Academy in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Berkshire Hills Music Academy is a secondary school that focuses on a music and arts infused curriculum for young adults with disabilities. The SHINE program began under the direction of Mary Ann Holmes in 2018 as a meaningful vocational opportunity for dancers with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program provides a non-traditional and innovative work setting which highlights each member’s true capacity for creative expression. SHINE dancers channel their passion for dance into group and solo performances for audiences of all ages. In addition to performing, the group uniquely engages audience members to move and dance with them through a series of developmental patterns connecting body and mind in the BrainDance. In the visibility of performance, SHINE dancers open audiences to new ways of appreciating difference and diversity through dispelling stigmas of limitation. The group consists of seven dynamic members that perform throughout the year at venues across New England. SHINE is under the direction of Mary Ann Holmes and Liz O’Brien.
Luana Dias David’s role as a Latin Dance Teacher and as a Multicultural Dance Instructor throughout the Berkshires has been distinguished by her ability to develop unique routines tailored to individual student abilities, fostering supportive learning environments. For Community Day, Luana and her Zumba students will present a high energy performance fusing Latin-Urban, Reggaeton and Merengue Urbano. In her capacity as a Zumba Jammer Trainer for Europe, Luana has been instrumental in staff development, mentoring and coaching instructor candidates. Her efforts have significantly enhanced staff development and created effective training initiatives. Luana has graced national television screens, with performances on RAi UNO in Italy in 2019 and Rossiya 1 in Russia in 2007/2008. She has also been a featured presenter at the Zumba® Instructor Convention in Orlando, Florida, the most prestigious event for Zumba members worldwide. Additionally, Luana’s expertise extends to personal training, having earned certifications from FIES (Italian Federation of Physical Education and Sports) and AICS (Italian Association Culture of Sports) in Italy.
