Community Residency: Urban Bush Women

Jacob’s Pillow invites the community to join members of the groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company Urban Bush Women for a multi-day residency in Pittsfield. Urban Bush Women will also perform at Jacob’s Pillow from July 1-5 as part of Festival 2026.

Thursday, June 11 from 6:30-8pm
Common Room at Zion Lutheran Church
Open to all ages and experience levels

This movement jam/dance class embraces the ideas that each individual has a unique and powerful contribution to make, and that our bodies are a powerful source of agency. The goal is for "every body" to find their level of challenge and comfort and partake according to their abilities, and to appreciate the groups’ diversity as an attribute to their community. This is a movement class designed for the community so no prior dance experience is needed. Participants explore UBW's technique with close attention to the use of breath, weight, call and response and polyrhythm.

Saturday, June 13 from 10-11:30am
Berkshire Pulse
Open to all experience levels, ages 14+

Participants will engage in a pre-professional movement study rooted in UBW methodologies. Class begins with a warm-up that prepares the participants for full-out dancing in the UBW technique with close attention to the use of breath, weight, embodied call and response, and polyrhythm. The second half of the class focuses on our movement practice and may include improvisation, phrases from UBW repertory, vocal work, and movement creation and phrase generation by participants. We embrace the idea that each individual has a unique and powerful contribution to make. Class invites dancers of all backgrounds to investigate personal rigor, comfort, and creativity.

Sunday, June 14 from 1-2:30pm
Common Room at Zion Lutheran Church
Open to all ages and experience levels

This participatory workshop focuses on self-care, rejuvenation, and (re-) constructing healthful images of ourselves and our communities. As we move, share stories, and discuss holistic practices from food choices to daily stress relief, Urban Bush Women BOLD Facilitators offer simple tools for reinhabiting our bodies and reinforcing holism from the inside out. We also bring out and affirm the wisdom that is already in the group, fostering resource exchange and building community. The goal is to bring ourselves to balance, thereby bringing our families and communities to balance as well. No dance or fitness experience is necessary...just a body and a willingness to exhale!