In 2017 Jacob’s Pillow celebrated its 85th Anniversary Season and the launch of an important milestone, Vision ’22, marked by Director Pamela Tatge’s first programmed season.
Festival 2017 boasted over 500 free and ticketed performances, events, classes, Pillow Pop-Up performances, and new initiatives culminating in more than 111,000 festival experiences, the highest number ever accounted for!
Get a glance of our exclusive behind the scenes footage from our celebratory 85th Anniversary Season, videos by Nel Shelby Productions.
Cameras & Dancers
Organized by Jacob Jonas The Company, #CamerasandDancers is a collaboration between photographers and dance artists that harnesses the power of social media. The meet-ups inspire new artistic collaborations, build community, and increase visibility of the dance art form.
For a second time, #CamerasandDancers brought their collaboration to the Jacob’s Pillow grounds. Company members of Miami City Ballet, Pilobolus, and Jonah Bokaer Choreography are featured in this collaboration. Photographers include Christopher Duggan, Oveck, Nisian, Jacob Jonas, Jill Wilson, Eliana Velez, Jose Tutes, Jacob Santiago, and 2017 Pillow Photography Intern Brooke Trisolini.
Witness the collaboration!
TIRELESS: A Tap Dance Experience
For the first time ever, astonishing tap artists from our backyard and beyond came together in a program curated and introduced by the “tireless ambassador of tap” Michelle Dorrance (The New York Times). TIRELESS exhibits the endless talent, depth, and perseverance of the international tap community.
A Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow, Dorrance introduced this Pillow-exclusive engagement featuring tap dancer and bassist couple Reona and Takashi Seo of Japan in AUN; Chicago-based choreographer and performer Jumaane Taylor and his ensemble work Supreme Love; Joe Orrach of San Francisco in his solo performance entitled In My Corner; and tap-dancing siblings Joseph and Josette Wiggan of Los Angeles.
Go behind the scenes with the cast and crew of TIRELESS at Jacob’s Pillow!
Ballet Hispánico
Ballet Hispánico brought a wide-ranging program to the Pillow for our 85th Season. Ballet Hispánico returned for their first performance at the Festival since 2009, presenting choreography by Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro, Spanish dancer and choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, and a Pillow commission by Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.
Take a look from behind the wings!
Trisha Brown: In Plain Site
The Trisha Brown Dance Company continues Brown’s legacy with its Trisha Brown: In Plain Site initiative. Through this effort, the company draws on Brown’s model for reinvigorating her choreography at new sites and in new contexts. In a co-presentation by Jacob’s Pillow and The Clark Art Institute, the company presented Trisha Brown: In Plain Site on The Clark grounds in Williamstown, MA.
Go behind the scenes with the company, Jacob’s Pillow’s production team, and The Clark staff as they explore the beautiful spaces and vistas. Plus see exclusive footage of the performance!
Dance Heginbotham
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient John Heginbotham and acclaimed illustrator and author Maira Kalman joined forces in the world premiere of The Principles of Uncertainty. The work was Co-commissioned by the Pillow and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and developed during multiple Pillow Residencies.
The Principles of Uncertainty is an evening-length dance theatre work choreographed and directed by Heginbotham, designed by Kalman and inspired by her written and visual art, and set to a score composed, arranged, and curated by Brooklyn Rider and Silk Road Ensemble’s Colin Jacobsen. Members of The Knights, Jacobsen’s innovative chamber orchestra, performed live, and Maira Kalman herself is also featured in the performance.
Dive into their Residency!
Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive
Browse our online resource to experience more dance through video and thematic essays.
