Liz Lerman

This performance took place August 10–13, 2022. Scroll for more information.

Witches, trials, and exhibitions fly around in Liz Lerman’s new acclaimed evening-length dance-theater piece, Wicked Bodies. Liz and the unusual cast of performers have been exploring how our bodies become sources of evil and power – from fairy tales to government policies. Why is some knowledge celebrated, some criminalized, and some erased altogether? And who gets to document, describe, and save the remnants? In the presence of magic both old and new, and a surprising collection of witches, audiences will make their way through a restless story and a smashing of worlds. The multidisciplinary piece is designed specifically for a unique setting at Jacob’s Pillow.

Aided by an award-winning design team and developed in part at the Pillow Lab, Lerman creates a world of old crones, shape-shifters, familiars, and imps leading us into a post-extinction tale. Lerman is a MacArthur Fellow and a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient whose work is rooted in intense research, described as having “expansive range, emotional depth and singular beauty” (The Washington Post).

ACCESSIBILITY: This performance took place at a single site with chairs under a tent. This performance is wheelchair accessible. The performance site is a short distance from the Jacob’s Pillow Box Office. Golf carts are available to assist audience members to and from the site.

Explore Liz Lerman

Watch the Post-Show Talk

This Post-Show Talk features choreographer Liz Lerman and performers Ruby Morales and Will Bond, moderated by Scholar-in-Residence Jennifer Edwards. This talk took place in the Festival Tent on August 11, 2022.

Read the Program and PillowNotes

In the Press

“The stories related in “Wicked Bodies” are personal in nature. They are about identity, the experience of being an outsider, persecution, healing, love, family—the way we acquire beliefs about ourselves and the natural world.” Read more in Fjord.

Dive into Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive

This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more on Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive.

WATCH LIZ LERMAN ON JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE INTERACTIVE:

• Nine Short Dances about the Defense Budget and Other Military Matters from 1986
• Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Hallelujah: In Praise of Fertile Fields from 2000

LISTEN TO LIZ LERMAN ON PILLOWVOICES PODCAST:

• The Body as a Radical Canvas: Liz Lerman