Debuting in November 2023, Jacob’s Pillow On Demand features an exclusive documentary looking back at the Pillow’s celebration of 50 years of hip hop and the curatorial process behind it. During Hip Hop Across the Pillow, Jacob’s Pillow celebrated the dynamic culture and art movement catalyzed in the Bronx in August 1973—with a “festival within the Festival.” This week of campus-wide excitement included performances on the Ted Shawn and Henry J. Leir Stages, an All Styles Dance Battle, and a PillowTalk celebrating the many culture-bearers of the form. Featuring performances by Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theatre, d. Sabela grimes and the Ladies of Hip-Hop, Rokafella & Kwikstep, and others, step into curators Melanie George and Ali Rosa-Salas’ vision of a week dedicated to the culture-bearing movement at Festival 2023. Learn more about this special week at the Pillow and the genre below with Inside the Pillow Lab films, hip hop videos from Pillow history, and a Pillow Pick blog post.
Keep scrolling to learn more about the program.
DIVE DEEPER
Want to see more hip hop at the Pillow? Explore Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive to see performances from the genre throughout our history.
INSIDE THE PILLOW LAB WITH ROKAFELLA AND KWIKSTEP
Get an inside look at Rokafella and Kwikstep’s process in creating a duet, performed as a part of Hip Hop Across the Pillow, celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip hop during their Pillow Lab residency with this installment of our Inside the Pillow Lab film series.
INSIDE THE PILLOW LAB WITH LADIES OF HIP HOP
Get an inside look at Ladies of Hip Hop as they aim to tell their stories with a photography project using movement, interviews, and photographs to document the importance, power, and presence of Black women in hip-hop in this installment from our 2021 Inside the Pillow Lab film series. This work premiered during Festival 2022, and Ladies of Hip Hop also returned a year later to perform as a part of Hip Hop Across the Pillow.
FROM STREETS TO STAGES: CELEBRATING HIP HOP’S 50 YEAR LEGACY
Read more about the 2023 “Festival within a Festival” on our Blog.
LISTEN TO OUR LATEST PILLOWVOICES EPISODE
This Pillow Pick was written by Bonnie Spann and published on November 6, 2023.