Jacob's Pillow celebrates the close of Festival 2014 with the Festival Finale Event
Company:
Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
JACOB’S PILLOW HOSTS FESTIVAL FINALE CELEBRATION AUGUST 23
What: Jacob’s Pillow Dance celebrates the close of its 82nd season with a Festival Finale event on Saturday, August 23. Tickets include a performance by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) in the Ted Shawn Theatre or LeeSaar The Company in the Doris Duke Theatre, and a giant after-party with two full cash bars, desserts provided by local restaurants and bakeries, photo booth fun, and an unforgettable dance party.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, one of the premier contemporary ballet companies in the United States, will present Jorma Elo’s vigorous Over Glow, set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn; the dramatic Beautiful Mistake by Spanish-born, Munich-based choreographer Cayetano Soto; and Nicolo Fonte’s exuberant The Heart(s)pace with music by Ezio Bosso. LeeSaar The Company will perform the captivating Grass and Jackals, a sensual, inventive, and visually stunning evening-length spectacle of dance and light.
The Finale performances will be followed by a multi-venue party on the Pillow grounds. An expansive dessert spread in The Pillow Café will feature treats from local Berkshire vendors. The “Chocolate Barre” will include a selection of chocolates from Chocolate Springs Café, and the “Coffee Barre” offers locally roasted coffee by No. Six Depot Coffee & Roastery. Additional desserts will be provided by Berkshire favorites such as Haven Café & Bakery, The Dream Away Lodge, and Becket Bakehouse. Festivities continue in Blake’s Barn, the home of The Archives at the Pillow, where guests will enjoy a photo booth set with props while enjoying the Gotta Dance! exhibit that features vintage movie musical posters. Guests are invited to pose for photos while listening to tunes inspired by the exhibit’s movie musical theme.
DJ BFG (Berkshire county-based Gabriel Squailia) will be spinning live and taking requests in the Bakalar Studio, combining old-school hits with new beats in his signature approach of seamless genre-hopping dance music. The venue for this year’s Festival Finale dance party is the studio in which Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers first held rehearsals and performances at the Pillow in the 1930s. Today, Bakalar Studio serves as a rehearsal space for companies performing at the Pillow, and will be open to Festival Finale guests for this special occasion.
Prior to the Festival Finale activities, Saturday also brings the summer’s final PillowTalk and Inside/Out performance. At 4pm, film historian Robert Osborne, the host of Turner Classic Movies, makes a special appearance in conjunction with the current exhibit, Gotta Dance!, to discuss the golden age of Hollywood movie musicals. To conclude this season’s Inside/Out performance series, METdance, a contemporary jazz company based in Houston, Texas, takes to the Henry J. Leir stage at 6:15pm.
When: Saturday, August 23; 8:00pm for ASFB, 8:15pm for LeeSaar The Company
Finale after-party continues until 12:30am.
Where: Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA
Tickets: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) Tickets: $150, $100, $75
LeeSaar The Company Tickets: $75, $50
A limited number of $45 Under 35 tickets are available for this event, over the phone or in person only. 413.243.0745 (2 per person, ages 18-35)
*Proceeds benefit the Pillow’s community programs.
Tickets are now on sale online at jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, or in person at the Jacob’s Pillow Box Office.
About: Jacob’s Pillow, celebrating its 82nd Festival in 2014, is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest running international dance festival. Each Festival includes more than 50 national and international dance companies and 350 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, and events. The School at Jacob’s Pillow, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S., encompasses the diverse disciplines of Ballet, Cultural Traditions, Contemporary, and Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance, as well as an Intern Program in various disciplines of arts administration, design, video, and production. The Pillow’s extensive Archives, open year-round to the public, chronicle more than 80 years of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and videos. Year-round Community Programs enrich the lives of children and adults through public classes, residencies in area schools, and an extensive schedule of free public events. Through Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, a nationally-recognized program, artist-educators work with Berkshire County teachers and students grades K-12, transforming curricula such as biology, literature, and history into kinesthetic and creative learning experiences. Creative Development Residencies, in which dance companies are invited to live and work at the Pillow and enjoy unlimited studio time; choreography commissions; and the annual $25,000 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award all support visionary dance artists and choreographers. Virtual Pillow is aimed at expanding global audiences for dance and offers the opportunity to experience dance and Jacob's Pillow from anywhere in the world via online interactive exhibits, global video networks, and social media. As part of the Virtual Pillow initiative, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive is a curated online video collection of dance highlights from 1936 to today. On March 2, 2011, President Obama honored Jacob’s Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the highest arts award given by the United States Government, making the Pillow the first dance presenting organization to receive this prestigious award. For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.
