Jacob's Pillow Announces 2018-19 Season Of Pillow Lab Artist Residences

Jacob's Pillow announces the second season of residencies offered through the Pillow Lab, a year-round incubator of new work that encompasses a robust series of customized artist residencies. Built from the Jacob's Pillow mission as an integral component of Vision '22-the organization's five-year strategic plan which drives the Pillow's transition into a year-round institution-the Pillow Lab strengthens the artistic core of Jacob's Pillow by increasing resources that nurture the process of choreography and proactively investing in the development of new work.

The 2018-19 Pillow Lab season includes 12 residencies, bringing artists from around the United States and one international company to the Pillow's site in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts from September through May. New this year, several artists supplement time at the Pillow Lab by engaging with local community members to explore ideas for their work.

Jacob's Pillow Director Pamela Tatge says, "In just a year since launching the Pillow Lab, Jacob's Pillow has been able to better serve artists and audiences alike. We're excited to host a second season of artists residencies in the immersive, generative, and inspirational environment that only Jacob's Pillow can provide."

The Pillow Lab launched in September 2017 and reimagined a residency program that has existed in various forms since the Pillow's inception in the early 1930s. Built from a field-wide scan which interviewed a diverse group of 36 choreographers living and working in the United States and examined existing choreographic residency programs at peer institutions, the Pillow Lab fits into the overall national dance ecology with a distinctive mission, vision, values, and approach. The customizable residencies offered through the Pillow Lab are designed to give artists the time, space, and tools to propel the development of new work. Artists receive unrestricted use of the Pillow's state-of-the-art year-round facilities, which include the new $5.5 million, 7,373-square-foot Perles Family Studio, praised as a "study in cutting-edge design" by Architectural Digest, as well as the Doris Duke Theatre, a convertible black-box theater space with full production capabilities.

Key residency elements include free housing, a stipend, professionally filmed video documentation, access to the Pillow's extensive Archives, and the opportunity to fund an essential "outside eye." Artists benefit from the retreat-like atmosphere that the Pillow's remote location in the Berkshires provides. Choreographers selected to have a residency through the Pillow Lab are chosen through a closed selection process. All residencies culminate with an informal work-in-progress showing as part of the In Process Series. Showings are limited to an intimate, invited audience of Jacob's Pillow Members and College Partners and provide valuable feedback through a structured question and answer session.

In its inaugural 2017-18 season, the Pillow Lab benefited 12 artists including Malpaso Dance Company, Bebe Miller Company, Morgan Thorson, Caleb Teicher & Company, Circa Contemporary Circus, and Zoe Scofield. Notably, four world premieres presented as part of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival 2018 were products of the Pillow's residency program, including Ephrat Asherie Dance's hip-hop hybrid Odeon; Michelle Dorrance's most recent work All Good Things Come to an End; Ronald K. Brown's collaboration with GRAMMY Award-winning Arturo O'Farrill New Conversations; and Netta Yerushalmy's critically-acclaimed Paramodernities. Other works went on to have world premieres at New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival and The Music Center in Los Angeles, among others.

2018-19 Pillow Lab Residency Season

Artist dates and descriptions follow. The work created during the residency may be at varying stages of development and may or may not be performed at the Festival. For additional context, select artist descriptions include links to supplemental video clips within Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive, featuring past Jacob's Pillow performances.

Bryan Arias, Sept 10-23

Puerto Rico-born and New York City-based Bryan Arias founded ARIAS Company as an artistic home for his own choreographic development in 2013. Recently, the company toured their second production, a full-evening work titled a rather lovely thing which was commissioned by and premiered at Jacob's Pillow in 2016. ARIAS Company returns to the Pillow in development of the new work One of Us, which takes its inspiration from the American comic book Watchmen by Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. Considered one of the most significant works of 20th century literature, Watchmen examines how superheroes would act in a real, credible world. Each collaborator embodies a unique character, focusing on the personal development and moral struggles of modern heroes within a contemporary political turbulence.

The work of ARIAS Company is based in interrogating our identity and existence in modern life, aiming to reflect on fears and desires through dream-like settings. The company formulates a distinct and diverse movement language, fusing dance styles as a means of immersive storytelling. With impressive performance credits, Bryan Arias has danced with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, The Nederlands Dans Theater, and most recently Crystal Pite's company Kidd Pivot. ARIAS Company has performed internationally in festivals such as Danse Danse Montreal, Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, Festival Siquientescena, Pietrasanta Music Festival, and Copenhagen International Choreography Gala.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

ARIAS Company in a rather lovely thing in 2016: danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/arias-company/rather-lovely-thing/

Adam H. Weinert, Sept 10-23

Leading up to a series of performances, Adam H. Weinert and company will embed themselves in the Pillow's original performance space, known today as Bakalar Studio, to reconstruct and recreate Ted Shawn's Dance of the Ages on the occasion of the work's 80th anniversary. Through a mixture of historical accuracy and contemporary reflection, this exclusive engagement transforms a part of the Pillow's campus to reflect the original performance as first experienced in 1938, featuring use of the Pillow's original barn studio, traditional production components, re-created costumes, and an authentic pre-performance Tea Garden lecture and reception.

To enhance the reconstruction process, the company invests in the synergy of living onsite at the Pillow through cooking in the historic Stone Dining Room and recreating a similar work experience as the Men Dancers had in the early 20th century. Weinert and his all-male ensemble will present the excerpt Water at Pittsfield's Third Thursday Street Festival on September 20; and perform the full work Dance of the Ages, which includes four sections that each mirror one of the four elements, at Jacob's Pillow, September 21-23.

For more ticket information, please visit jacobspillow.org/events/historic-reconstruction-dance-of-the-ages/

Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, Nov 5-19 & April 15-21

Praised for how "...his sprawling movement pieces fold history into the present..." (The New York Times), Bessie Award-winning choreographer Reggie Wilson and his Fist and Heel Performance Group will develop a new evening-length performance work, POWER at the Pillow Lab.

This Brooklyn-based post modern dance company and its body of work draws from the spiritual and mundane traditions of Africa and its Diaspora; Wilson often refers to his work as "post-African/Neo-HooDoo Modern dances." His new work reimagines compelling core Shaker values, contributions, practices, and histories through a postmodern American lens. Building on his ongoing examination of early African American spiritual worship within American Christian religiosity, Wilson's POWER promises to present intriguing perspectives and correlations on worship and practices connected to Shakerism. Inspiration for this work includes black Shaker Eldress Mother Rebecca Cox Jackson, Shaker founder Mother Ann Lee, the First Great Awakening, American Utopianism, and foundational research from Wilson's 1995 work The Littlest Baptist. A portion of Wilson's first residency at the Pillow Lab will be combined with research and discovery time at neighboring historic Hancock Shaker Village, a living museum of a Shaker village initially established in 1791. The second residency will be devoted to refining the technical needs of the production.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Reggie Wilson/First and Heel Performance Group in Moses(es) in 2014:

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/reggie-wilson-fist-heel-performance-group/moseses/

A.I.M, Nov 26-Dec 2

Founded by Jacob's Pillow Dance Award Winner and MacArthur "Genius" Kyle Abraham, A.I.M returns to Jacob's Pillow in development of THE UNTITLED D'ANGELO PROJECT. This evening-length work explores the concept of 'Black Love' through the lens of GRAMMY Award-winning R&B legend D'Angelo's 2014 album Black Messiah and a creative process that celebrates love and unity in the black community with multi-generational conversations.

Aligning with the company's mission, Abraham's work focuses on the African-American communal experience, and its intersection with the personal or individual experience. For THE UNTITLED D'ANGELO PROJECT, Abraham dives into a specific aspect of black culture in the United States-'Black Love'-exploring its many and various definitions within the community and individually, through movement joined with R&B music, and the visual art of Titus Kaphar and Mickalene Thomas, both of whose works contemplate issues surrounding race.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion in Dearest Home in 2017:

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/kyle-abraham-abraham-in-motion/dearest-home/

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion in Pavement in 2013:

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/kyle-abraham-abraham-in-motion/pavement/

Jacob's Pillow Curriculum in Motion (JPCiM) Artists-in-Residence, November 26-December 9

JPCiM is a nationally-recognized, arts-integrated curricular approach that connects Berkshire County K-12 students, classroom teachers, and administrators to kinesthetic learning. Each residency is co-taught by prominent Jacob's Pillow Artist Educators in collaboration with classroom teachers to foster new ways of academic learning, social interaction, and creative thinking by linking choreography, kinesthetic intelligence, and critical and imaginative thinking to academic learning subjects.

In conjunction with a school residency in Berkshire County, JPCiM Artist Educators Elizabeth Johnson and Margot Greenlee will have additional access to a Pillow Lab residency, emphasizing the link between teaching artists as makers. Artist Educators will present a glimpse into their process. Students and their families, along with teachers and administrators involved in the program will be invited to this special showing.

Liz Lerman, January 14-20

Visionary artist, choreographer, writer, educator and speaker Liz Lerman develops her new evening-length dance-theater piece. Wicked Bodies wonders about the persistence across time and culture of old crones, evil stepmothers, and the use of the body as a source of fear by governments and institutions. In the presence of magic both old and new, drones as familiars, and surprising collection of witches, the piece asks why some knowledge is celebrated, some criminalized, and some erased altogether. Key collaborators on the project include media designer Kate Freer, sound designer Darron L. West, co-choreographer Keith Thompson, and a group of incredible movers and actors. A MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and Jacob's Pillow Dance Award Winner, Lerman was the founder of Dance Exchange and is currently an Institute Professor at Arizona State University.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Hallelujah: In Praise of Fertile Fields in 2000:

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/liz-lerman-dance-exchange/hallelujah-in-praise-of-fertile-fields/

Faye Driscoll, February 15-24

In her most recent body of work, the Thank You For Coming series, Faye Driscoll extends the sphere of influence of performance, creating a communal space where everything is questioned, heightened, and palpable. During this developmental residency, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Award Winner works on the third and final work in the critically-acclaimed trilogy, Space.

According to Driscoll, the trilogy is a "series of works about how we are all wrapped up in each other, whether we like it or not. Each work in the series poses performance as a ritual act in which we sense that we do not exist in a vacuum." Praised by Wendy Perron of Dance Magazine as "the most engaging performance I've seen in a long time," the Thank You For Coming trilogy's two existing iterations have been commissioned and presented nationally and internationally by acclaimed presenters over the past four years, including Brooklyn Academy Of Music, the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project.

Driscoll conceives Space as a joyful requiem for the myth of human progress, set to a collaboratively created chant sung by performers and audience members. Dancers reanimate historical and contemporary images, from scratches on a cavewall to snapshots in an Instagram feed, forcing us to consider how we are creating ourselves and our worlds when we make an image. Space will have its world premiere as part of Peak Performances at Montclair State University in April 2019.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Faye Driscoll in Thank You For Coming: Attendance in 2017:

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/faye-driscoll/thank-coming-attendance/

Jean Butler Dance, March 4-17

After initiating the first archive of Irish solo dances entitled Our Steps, Our Story: An Irish Dance Legacy in partnership with The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library, renowned Irish dance practitioner and contemporary choreographer Jean Butler uses a developmental residency to re-calibrate this material for The Stepping Fields, a performance installation event scheduled to premiere in Dublin in 2020.

This residency will focus on choreographic and film experiments to create aesthetic and narrative links between live and recorded materials. The Stepping Fields confidently places the Irish body, past and present, under meticulous examination in an aim to reintroduce the form and engage new audiences in the lost cultural dance history of Ireland and the diaspora. Part of this residency will include research and fields trips into the local Irish dance community around Jacob's Pillow.

Souleymane Badolo, March 18-24

Born in Burkina Faso and currently based in Brooklyn, dancer and choreographer Souleymane 'Solo' Badolo fuses traditional African dance and Western contemporary dance to form a transnational movement dialect. Upon meeting Kantoro Yiguya, a Burkinabe vocalist and spiritual guide, Badolo became interested in developing a work that explores the power of divine femininity in healing practices through music and dance. Yiguya sings to cleanse an ailing spirit by ceremoniously conjuring clarity and rebirth; the title, Tìippa translates to "healer" in Moré.

Badolo aims to challenge the Western fears around this kind of practice to present a joyful portrait of Burkinabe devotion and its close relationship with performance. This residency integrates spiritual, cultural, and artistic identities, continuing research that began in Burkina Faso in 2017 with vocalist Yiguya, musician Timbiri Winsey, and research assistant Leah Moriarty.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Souleymane Badolo in Yimbégré

Born in Burkina Faso and currently based in Brooklyn, dancer and choreographer Souleymane 'Solo' Badolo fuses traditional African dance and Western contemporary dance to form a transnational movement dialect. Upon meeting Kantoro Yiguya, a Burkinabe vocalist and spiritual guide, Badolo became interested in developing a work that explores the power of divine femininity in healing practices through music and dance. Yiguya sings to cleanse an ailing spirit by ceremoniously conjuring clarity and rebirth; the title, Tìippa translates to "healer" in Moré.

Badolo aims to challenge the Western fears around this kind of practice to present a joyful portrait of Burkinabe devotion and its close relationship with performance. This residency integrates spiritual, cultural, and artistic identities, continuing research that began in Burkina Faso in 2017 with vocalist Yiguya, musician Timbiri Winsey, and research assistant Leah Moriarty.

Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Souleymane Badolo in Yimbégré in 2016:

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/souleymane-badolo/yimbegre/

Urban Bush Women, April 8-14

Founded by The Bessie Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. The renowned ensemble continues development of their newest work Scat!, modeled after the structure and content of the tradition of the Black Floor Show.

Set in a factional jazz club, Scat! is a dance-driven musical that tells a multidisciplinary love story of two people making their way during the Great Migration. Through song, dance, and storytelling, it tells the powerful journey of the Zollar family and what happens when dreams encounter the harsh realities of American life in the 1940's and 1950's. The work's original music is being composed by Craig Harris and will be performed by a live jazz band.

Related Themes & Essays on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar as part of Dance of the African Diaspora by John Perpener

danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/themes-essays/african-diaspora/jawole-willa-jo-zollar/

Australian Dance Theatre; May 7-13

Australia's pre-eminent and longest running contemporary dance company Australian Dance Theatre travels to Jacob's Pillow in the development of their newest work, Supernature. Choreographed by Artistic Director Garry Stewart, Supernature looks at how the metamorphosis central to the ontology of classical ballet's narratives is driven by nature.

Over the week of the Pillow Lab residency, Stewart will engage the dancers in task-based choreographic methodology in order to research movement material generated to represent the human fascination with the imagined future of ourselves as a species. The residency will also involve a talk given by Stewart on the new work and how it fits into the ongoing rubric, The Nature Series. This series involves a number of works that Stewart is making over the next few years that explores 'nature' from various conceptual perspectives. Australian Dance Theatre's residency is supported by the Vivienne Jones Endowment Fund at Jacob's Pillow, which facilitates residencies for artists based outside of New York/New England.

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