Dancing on a Pillow

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 6, 1999 | by Jean Battey Lewis

The New England dance retreat is an age-defying arena for students and fans alike.

This season of the year the cool hills of the Berkshires beckon. For dance fans heading that way, there is no lovelier place than Jacob's Pillow. This venerable dance center in Becket, Mass. -- founded by Ted Shawn, the "father of modern dance" -- first opened its doors for afternoon tea and mini-performances in 1933. His pupils included Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey, who both went off on their own to develop new forms. After their defection, Shawn assembled a group of male dancers in a pioneering effort to show that dancing for men could be noble and masculine -- not such an easy sell in the thirties and forties.

What began small as a summer retreat for his male group has become a flourishing annual festival with Shawn's farmhouse and studios still in use, augmented by two rustic performance halls and an outdoor performance area nestled in the trees (Shawn ran the festival until his death in 1972). Today, "the Pillow" wears its laurels lightly. There are several kiosks that sell souvenirs, coffee and light snacks, and there are soaring white tents for summer dining. The whole area has been landscaped handsomely with walkways and flowers. The scale is intimate and human -- a rare civilized delight.

The performances, of course, are the heart of the matter, with appearances this summer by the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown and David Parsons companies. Los Munequitos de Matanzas (three generations of Cuban singers, dancers and drummers) and Batoto Yetu (based in Harlem) offered dances, stories and songs. Ines, a company that presents puppetry incorporating human hands and feet to startling effect, and the Sean Curran Company, a lively group that delivers a witty update of Irish step dancing, also performed.

The Pillow will close the season with a flourish: Russian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili and principals of the Bolshoi Ballet will make their only U.S. appearance at the Ted Shawn Theatre Aug. 25-29. In addition to classical pas de deux, two ballets by the Bolshoi dancer-choreographer Alexei Ratmansky will have their U.S. premieres.

Students still come to the Pillow, too, for one- to three-week small workshops such as "Jazz on Broadway," led by Chet Walker, cocreator of the musical Fosse. In this environment, ideas and cross-fertilization flourish, fresh talent is nurtured and the pleasure of dance-going is enhanced by the natural beauty of the setting, as it has been ever since Ted Shawn invited the neighborhood in for tea-lecture demonstrations.