The Pillow Remembers
While any dance video represents some kind of captured memory, these clips are particularly resonant for various reasons.
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Carmen de Lavallade
The Creation, 2014
With the back doors of the Ted Shawn Theatre flung wide open, Carmen de Lavallade electrified the 2014 Gala audience with this excerpt from husband Geoffrey Holder’s solo tour de force, The Creation, and she was able to share the video with him prior to his death the following October. The unstoppable 83-year-old de Lavallade also premiered her autobiographical As I Remember It a few days after this performance.
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Chandralekha Group
Yantra, 1994
One of several prominent Indian artists who made their U.S. debuts at Jacob’s Pillow, Chandralekha brought her company here in a full-evening work dedicated to Pina Bausch on the occasion of Bausch’s Indian debut.
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Universal Ballet Company
Ulysses, 1985
While Patrick Bissell’s life was cut tragically short at age 30, his single appearance at Jacob’s Pillow lives on through this rare footage.
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Richard Cragun
Requiem, 1983
Cemented into Pillow history through his appearance on the 50th anniversary season, here Cragun dances a rarely-seen solo by Kenneth MacMillan, Requiem, created to honor the memory of John Cranko.
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Manuel Alum
Made in Japan, 1981
Among a generation of artists who were lost to the dance world because of the AIDS crisis, Manuel Alum made an indelible mark on Pillow history in his Made in Japan, performed throughout the auditorium of the Ted Shawn Theatre.
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Maria Tallchief
Sylvia Pas de Deux, 1951
Relatively new to our online offerings is this variation from George Balanchine’s Sylvia, premiered in late 1950 and performed here just a few months later. It’s posted in tribute to one of Balanchine’s greatest ballerinas, who performed at the Pillow regularly in the 1950s and 60s, and is immortalized onsite with a student cabin named for her.
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Jean Léon Destiné & Jeanne Ramon
Martinique, 1950
Hailed as the father of Haitian professional dance, Destiné’s Pillow visits spanned more than a half century. Here’s one of his first appearances, captured outdoors in 1950, the year after his Pillow debut.
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Anna Duncan
Unidentified dance by Isadora Duncan, 1942
This extremely rare footage documents one of the last performances by one of Isadora Duncan’s adopted daughters, recorded in color during the first season of the Ted Shawn Theatre.