The first person to teach American Theater Dance at Jacob’s Pillow was Jack Cole, who drew upon early experiences as a Denishawn dancer in establishing his own brand of eclectic movement. In the 1980s and 90s, both Lynn Simonson and Danny Buraczeski directed Pillow programs which bridged jazz and musical theater traditions. Building on those precedents, Chet Walker led annual programs in The School at Jacob’s Pillow from 1999 through 2018, originally called Jazz: Broadway Evolutions and ultimately known as the Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance Program. Participants hailed from across the country and around the world, training for three weeks and culminating in a final presentation known as A Jazz Happening. In the performance seen here, Tony Award-winning choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler tried out ideas for the groundbreaking musical Hamilton, which premiered Off-Broadway six months later.
Read More
