Called “the Mozart of Modern Dance” for his musicality, devotion to classical music, and movement versatility, Mark Morris has distinguished himself as a ballet, modern dance, and opera choreographer and director. Born in 1956, he began dancing and performing at the age of thirteen with the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble in his hometown of Seattle, and he later appeared in New York and on tour with Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, and Eliot Feld. He first performed at the Pillow in 1982, and he was commissioned to create works for the Jacob’s Pillow Dancers in 1983 and 1984. His company first appeared here in 1986 and has returned for more than twenty seasons since, amassing one of the most extensive Pillow performance records of any artist. Morris uses a wide range of musical sources, ranging from Bach, Schumann, and Weber to The Texas Playboys and Yoko Ono. The company’s most recent appearance was in 2019 when they performed Sport. Commenting on Morris’s performance in Deck of Cards, biographer Joan Acocella points out that “he is both the man and the woman, and not just in his dance but in his body too.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS DANCE IN AN ILLUSTRATED ESSAY BY SETH STEWART WILLIAMS
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