ABT Connections
Known simply as Ballet Theatre in its first Pillow appearances in 1941, American Ballet Theatre and its artists have continued to intersect with Jacob’s Pillow throughout the decades. The beginnings can be explored in this multi-media essay, and performance highlights are collected below.
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The Washington Ballet
Seven Sonatas, 2017
After ABT’s Julie Kent was appointed as artistic director of The Washington Ballet, one of her first repertory acquisitions was this work by Alexei Ratmansky, which she had danced when he created it for ABT in 2009.
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James Whiteside Presents
On the Water, 2017
ABT principal James Whiteside created this duet for himself and fellow company dancer Cassandra Trenary.
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Daniil Simkin's "INTENSIO"
Islands of Memories, 2015
This visually stunning work by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa features a number of ABT principals, including Pillow alumnus Calvin Royal III.
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Misty Copeland, 2023
The first Black woman to become an ABT principal, the iconic Misty Copeland has participated in a PillowTalk and was honored with the 2023 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award.
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Nina Ananiashvili
The Dying Swan, 2010
At the time of this performance, Nina Ananiashvili had just completed 16 years as an ABT principal, returning to her homeland to direct the State Ballet of Georgia.
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PARADIGM
Far, Near, Never, 2004
Contemporary choreographer Wendy Perron created this solo for longtime ABT principal Martine van Hamel, who premiered it in Jacob’s Pillow’s Doris Duke Theatre.
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Desmond Richardson
Sonata for Two Cellos, 2001
ABT’s first Black principal dancer, Desmond Richardson became only the second dancer to perform this solo by José Limón, who himself had danced it only twice in the 1960s.
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Ann Carlson
Night Light, 2001
A classic ABT ballet by Antony Tudor, The Judgment of Paris, was highlighted in Ann Carlson’s site-specific work.
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Julie Kent & Robert Hill
Manon (Scene from Act I), 1999
These two ABT stars brought Kenneth MacMillan’s operatic pas de deux to the Ted Shawn Theatre stage for the Season Opening Gala in 1999.
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Pergolesi, 1995
As an ABT superstar in the 1970s and the company’s director throughout the 1980s, Baryshnikov electrified audiences worldwide. His legendary technical prowess is still on thrilling display in this video made when he was 47.
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Merrill Ashley & John Meehan
Pas de deux from Agon, 1987
As a principal dancer with ABT during the 1970s and ’80s, John Meehan partnered Gelsey Kirkland, Cynthia Gregory, Natalia Makarova, and other ballet legends. He’s seen here with New York City Ballet’s Merrill Ashley in an iconic Balanchine ballet.
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Universal Ballet Company
Ulysses, 1985
When Patrick Bissell was promoted to principal dancer at age 21, he was the youngest to ever achieve that rank at ABT—a distinction that took a tragic turn after Bissell died of a drug overdose just nine years later.
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Johan Renvall & Madeleine Onne
Little Improvisations, 1983
Although still a soloist at the time of this performance, the Swedish-born Johan Renvall spent nearly a decade as an ABT principal. He partnered the Royal Swedish Ballet’s Madeleine Onne in this rarely-seen duet by Antony Tudor which had premiered at the Pillow in 1953.
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Cynthia Gregory
Brahms Waltz, 1982
The influential dance writer Walter Terry (who had directed Jacob’s Pillow in 1973) arranged for one of ABT’s reigning stars to salute the Pillow’s 50th anniversary with this rare revival of a Ruth St. Denis solo from 1922.
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Lupe Serrano & Royes Fernandez
Les Sylphides, 1970
Frequently paired in all the classics at ABT during the 1960s, Serrano and Fernandez performed four times at the Pillow during that decade. This rare footage only came to light after the filmmaker’s death in 2013 at the age of 99.
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Hugh Laing & Alicia Markova
L'après-midi d'un faune, 1957
This groundbreaking work by Vaslav Nijinsky features two of ABT’s earliest stars in a staging that Markova herself supervised. The relationship between the original silent film and the familiar Debussy music is only approximated in this rare footage which is being publicly shared for the first time.
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Alicia Alonso & Erik Bruhn
Pas de deux from Giselle, Act II, 1955
Both Alonso and Bruhn began their ABT careers in the 1940s, but they didn’t dance Giselle together until just a couple of months before the performance captured here.
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Tatiana Grantzeva, Nicholas Polajenko, Ralph McWilliams
Trio Con Brio, 1952
Dancer/choreographer Antony Tudor was connected with ABT since its earliest days, though his works for the company were primarily “psychological ballets” like Pillar of Fire rather classical showpieces like this one. Ralph McWilliams was dancing with ABT at the time of this performance, and later served as its stage manager.
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Patricia Bowman
Chit Chat Polka, 1950
A huge dance star from the 1920s through the ’50s, Patricia Bowman was the prima ballerina of Ballet Theatre during its inaugural season of 1940. She created this vehicle for herself and performed it at the Pillow only two times before an injury sidelined her.
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Ballet Theatre
Fancy Free, 1949
Ballet Theatre’s original 1944 production of Fancy Free was such a hit that composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins developed it into a full-fledged Broadway musical, On the Town. It was first seen at the Pillow in 1947 and returned by popular demand just two years later.
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Ballet Theatre
Interplay, 1949
The original program notes for this Jerome Robbins ballet mentioned “a constant play between the classic ballet steps and the contemporary spirit in which they are danced.” Along with Fancy Free, this ballet was presented at the Pillow by Ballet Theatre in both 1947 and 1949.
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Alexandra Danilova & Frederic Franklin
Gaité Parisienne, 1948
Although Danilova and Franklin headlined Ballet Theatre’s chief competitor, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Franklin spent time at the Pillow with Ballet Theatre in 1941, teaching company class for them during that time, and he later performed character roles with ABT.