More Black Voices
With a new urgency to affirm that Black Lives Matter, this playlist contains four brand-new videos along with a renewed spotlight on many others. All of this adds to the existing Black Voices playlist as well as one entitled Black History. For an even deeper dive into the subject, see John Perpener’s essays on Dance of the African Diaspora, a resource highlighted in The New York Times.
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Micaela Taylor's TL Collective
Drift, 2019
TL stands for “to love” and what’s not to love about a terrifically talented young choreographer with a strong personal vision? Micaela Taylor’s Los Angeles-based group made its Pillow debut with this performance.
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Urban Bush Women
Walking With 'Trane, 2019
Inspired by the history and discography of jazz great John Coltrane, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Walking With ‘Trane is a full-evening work that includes new music as well as Coltrane’s own artistry.
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Collage Dance Collective
Lineage, 2017
If the natural light for this work by Darrell Grand Moultrie looks different than most Inside/Out performances, it’s because this performance was presented in the morning rather than the customary early evening. The rescheduling was necessitated by a rainstorm which threatened to ruin this Memphis company’s Pillow debut.
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Joseph Wiggan, Josette Wiggan-Freund
Harmony: Tap In Motion, 2017
This brother-and-sister duo was part of Michelle Dorrance’s evening-length TIRELESS: A Tap Dance Experience, spotlighting some of the tap artists from around the world that Dorrance most admires.
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FLEXN
FLEXN, 2016
A collaboration between the dancers and Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray, this production was devised by visionary director Peter Sellars. It was first seen in New York’s monumental Park Avenue Armory and radically reconceived for the Ted Shawn Theatre stage.
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Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith, & Derick K. Grant
And Still You Must Swing, 2016
This collaboration premiered at the Pillow, uniting three remarkable tap artists with contemporary choreographer/dancer Camille A. Brown. And the title itself was based on a quote from the incomparable Jimmy Slyde.
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Nimbus Dance Works
Strange Fruit, 2015
This classic 1943 work by Pearl Primus deals with the tragic legacy of lynching, illustrating how modern dance has long been an art form that can address societal issues.
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Companhia Urbana de Dança
Na Pista, 2014
With a title that can mean “on the dance floor” in Portuguese, this work from Rio de Janeiro employs a boldly original mix of contemporary Brazilian dance and hip hop.
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David Roussève / REALITY
Stardust, 2014
Choreographer David Roussève considers this to be “a coming of age story for the Twitter generation,” focusing on a gay African American urban teenager who only appears onstage through projected text messages.
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Reggie Wilson / Fist & Heel Performance Group
Moses(es), 2014
Zora Neale Hurston’s 1939 novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain provided the initial inspiration for this full-evening work, set to a typically wide-ranging musical score.
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Carmen de Lavallade
As I Remember It, 2014
Decades of history-making performances were the building blocks for a riveting one-woman presentation, with this excerpt juxtaposing de Lavallade’s portrayal of Billie Holiday and a 15th-century poem.
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Kyle Abraham / Abraham.In.Motion
Pavement, 2013
Choreographer Kyle Abraham brings his keen musical sense to a characteristic blend of street culture and contemporary dance in the full-evening Pavement.
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Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company
Story / Time, 2012
With John Cage’s Indeterminacy as inspiration, Bill T. Jones recites one-minute stories as the sound score for this fascinating and ever-surprising work.
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Camille A. Brown
The Evolution of a Secured Feminine, 2010
Though she had appeared several times here with other companies, this marked Camille A. Brown’s first Pillow engagement with her own company, six years before being singled out for the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award.
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Garth Fagan Dance
"Spring Yaounde" from Griot New York, 2008
While the full Griot New York was presented in the 2008 Festival’s opening week, this breathtaking duet from one of Fagan’s most monumental works was featured in the Season Opening Gala.
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Savion Glover, 2005
Though he surrounded himself with younger dancers as well as tap masters Dianne Walker and Jimmy Slyde in this engagement, Savion Glover is never more mesmerizing than when he is alone onstage with the musicians who fuel his artistry.
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Company Jant-Bi
Le coq est mort (The Rooster is Dead), 2000
Unforgettably covering the stage of the Ted Shawn Theatre with a thick layer of sand, this full-evening work was memorable for its dance values as well, as evidenced in this intense duet choreographed by Susanne Linke and Avi Kaiser.Dynami
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RhythMEK
Episodes (Living in the Present Moment), 2000
The dynamic Ailey dancers Desmond Richardson and Karine Plantadit-Bageot bring this excerpt of a masterwork by Ulysses Dove to vibrant life.
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Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE
Water, 1999
The first of several Pillow commissions spanning two decades, Water was built around the transcendent poetry of Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, prominently seen in this excerpt.
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Sarita Allen & Stephen Smith
Tease, 1988
Created on the cusp of her ascendancy to the directorship of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Judith Jamison’s Tease featured two stellar Ailey dancers in this Gala performance.