Onstage Musicians
Aside from the extra synergy of making music and dance simultaneously, these performance clips feature musicians onstage alongside the dancers. Some additional examples (both with and without visible musicians) may be found on the Live Music playlist.
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SW!NG OUT, 2022
Not only were musicians onstage for this joyous work, but audience members came onto the newly-expanded stage of the Ted Shawn Theatre as well for the “Jam” section after intermission.
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Irene Rodríguez
My Roots, 2022
For the week leading up to this performance at the 2022 Gala, Irene Rodríguez was working with her musicians in a Pillow Lab residency to create the work seen here, part of a play entitled No Turning Back.
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Limón Dance Company
Only One Will Rise, 2022
As the second work made possible by the Joan B. Hunter New Work Commission, this dance by Olivier Tarpaga was informed by the similarities between the backgrounds of the choreographer and José Limón.
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Music From The Sole
I Didn't Come to Stay, 2022
It’s difficult to delineate differences between musicians and dancers in this company, especially in this clip where choreographer and company co-director Leonardo Sandoval is seen playing a drum.
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Dormeshia
Unsung Sheroes of the 20th Century, 2022
This is a mashup of two distinctive moments from a work celebrating some of Dormeshia’s inspirations from the worlds of music and dance—all of them real-life “sheroes.”
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Mythili Prakash
AR | DHA ("Half"), 2022
Classical Indian dance and music are inextricably linked, as evidenced in this sequence from a work that brings Bharatanatyam into the 21st century with a modern take on age-old traditions.
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Warwick Gombey Troupe, 2022
This company traveled all the way from Bermuda to share their traditional dance style, reuniting these artists with an area where similar dances would have been practiced by Indigenous peoples in centuries past.
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Dorrance Dance
Untitled Waveforms, 2021
Although Dorrance Dance was only able to perform on the Pillow’s Leir Stage twice in 2021 because of rain, this world premiere by Nicholas Van Young was fortunately captured on video.
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LaTasha Barnes
The Jazz Continuum, 2021
The interplay between all of the performers in The Jazz Continuum brought this new production thrillingly to life, and audiences leapt to their feet at the conclusion of each show.
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Iroquois Traditional Dancers
Smoke Dance, 2021
As part of the Eastern Woodland Dances program, this commanding solo features vocalizations from dancer Jake George as well as from the onstage drummer, Al George.
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Maya Beiser & Wendy Whelan
THE DAY, 2019
Cellist Maya Beiser initiated this project, which brought together choreographer Lucinda Childs, composer David Lang, and dancer Wendy Whelan in a poignant meditation on 9/11 and its effect on individual lives.
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Ragamala Dance Company
Written in Water, 2018
These musicians were fully integrated into the colorful stage picture of Ragamala’s Written in Water, exploring the idea of spiritual ascension as it was manifested in an ancient Indian board game.
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Sonya Tayeh
you'll still call me by name, 2018
Now recognized with a Tony Award for her work on Broadway’s Moulin Rouge, Sonya Tayeh brought The Bengsons into the stage picture with her innately theatrical eye.
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Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen
The Bright Motion, 2015
In this rarely-seen duet created especially for City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, choreographer Justin Peck placed Michael Mizrahi and his piano onstage in the time-honored tradition of “piano ballets.”
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Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance Program Ensemble
"The Battle of Yorktown" from Hamilton, 2014
Before Hamilton took Broadway by storm, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler tried out some of his ideas for the show on the dancers of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, offering a sneak peek as part of this Jazz Happening performance.
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O Vertigo Danse
La vie qui bat (The Beat of Life), 2013
Glimpsed several times in this clip are the marimba players who performed Steve Reich’s iconic “Drumming” alongside the dancers of this Montreal-based company.
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Tero Saarinen Company and The Boston Camerata
Borrowed Light, 2006
With both the singers of The Boston Camerata and Tero Saarinen’s dancers costumed similarly all in black, the performers were one cohesive unit. In a rare occurrence, the same work received an encore engagement in 2012.
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Vanaver Caravan
Appalachian Clog Dance from Earthbeat! A Journey, 2010
With an incredibly diverse repertory of dances from throughout the world, here the Vanaver Caravan presents a vernacular American dance form incorporating an onstage fiddler.
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Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie
See #1, 2007
Echoing the Vanaver Caravan’s onstage fiddler, here’s a classical violinist in partnership with Laurence Lemieux, premiering a new work by James Kudelka.
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Salia nï Seydou
Figninto, 2002
All of the performers in Figninto are fully integrated into the work, visibly taking their cues from one another—as when one of the musicians takes up his lolo (or African arch) in the middle of this clip.
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Urban Tap
Caravane, 2001
The exciting interaction between trumpeter Fabio Morgera and headliner Tamango take center stage in this excerpt from a full-evening work, with live video projections providing impressionistic highlights.
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Dianne McIntyre & Lester Bowie
Invincible Flower, 1998
The influential jazz trumpeter and composer Lester Bowie died the year following this Pillow-commissioned collaboration with Dianne McIntyre, making this footage of their work-in-progress all the more precious.
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María Benítez Teatro Flamenco
Solea, 1996
Almost all of the entries featured in the ¡Flamenco! Playlist feature onstage musicians, attesting to the strong connections between music and dance in this particular genre—powerfully exemplified here by María Benítez.
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Jazz Tap Ensemble
Con Alma, 1993
Renowned for the way in which their musicians and dancers collaborated, the Jazz Tap Ensemble created this work for a U.S. State Department tour just a few months before this performance.
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Soh Daiko, 1989
These musicians are also the dancers, moving amidst their drums to create an excitingly kinetic performance experience.
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Marge Champion and Blake Champion
Dancing, 1986
Gathered around the piano as if at an informal musicale, all the performers at this one-time event were celebrating the life of director-choreographer Gower Champion—the only time that his former partner Marge ever performed publicly with their son Blake.
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Asadata Dafora
Shagola Dances of West Africa, 1942
This rare footage from the very first season in the Ted Shawn Theatre attests to the long-standing practice of musicians sharing the stage with dancers.