Opening Attractions
The opening week of each Jacob’s Pillow season carries with it a special energy and excitement. Revisiting these performances can serve as a welcome reminder that another season begins anew each June.
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Mark Morris Dance Group
The Look of Love, 2023
Mark Morris’s joyous re-examination of music by Burt Bacharach started off the 2023 season on a particularly high note.
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Te Ao Mana
Te Natura, 2023
This exuberant Polynesian company, based in New York City, was the first to perform on the Leir Stage in 2023.
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Jasmine Hearn
Trinity: Child, You Lost Water, 2022
Jasmine Hearn was one of the first to try out a newly-enlarged Ted Shawn Theatre stage (and its distinctive stage doors), sharing a program entitled America(na) to Me with Dormeshia, Sara Mearns, Nélida Tirado, Mythili Prakash, and others.
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Dorrance Dance
Ways to Now, 2021
This site-specific work by Dorrance Dance made extensive use of the Pillow grounds while the Ted Shawn Theatre was closed for renovations, sharing the week with Nicholas Van Young’s Untitled Waveforms on the Leir Stage.
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Ballet BC
Bedroom Folk, 2019
Not only was this the first work in the first week of the 2019 season, but it was also the U.S. debut of this work by Sharon Eyal—known to Pillow audiences from the dances she created for Batsheva, Carte Blanche, and her own L-E-V company.
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Circa
What Will Have Been, 2019
Although it’s a small-scaled work—just three performers and an onstage violinist—the impact of this performance was considerable. This Australian ensemble’s Pillow debut during had also occurred during an opening week seven years earlier, when they presented the eponymous CIRCA in the Doris Duke Theatre.
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Royal Danish Ballet
A Folk Tale, 2018
The Royal Danish Ballet has been a frequent opening attraction through the years, including at least three other Pillow seasons before this one—which was the first engagement under the direction of Pillow Alumnus Nikolaj Hübbe.
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Ragamala Dance Company
Written in Water, 2018
In addition to the distinction of being the opening company of the 2018 season in the Doris Duke Theatre, this was Ragamala’s first appearance at Jacob’s Pillow. The Minneapolis-based company presented a work inspired by a 2nd century Indian board game—the precursor to today’s Chutes & Ladders.
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Miami City Ballet
Polyphonia, 2017
This engagement represented a long-awaited return, as Miami City Ballet made its first Pillow appearances in nearly 20 years—and its first here under Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez. Christopher Wheeldon’s intricate and exacting choreography was performed to a Ligeti piano score, played live.
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Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Silent Ghost, 2016
This stunning duet by Alejandro Cerrudo served as a prominent showcase for Craig Black, who studied in The School at Jacob’s Pillow’s Contemporary Program in 2011 and performed for several years with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, since moving on to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
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Juan Siddi Flamenco Santa Fe
Fiesta Flamenca, 2016
The communities of Aspen and Santa Fe were well-represented during the opening week of the 2016 season, as Juan Siddi’s Flamenco company traveled here under the auspices of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.
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New York Theatre Ballet
Cinderella, 2015
Full-evening classical ballets have become increasingly rare at the Pillow, but this one boasts an impressive pedigree, having premiered here in 1982 in its original production by the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
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The Hong Kong Ballet
Castrati, 2014
Spanish-born choreographer Nacho Duato created this work for an all-male ensemble, evoking a dark period in music history when women were banned from singing in church, prompting the castration of young boys to prolong their ability to sing soprano roles.
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Carmen de Lavallade
As I Remember It, 2014
Not only was this the opening performance of the Doris Duke Theatre’s 2014 season, but it was the world premiere of Carmen de Lavallade’s extraordinary one-woman show.
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Dance Theatre of Harlem
The Lark Ascending, 2013
Opening the Ted Shawn Theatre in 2013 was a special homecoming for Dance Theatre of Harlem, which had recently been relaunched after a five-year hiatus. On the program was a reworked version of Alvin Ailey’s The Lark Ascending—the first time this work had been performed on pointe.
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Mimulus Dance Company
Por Um Fio, 2012
This Brazilian company’s appearance in 2012 came at a time when they had recently been seen on television screens coast-to-coast as part of the Pillow documentary, Never Stand Still. This particular work was seen in its U.S. premiere.
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Ballet Genève
Romeo and Juliet, 2011
This unconventional look at a cornerstone of the 20th century ballet repertoire returned French choreographer Joëlle Bouvier to the Pillow, where she had brought her company L’Esquisse in 1989 and 1990.
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Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia
Thaïs Pas de Deux, 2010
One of American Ballet Theatre’s most beloved ballerinas, Nina Ananiashvili began her international career with the Bolshoi, and returned here twice as the director of her own company, the State Ballet of Georgia.
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Savion Glover, 2005
Both the 2005 Gala and the opening week of performances were headlined by Savion Glover, captured here in one of his unnamed and inimitable solos.
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Grupo Corpo
Nazareth, 2004
Having made their Pillow debut in 1999, Grupo Corpo quickly became regular visitors to the Ted Shawn Theatre, performing here in three of the next four seasons.
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Chacony, 2002
Post-modern choreographer Lucinda Childs created this solo for the one-and-only Baryshnikov, who presented it on a program with his White Oak Dance Project to launch the Pillow’s 70th Season.
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Buglisi/Foreman Dance
...ING from Field of Loves, 2001
Continuing today as Buglisi Dance Theatre, this company and its founding team are represented here by Donlin Foreman and Terese Capucilli, who also presented this captivating duet as part of the 2001 Gala.
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RhythMEK
Episodes (Living in the Present Moment), 2000
This duet by Ulysses Dove highlighted a program devised by three former Alvin Ailey dancers, here danced by Desmond Richardson and Karine Plantadit-Bageot.
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Pilobolus Dance Theatre
Ciona, 1987
This performance of an iconic Pilobolus work featured one of the company’s founders, Michael Tracy.