Exhibitions

On view through April 2026, this exhibition celebrates five decades of the Pillow's Historian and Founding Director of Preservation. It was curated by dancer/choreographer Wendy Perron, a former Editor-in-Chief of Dance Magazine who is also a writer, educator, historian, and curator.

From the first international artists who performed here in the 1940s to today, Jacob’s Pillow has long worked to connect audiences with all kinds of dance. Using historic photos and moving images that span the globe and transcend time, this 2023 exhibition demonstrates the wide-ranging definition of dance that has always epitomized the Pillow’s worldview. Co-curated by Tanisha Jones, Hari Krishnan, and Norton Owen

Ruth St. Denis had been performing dances inspired by Far East cultures for two decades when she and Ted Shawn launched an extensive performance tour to these same distant lands in the mid-1920s. What they experienced on this landmark tour continues to be a provocative subject nearly a century later.