Jessica Lang and Jacob’s Pillow
Jessica Lang, dancer turned choreographer, is both the artistic director of her own company and an in-demand choreographer for ballet companies across the United States and abroad. She studied choreography with Bessie Schönberg at Juilliard and danced with Twyla Tharp. Lang has a rich relationship with Jacob’s Pillow, beginning with her 1998 performance in Tharp’s company and continuing with the official company debut of Jessica Lang Dance at the Doris Duke Theatre in 2012. In a PillowTalk, Lang talked about her path to creating a company.
The company has returned multiple times since that initial engagement including a Creative Development Residency. In addition, Lang created a dance for the students in the Ballet Program at The School at Jacob’s Pillow in 2014 and Pacific Northwest Ballet performed the world premiere of Her Door to the Sky in 2016.
Pillow scholar in residence Rachel Straus notes that when Lang choreographs for ballet companies, she is often referred to as a modern choreographer and vice versa. She quotes Lang saying, “I would like to define what I am in my own way. Does ballet equal a tutu? Does ballet equal a leotard with pointe shoes? What is ballet or modern dance today?”
Visual Elements in Lang’s Works
Lang’s works have been acclaimed for their multiple aesthetic perspectives. Through set design, using fabric, paper, video projections, as well as innovative costuming, the dances convey a deep connection of the visual and the kinesthetic.
Dance and Music
She has been called “a master of visual composition” by dance writer Tresca Weinstein. Dance Magazine, July 30, 2012 While her striking sense of the visual is a heralded aspect of her choreography, Lang is also driven by music. In a rare two week run in 2015, Jessica Lang Dance presented The Wanderer, part of which had made during a Creative Development Residency at the Pillow.
As Rachel Straus explained in her PillowNote, Lang’s musical choice for The Wanderer was driven by a drawing she had done of a “tree completely [made] of string,” after which she came upon Franz Schubert’s “Die Schöne Müllerin.” That song cycle, based on poems of Wilhelm Müller, led Lang to create her first evening-length work. The music, performed live on stage by a singer and pianist, also provided a narrative throughline for the work, telling the story of a wanderer, a hunter, and a miller’s daughter.
While Lang certainly displayed the characters, her acute eye for visual design brought the non-human elements to life, with dancers manipulating set elements to activate trees and embody water. Also striking in this production was the choreography for the singer, who increasingly becomes a central part of the action as the work unfolds.
In his review for the New York Times, Brian Seibert called The Wanderer, “a work of high craftsmanship.” The New York Times, December 7, 2014 Within the Space I Hold, a Pillow co-commission performed in 2013, also used live music, with an original score performed by composer Jakub Ciupinski.
PUBLISHED March 2017