Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

America's Oldest and Longest-Running Summer Dance Festival

Apr 20, 2009

Jacob's Pillow is located in Becket, Massachusetts. The property hosts an internationally acclaimed summer dance festival and school.

Jacob’s Pillow is located at the end of a stagecoach road. To locals, the road looked like the rungs of a ladder, so they nicknamed the area “Jacob’s Ladder.” Of the boulders that dotted the landscape, one was shaped like a pillow. The Carter family, who settled the area in 1790, named their farm “Jacob’s Pillow,” an allusion to the story of Jacob from Genesis where Jacob lays down on a rock and dreams of a ladder to Heaven.

Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers

In 1930, the farm was bought by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn. Shawn and his wife, Ruth St. Denis, were the leading modern dance couple of the time and founders of the Denishawn Company. When Shawn bought Jacob’s Pillow, he and St. Denis had separated. Shawn had a dream of legitimizing dance as a career for American men. In 1933 he recruited eight men from Springfield College. The athleticism of the group, known as Shawn and his Men Dancers, challenged the prevailing view of male dancers.

In July 1933, Shawn and his Men Dancers began giving public “Tea Lecture Demonstrations.” The purpose of which was to promote their style of dance. They were an instant success. For the next seven years, the company toured the United States and abroad. In 1940, the group disbanded and many joined the armed forces.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

In the summer of 1940, Shawn leased the property to Mary Washington Ball. Ms. Ball produced the Berkshire Hills Dance Festival the same year. The next year, Shawn leased the property to British ballet stars Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, who produced another successful festival.

In 1942 supporters formed the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Committee and raised enough money to buy the property and build the Ted Shawn Theater, the first theater in the United States designed specifically for dance. Ted Shawn was named the first director of the festival and was director until his death in 1972, which the exception of a sabbatical in Australia in 1947.

After Shawn’s death, the future of Jacob’s Pillow looked uncertain, with three directors in three years. Norman Walker, who was director from 1975-1979, provided some stability with improvements in educational and performance standards. Liz Thompson, who was director from 1980 – 1989, opened Jacob’s Pillow up to visitors with the first Inside/Out performances and by allowing open access to the property. Ms. Thompson authorized the building of the Doris Duke Studio/Theater. Ms. Thompson was followed by Samuel A. Miller and Sali Ann Kriegsman. In 1997, the Board of Directors chose Ella Baff to head the festival.

Honors

Jacob’s Pillow’s importance to America’s cultural history was cemented in 2000 with its inclusion on the Dance Heritage Coalition’s list of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures and on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2003, Jacob’s Pillow became the first dance institution to be named a National Historic Landmark and in 2007, it was named a site on the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail, which celebrates people and places that are significant to African American history.

The copyright of the article Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Ballet/Jazz/Tap Dance is owned by Kim Rush. Permission to republish Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.