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Glam sheds for dance
If ever there were a charmed atmosphere, it exists at Jacob's Pillow, a dance-lover's Forest of Arden. Imagine an artsy agrarian community, where vintage barns have been adapted to studio and performance spaces for dancers, dance history exhibitions, a shop and restaurant - all knit together by lush and colorful landscaping. Located in the small Berkshire town of Becket, this is the site of the annual summer Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. The season begins June 23.
The Pillow, as it's now known, was home base for Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers, the first men's dance company in the nation. It has been a performance center since 1933. Many of the century's most important choreographers, dancers, and musicians have performed here, and created works that have become part of the international modern dance repertoire.
For barn lovers, this former farm is a showplace of 18th- and 19th-century rural architecture, along with elegant 20th-century barn buildings created to blend in. The Carter Hunter House has two barns: an English-style barn (circa 1790) converted to a dance studio in 1931; and the New England-style Stephen Carter barn (circa 1820), today a small shop with Pillow T-shirts, dance videos, postcards, and books.
An added building in this complex, the spacious board and batten-sided Ted Shawn Theatre (1942), was designed by Stockbridge architect Joseph Franz (who also designed the Shed at Tanglewood). Here, the big ticket companies perform. This summer they include the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Trisha Brown Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Nina Ananiashvili and Principals of the Bolshoi Ballet.
Blake's Barn, donated by the legendary Hollywood hoofer and Pillow booster Marge Champion, is a 19th-century post and beam structure moved from her property in Stockbridge. The barn is named after her late son, Blake.
The rolling meadow of Jacob's Pillow is dotted with vintage rustic cottages, as well as contemporary barn-buildings. The two-story, gabled Doris Duke Studio Theater, designed by Greenfield architect Margo Jones in 1992, seems like it's always been there. Less well-known dance companies appear here, and tickets are just $16. A commodious porch that overlooks rock gardens is used for informal, pre-performance talks, or for visitors to set for a while.
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