Thursday, September 17, 2026

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Alex Bloomstein

Alex Bloomstein began dancing in 1977. He studied ballet, modern, composition and choreography with many teachers over the years. Alex performed his choreography, as well as the choreography of others, at numerous venues, including the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts) in New York City. Alex has taught ballet technique and pointe, modern technique, composition and choreography, improvisation, social dancing and movement for actors in a wide variety of settings, and he still regularly teaches. From 2006 to 2021, Alex was the Artistic Director of Ballet Arts Studio, a conservatory-level ballet and dance school in Beacon, New York. Between 1986 and 1988, Alex wrote dance reviews for The Berkshire Eagle, The North Adams Transcript, and The Schenectady Gazette. Alex is also a lawyer who practices in Hillsdale, New York.

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The 2025 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival opens

Ted Shawn, the Pillow’s founder and creative center for decades and famous for bringing dance and performance from all over the world to the Pillow, would have been proud.

The 2025 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival is underway!

The season opens with a festive gala honoring Pillow Director of Preservation Norton Owen.

DANCE REVIEW: American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park

There is an extra edge to performances by young dancers, an edge that the flawless and consummate older and more seasoned professional dancer can sometimes fail to embrace. That edge was certainly on display at this Kaatsbaan performance.

DANCE REVIEW: Mamela Nyamza’s ‘Hatched Ensemble’ at PS21

PS21 has been building a name for itself through its audacious programming in music, circus, dance, and theater—one assumes that will continue under new Artistic and Executive Director Vallejo Gantner—and “Hatched Ensemble” was no exception.

DANCE REVIEW: Pilobolus at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

It is clear that the current artistic directors of Pilobolus are attempting to carry on the troupe's initial vision, in the same collaborative fashion, albeit with differing degrees of success.

Local artist Deborah Harris celebrates 25 years of teaching ‘Children and Adult Dance in the Style of Isadora Duncan’

Watching Duncan dancers is often like observing nature with musical accompaniment. The dancers evoke birds flying, trees swaying, water rushing, deer leaping, waves ebbing and flowing, and clouds drifting, all redolent with breath.

David Parker and The Bang Group bring ‘Nut/Cracked’ to Kaatsbaan Cultural Park on weekend of Dec. 20

To make sure everyone knows this is no ordinary “Nutcracker,” Parker’s version for The Bang Group is entitled “Nut/Cracked.” Yes, Parker uses the Tchaikovsky music, but not familiar orchestral versions.

DANCE REVIEW: Company Wayne McGregor at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park

Sir Wayne McGregor's interdisciplinary works encompass dance, film, music, visual art, technology, and science, and the work he presented at Kaatsbaan this weekend, “Autobiography (V100 + V101),” is no exception.

The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival is nurturing and supporting dance and dancers all year round

Jacob's Pillow is an institution that promotes dance and dance education in the Berkshires, and supports and nurtures artists and choreographers, all year round.

DANCE REVIEW: Kaatsbaan Cultural Park’s ‘New Works Bill’ of dance

All of the pieces on the program were nurtured and developed through residencies at Kaatsbaan. Results from the three residencies in performance this past weekend were extremely impressive.

Kaatsbaan Cultural Park is now featuring its fall events in dance

This fall, opportunities still exist to experience all that Kaatsbaan’s Cultural Park has to offer. It is not that far a drive, and worth the trip.

DANCE REVIEW: South Chicago Dance Theatre at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

There is a pronounced buzz around South Chicago Dance Theatre, and around company founder and School of Jacob's Pillow alum Kia S. Smith herself.

DANCE REVIEW: Dance Theatre of Harlem at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

The program the company is presenting at the Pillow is eclectic, and it is abundantly clear that Garland still wants the company to represent something larger than itself, in the most expansive and inclusive way possible.

DANCE REVIEW: kNoname Artist/Roderick George at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

It seems fitting that the very first Men Dancers Award was just presented to Roderick George, whose company kNoname Artist performed his work for men dancers, entitled “Venom,” last Thursday evening on the Henry J. Leir Stage.

DANCE REVIEW: Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

Everyone should go see Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca at the Pillow this week. It is a wonderful, elevating and enriching experience.

DANCE REVIEW: Parsons Dance at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

The program Parsons has brought to the Pillow represents work he has made over the past 40-plus years, including perhaps Parsons’ most famous piece, “Caught.”
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