“The retreat brings people together, builds community in the forest, gets participants outside and off their screens, and uses nature sustainably to heal and inspire minds and souls,” stated Great Mountain Forest Executive Director Michael Zafros. Retreat registration closes on July 30.
The magic of tap is movement, plus percussive instrument, plus compositional originality through improvisation. All this rests on a foundation of musical structure, communication, and a story to tell, often of the difficult lives of its African American and Latin originators.
“We are initiating a program of commissioning works that draw attention to the environmental splendor of our Berkshire home, thereby illuminating our responsibility to steward this great landscape on behalf of future generations.”
-- Jacob’s Pillow Director Pamela Tatge
The youth-centered artistic series was the brainchild of Great Barrington native Mika Mintz, a dance teacher at Berkshire Pulse and hopeful medical school applicant.
Jurian Hughes’ reading of a well-chosen selection from Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was especially gripping. Yes, it’s definitely time to re-read this Pre-Civil-War classic.
Driving home from Jacob's Pillow, we reflected on our own roots, including those we laid down in Africa, the ways that we are pulled from them, and how we can sustain their truths within the complexity of our own modern realities.
I know of no other dancers who have forged such a close relationship between meaning and movement. They are trying, in a valiant, unique way to share themselves as individuals and artists. They are crusaders.
Tap also tells a story about race, power, emotion, and adaptation, which comes about through ingenuity and hybridization, stretching the envelope of the art to incorporate new elements, and creating an evolving, elastic, vigorous organism.
The performers I am about to talk about would be safe, we hope, on the stage, but on the street? They would be in danger. This is not an exaggeration but a fact. They are mostly people of color.
The Pillow’s deep tradition of respect for the role of athleticism in modern dance dates back to its origins; Ted Shawn brought in athletes from Springfield College to energize some of his founding productions.
The second piece, “Balance and Imbalance,” was danced by an extraordinary group of women and men … all of the dancers were brilliant and a joy to watch.
The dancers themselves have such energy and such passion that they create an electrifying atmosphere. You can’t take your eyes off them for one second.
