Press Release

1. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PHOTOS CONTACT:
Mariclare Hulbert, Director of Marketing and Communication
413.243.9919 x130
mhulbert@jacobspillow.org
-or-
Toni Bolger, Public Relations Coordinator
413.243.9919 x132
tbolger@jacobspillow.org
JACOB’S PILLOW PRESENTS
CANADA’S ROYAL WINNIPEG BALLET
IN A RARE U.S. APPEARANCE
FIRST RETURN ENGAGEMENT TO THE PILLOW
SINCE THEIR WIDELY-HERALDED DEBUT
NEARLY FIFTY YEARS AGO
July 30, 2012–(Becket, MA) Jacob’s Pillow presents Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet in a packed
program that features works by award-winning choreographers Peter Quanz, Mark Godden, and
Mauricio Wainrot, at the Ted Shawn Theatre August 1–5. This marks their first appearance at the
Pillow since their historic two-week engagement in 1964, a high-profile showcase that launched the
company toward international recognition. Versatility, technical excellence, and captivating finesse
are the hallmarks of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a company that Jennifer Dunning of The New York
Times says, “succeeds to an impressive extent in proving it can dance in just about any style.”
“The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is one of the most accomplished and appealing ballet companies in the
world, yet is rarely seen in the U.S.” comments Ella Baff, Executive and Artistic Director of Jacob’s
Pillow. “A great deal of cooperation made it possible to overcome an expansive geographic distance
so that the Pillow could present this exciting program of varied and superb dance and music.”
The varied program opens with Canadian choreographer Peter Quanz’s In Tandem, a dynamic
choreographic work set to the 2009 Pulitzer-prize winning score “Double Sextet” by American
composer Steve Reich. Originally commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process
Series, In Tandem is a fast-paced and pointed neo-classical ballet that Alastair Macaulay of The
New York Times praised for its “smartly expansive vocabulary [that] is full of chic.” Quanz, a former
dancer with the Stuttgart Ballet, is an award-winning choreographer whose work has been presented
by acclaimed companies such as American Ballet Theatre, the Mariinsky Ballet, Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens de Montréal, and The National Ballet of Canada. Quanz’s work was most recently seen
at the Pillow earlier this season, when Luminous was performed by The Hong Kong Ballet to critical
and audience acclaim.
The program continues with Moonlight Sonata, an excerpt from AS ABOVE, SO BELOW, by
Montréal-based American choreographer Mark Godden, who describes the ballet as a meditation on
“who we are and who we struggle to be…there’s who you love and then there’s who you are.” The
pas de deux, set to the eponymous piano music by Ludwig van Beethoven, explores the purity of
romantic love in the human imagination. Although it premiered in 2001, Moonlight Sonata was

2. presented as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver, when Royal Winnipeg Ballet
performed in a rare collaboration with The National Ballet of Canada. Godden has created original
works for dance companies across Canada and the United States as well as in Latin America. A
former Resident Choreographer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Godden has received numerous
awards for his ballets at international ballet competitions and his full-length ballet Dracula, a Royal
Winnipeg Ballet commission, was adapted into an International Emmy-award winning film.
The triple-bill concludes with Argentinean choreographer Mauricio Wainrot’s larger-than-life Carmina
Burana. Originally commissioned for Royal Ballet of Flanders in 1998, this work has been a staple in
the Royal Winnipeg Ballet repertoire since 2002.The five-part work is set to the iconic score of the
same name by composer Carl Orff and features the full company in this powerful and visually-
stunning theatrical production that the Winnipeg Free Press calls an “unforgettable…boiling cauldron
of choreography.” Wainrot, one of Argentina’s most celebrated choreographers, is currently the
Artistic Director of Ballet Contemporáneo del Teatro San Martín of Buenos Aires. More than forty
companies have premiered Wainrot’s works, including English National Ballet, Göteborg Opera of
Sweden, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, among many others.
Founded in 1939, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet is the longest continually operating ballet company in
North America, and the first recipient of a royal title granted under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. In
1958, Arnold Spohr was appointed Artistic Director. Under Spohr’s direction the Royal Winnipeg Ballet
grew and developed to take its place among the world's internationally renowned companies, most
notably after their emergence at Jacob’s Pillow, where founder Ted Shawn heralded them as "the
glittering crown jewel of the 1964 season." Time magazine acclaimed the "youth, boldness, and
exuberance" of the company while Spohr said of that engagement, "That's where we became famous."
In 1996 André Lewis was named Artistic Director. During his tenure, he has brought in choreographers
from Canada and abroad to present new and innovative works.
Six dancers currently affiliated with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet are alumni of The School at
Jacob’s Pillow Ballet Program under the direction of Anna-Marie Holmes. Three of these dancers,
Tristan Dobrowney, Harrison James, and Sophia Lee, are set to perform during the company’s
Pillow engagement.
RELATED EVENT
Free PillowTalk: Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Past, Present, Future
Friday, August 3 at 5pm
This survey of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet begins with tales of its auspicious 1964 Pillow debut, while
Artistic Director André Lewis speaks about current successes and dancers look to challenges ahead.
FREE
Performance and Ticket Information
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, August 1 – Saturday, August 4, 8:00pm
Saturday, August 4 and Sunday, August 5, 2:00pm
Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered in Blake’s Barn
30 minutes before every performance.
A Post-Show Talk with André Lewis and a Pillow Scholar will take place onstage on Friday,
August 3.

3. Tickets $65-$70. Now on sale online at jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, or in
person at the Jacob’s Pillow Box Office.
Box Office hours: Monday and Tuesday, 10am–6pm, Wednesday through Saturday 10am–
8pm, and Sunday 11am–5pm.
Jacob’s Pillow is located at 358 George Carter Road in Becket, MA, 01223 (10 minutes east
on Route 20 from Mass Pike Exit 2). The Jacob’s Pillow campus and theatres are
handicapped-accessible.
IN THE DORIS DUKE THEATRE, AUGUST 1–5
JONAH BOKAER
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, August 1 – Saturday, August 4, 8:15pm
Saturday, August 4 and Sunday, August 5, 2:15pm
U.S. PREMIERE
Jonah Bokaer, who has been making artistic waves on the international dance circuit since he began
choreographing almost ten years ago, will return to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival August 1–5 in the
Doris Duke Theatre. At the Pillow, he and longtime associates will present the U.S. premiere of
CURTAIN, an evening-length collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Daniel Arsham. The work had
its European premiere this past month at the Avignon Festival to audience acclaim.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, Jonah Bokaer is an international choreographer, media artist, artist
space developer, and social entrepreneur. Called “contemporary dance’s renaissance man” by
Roslyn Sulcas of The New York Times, Bokaer’s multimedia dance productions are surprising, witty,
intelligent, and visually astounding.
The design for CURTAIN is created by long-time Bokaer collaborator and acclaimed contemporary
visual artist Daniel Arsham, who contributes imaginative and innovative staging and sets, including
life size sculptures of plaster and sand, and a “non-Newtonian” shape-shifting element. The original
commissioned score by Chris Garneau includes portions of a student lecture that composer John
Cage gave at Jacob’s Pillow in 1984, identified from the Jacob’s Pillow Archives by Director of
Preservation Norton Owen and Bokaer. This year marks John Cage’s centennial, an occasion being
celebrated across the world and also acknowledged by Bill T. Jones in his presentation of the new
work Story/Time at the Ted Shawn Theatre in late July this year.
FREE THIS WEEK AUGUST 1–5
Free Inside/Out Performance: Danielle Russo Dance Company
Wednesday, August 1, 6:15pm
This NYC-based dance-theatre ensemble brings Learning to forget and other tragic fortune, a
exploration of memory and its opposing states; repetition versus rendition, endurance versus
exhaustion, presence versus absence. Six dancers perform Russo's choreography with "dramatically
eloquent athleticism" (Deborah Jowitt for the The Village Voice), with live music accompaniment by
bassist Jason Anastasoff. FREE
Free Inside/Out Performance: CONTINUUM Contemporary/Ballet
Thursday, August 2, 6:15pm
Founded by Donna Salgado and based in New York City, CONTINUUM Contemporary/Ballet is
comprised of classically trained dancers with distinct contemporary voices. Returning to the
Inside/Out series, the program includes Diversions, an elegant sextet en pointe featuring elements of
cultural dance as dancers move through shifting patterns and partnering. FREE

4. Free PillowTalk: Royal Winnipeg Ballet: Past, Present, Future
Friday, August 3 at 5pm
This survey of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet begins with tales of its auspicious 1964 Pillow debut, while
Artistic Director André Lewis speaks about current successes and dancers look to challenges ahead.
FREE
Free Inside/Out Performance: BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT
Friday, August 3, 6:15pm
Kyla Barkin and Aaron Selissen's contemporary dance Differential Cohomology merges math and art
through lush athletic choreography, hexagonal patterns, and an intriguing cyclical course that
illustrates the journey toward the inevitable. FREE
Free PillowTalk: Jonah Bokaer and Daniel Arsham: Artistic Partnerships
Saturday, August 4 at 4pm
Visual artist Daniel Arsham and choreographer Jonah Bokaer bring three bold collaborations to the
Pillow this week, and in this talk they discuss these and other groundbreaking stage works. FREE
Free Inside/Out Performance: The School at Jacob’s Pillow Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance
Program
Saturday, August 4, 6:15pm
Following their first week of intense study and rehearsal as part of the Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance
Program, dancers of The School present works created by Program Director Chet Walker and
Broadway guest choreographer Lisa Gajda. FREE
FREE EXHIBITS—OPEN JUNE 20–AUGUST 26
Decades of Dance
Blake's Barn
Open Tues-Sun, noon to approx 10pm
From its inception in 1933 to the present day, Jacob's Pillow has been home to extraordinary dance
from around the world. In celebration of the Pillow's 80th Anniversary Season, remarkable images
from each decade are grouped thematically in a unique commemorative exhibition. Culled from the
extensive Jacob's Pillow Archives, this cornucopia of treasures includes a virtual Who's Who of the
dance world and features rare materials never before exhibited. FREE
Old / Pillow
Ted Shawn Theatre Lobby
Open 60 minutes before every Ted Shawn Theatre performance
New York photographer Toby Old has focused his lens on specific locations like Coney Island and
Times Square, and explored themes such as fashion shows, nightclubs, and boxing matches. His
Jacob’s Pillow visits over the past five years have yielded images that capture both the place and the
people who enliven it. Some of these photographs were recently featured in a Paris gallery; this
exhibit marks the first time they have been shown in the U.S. FREE
Ivan Chermayeff Designs
Doris Duke Theatre Lobby
Open 60 minutes before every Doris Duke Theatre performance
A celebrated designer, illustrator, and artist, Ivan Chermayeff has created familiarly iconic images for
hundreds of prominent clients such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian and has won
numerous awards. In 1955, with Tom Geismar, he co-founded the internationally-known New York
City design firm Chermayeff & Geismar. Chermayeff's designs for Jacob's Pillow in the 1980s and

5. 90s are still remembered for their bold vision and originality, and many are collected here for the first
time. FREE
Precious Medals
Blake's Barn
Open Tues–Sun, noon to approx 10pm
When President Barack Obama presented the National Medal of Arts to Jacob's Pillow at the White
House last year, the Pillow became the first dance presenting organization ever to receive this
distinction. The medal itself and the signed presidential proclamation are on display in this exhibit
along with some of the other awards received by the Pillow and its founder, Ted Shawn, including
the Capezio Award, the Commonwealth Award, Shawn's medal from the King of Denmark, and other
treasures. FREE
Anniversary Highlights, Part 2
Bakalar Studio
Open to the public whenever classes or rehearsals are not in session
Photos from past Pillow seasons traditionally line the Bakalar Studio walls, and the current 80th
Anniversary Festival offers a special opportunity to look back at memorable images from the
Festival's history. FREE
Jacob's Pillow Dance Archives
Blake's Barn
Open Tues–Sun, noon to approx 10pm
This informal library and reading room allows impromptu visitors to view videos, browse through
books, access the Pillow's computer catalog, or peruse permanent collections of Pillow programs
and photographs. Pillow Interactive, the popular touch-screen kiosk, provides instant access to rare
film clips ranging from the present-day back to the 1930s, and the Dance Heritage Coalition's new
Secure Media Network features videos from other archives throughout the country. FREE
Jacob’s Pillow, celebrating its 80th Anniversary Festival in 2012, is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of
Arts, and home to America's longest running international dance festival. The Festival includes more than 50 national and
international dance companies and 300 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, and events. The School at
Jacob’s Pillow, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S., encompasses the diverse disciplines of
Ballet, Cultural Traditions, Contemporary, and Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance, as well as an Intern Program in various departments of
arts administration and production. The Pillow’s extensive Archives, open year-round to the public, chronicle more than 80 years of
dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and video. Year-round Community Programs enrich the lives of
children and adults through public classes, residencies in area schools, and more than 200 free public events. Through Jacob’s
Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, a nationally-recognized program, artist-educators work with Berkshire County teachers and students
grades K-12, transforming existing curricula such as biology, literature, and history into kinesthetic and creative learning
experiences. Creative Development Residencies, in which dance companies are invited to live and work at the Pillow and enjoy
unlimited studio time; choreography commissions; and the annual $25,000 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award all support visionary
dance artists and choreographers. Virtual Pillow is aimed at expanding global audiences for dance and offers the opportunity to
experience dance and Jacob's Pillow from anywhere in the world via online interactive exhibits, global video networks, and mobile
social media. As part of the Virtual Pillow initiative, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, is a curated online video collection of dance
highlights from 1936 to today. On March 2, 2011, President Obama honored Jacob’s Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the
highest arts award given by the United States Government. Jacob’s Pillow is the first dance presenting organization to receive this
prestigious award. For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.
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