Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, MA
through June 24, 2018
by Josephine Sarnelli
Opening night of the 86th Jacob’s
Pillow Festival highlighted its founder’s progressive view on
bringing international dance to the American stage. Although Ted
Shawn is identified as an innovation American modern dancer, his
legacy is more about globalization and learning to appreciate
different cultures through movement.
The evening began with Oyu Oro Afro
Cuban Dance Ensemble offering a free performance on the Inside/Out
stage. Through singing, music and dance, the 13 performers are
helping to preserve the living African culture in Cuba. The women
wore traditional African headwraps and 25-yard white ruffled skirts
over colorful underskirts. The energy of their dancing was
accentuated by the constant movements of their skirts. Although the
dances were choregraphed, they had the exhilarating feel of
improvisation. One of the dances included stick fighting, first among
the same genders and then between the genders. Perhaps the most
interesting of movements was the touching of heads by couples at
their crowns, as they did back rolls.
In addition to the free performances on
the Inside/Out stage throughout the Festival, Pre-Show Talks are
available to all visitors at no cost, as is an extensive exhibit of
vintage movie posters of classic dance films. With no admission or
parking fees charged to enter the grounds, the public is invited to
truly experience the Festival. In a 15-minute presentation on the
Danish Ballet, the resident scholar highlighted aspects of this dance
style that differentiates it from other schools of ballet. Of
interest was the historical debut of the Royal Danish Ballet at
Jacob’s Pillow, which led to the knighting of Ted Shawn by the King
of Denmark in 1957.
The performance by the Royal Danish
Ballet could best be described as a century of Danish dance, with the
earliest piece from 1836 (La Sylphide) to the most recent in 1966
(Dvorak pas de deux). Each of the seven works performed demonstrated
the “vocabulary” of Danish ballet that distinguishes it from the
Russian and French styles. The tilt of the shoulder in an arabesque
or the mere movement of the wrists in a pose gave inflections not
seen in other balletic forms.
The opening piece, A Folktale, was
exemplative of the light airiness of August Bournonville’s
choreography, which is seen again in his works La Sylphide, The
Kermesse in Bruges, and Giselle. There was playfulness in these pas
de deux and a sense of light heartedness in the world of fairies.
Holly Jean Dorger, Photo by Claus Vedfelt |
The Black Swan from Swan Lake was
breathtaking with Holly Jean Dorger performing an incredible number
of pirouettes and her partner, Jonathan Chmelensky, offering in
return grand jetés with cabrioles.
The finale included all 10 performers
in Napoli, another Bournonville choreography. It included the
Tarantella, complete with tambourines and castanets. It was a
wonderful conclusion to a nostalgic performance of traditional
ballet.