PillowVoices: Dance Through Time

Highlights from a 2022 PillowTalk with Lynn Garafola, author of the biography La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern speaking with scholar-in-residence Brian Schaefer. Garafola illuminates Bronislava Nijinska’s life as a Russian born dancer, sibling to Vaslav Nijinsky, and groundbreaking 20th century ballet choreographer. Garafola also shares some fascinating documentation of Nijinska's pivotal connections to Jacob's Pillow.

Choreographer and teacher Maria Torres, historian Cassie Mey, and dancer Abdiel are each passing along Hustle social dance traditions in dynamic ways. Former Associate Curator Ali Rosa-Salas guides this 2022 PillowTalk about the origins of The Hustle, the resurgence of its popularity worldwide, and preservation efforts such as creating original theater works, oral histories, and producing intergenerational dance parties.

Dance Scholar Dr. Arushi Singh dives into the historical and cultural context of three Contemporary Indian artists who are engaging with their own cultural inheritances as a vital aspect of reclaiming identity on their own terms.

Political analyst Rachel Maddow speaks with Jacob's Pillow Scholar-in-Residence Suzanne Carbonneau in a 2009 PillowTalk. Maddow humanizes the political context of the early years of Jacob's Pillow and then offers her personal perspective on the meaningful role that the arts play within an evolving democracy.

Christian Warner hosts this episode focused on the human body’s capacity to navigate collective grief, moving toward not only healing, but self-actualization. Warner is a Black interdisciplinary performer, choreographer, and director. He shares his own experiences as well as excerpts from conversations with dance artists Dormeshia, Camille A. Brown, Ronald K. Brown, and their collaborators.

In this episode, professor and choreographer Silvana Cardell contextualizes the work of the Mimulus Dance Company through the lens of adjacent histories and influences: Cardell from Argentina and Mimulus from Brazil.