Canadians help celebrate Jacob’s Pillow anniversary

This summer marks the eightieth anniversary of Jacob’s Pillow international dance festival. Every year thousands of people visit Western Massachusetts to experience the festival, which welcomes companies and audiences from around the world. This year, in celebration of The Pillow’s founder Ted Shawn and his company of male dancers, Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham have created The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth. The piece consists of a unique show in which twenty male dancers execute original choreography as well as share brief personal anecdotes. Among the rotating performers were dancers from various backgrounds including Canadians Josh Beamish and Hari Krishnan. Krishnan performed a version of his solo work Pissing off the Neighbours as part of The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth. Other Canadian companies contributing to this summer’s festival are Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, returning after a nearly fifty-year absence, to perform Canadian choreographer Peter Quanz’s In Tandem, the pas de deux from Mark Godden’s As Above So Below and Mauricio Wainrot’s Carmina Burana; Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot returns to perform Dark Matters; and Out Innerspace performs ME SO YOU SO ME as part of the Inside/Out outdoor performances.