Jacob's Pillow

He came to see Vicki and I, uh, do shows and whatever.

And he had been talking to a woman who ran a v- the oldest dance festival in America, strange name, the Jacob's Pillow Festival-

Mm-hmm

...

She also originated a role in a new creation by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.

for the Jacob's Pillow 2024 Gala.

In 2026, she co-directed and premiered Midsummer Dance Festival, performing in Act II, Pas de Deux from Coppelia, Ariana Hewlett's Quartet, and originating a role in Emma Wheeler's Apartheid.

I think that's how you say it.

It's beautiful.

And it's, it's very, very unique look.

And that was kind of, The other main source of inspiration for the festival was how can we bring the craft that we love so much into this beautiful space? Partially because, you know, it's interesting to see dance in other places besides theaters, but also because I think both of us have spent time at Jacob's Pillow and can both attest to the very different energy of working on something while you're outdoors.

And I do think that that can, yeah, that's a, I think a larger theme of the festival of, you know, what does it mean for audience members to be engaging with dance where we're stripped down, we're not wearing the same opulent costumes that you'd see in, you know, a gold plated opera house.

Welcome to Pillow Voices, a production of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, with content drawn from the Pillow archives and the artistic community.

I'm Norton Owen, the Pillow's historian and founding director of preservation, and it's my pleasure to introduce this episode featuring a 2026 Pillow Talk about the future of Latine dance.

Hello Scholar-in-Residence Ramon Rivera-Severa is joined by Ballet Hispanico's Eduardo Villarro, flamenco artist Nelida Terraro, and choreographer Luis Salgado in a lively conversation about what it means to carry the fullness of Latinidad culture into dance.

And that matters.

That makes a difference.

Being able to be invited at the Jacob's Pillow program in school and being able to bring Bomba and Plena and awareness of Suzuki and Viewpoints to these wonderful future generations of artists.

That's the way we represent.

That's the way we open doors.

Cynthia Erivo on one hand and Beethoven's Ninth on the other.

And then we were Jacob's Pillow for this pretty out there sort of dancing with robots and sort of audiovisual music and stuff like that.

And I guess I just...

Screamed out loudly for me, and I have a piece that I've written about this as well, is just I think in a world where certain things become more abundant, the scarcity we feel around being with other humans around human performance will actually pull us potentially out in the world.

Mm-hmm.

So I saw the development of this work on Instagram and, and saw several clips, and saw development happening when you were at Pillow, and saw the different castings and the duets, and just really felt like I had, um, watched the journey of this piece for a long time.

And then there was that streaming window-

Yeah

They are the three older ones, 17, 14, and 12.

They all love the arts, and so we go to Jacob's Pillow in Tanglewood.

And that's my daughter's three girls.

And then my son had a daughter who's 10, and then he had twin boys who are 8.