Grace, elegance at Jacob's Pillow
Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in a summer-long series in which Advocate Assistant Editor Judith Fairweather, a Berkshire County native, explores the county as a tourist would (no special media accommodations) and visits places she has never been. Read about all of her visits at blogtheberkshires.com.
BECKET — The late afternoon sun had dipped behind the trees, bathing the Berkshire hills beyond Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out stage in a soft glow.
The wooden benches provided for seating were nearly full shortly before the recent 6:30 performance. Others chose to bring chairs or blankets. It was a glorious setting for a glorious adventure in dance.
My friend Sharon had agreed to accompany me to this free performance. The evening started with the easy trip up Route 20 east out of Lee. I could tell on the journey that Sharon, who knows me and my geographic/spatial/map reading difficulties well, had some trepidation about my ability to find the place in the wilds of Becket. (Never mind that I had successfully navigated us both to our favorite venue, The Dream Away Lodge, in even wilder parts of Becket, previously.)
I was happy to offer to Sharon that one can get to the Pillow with — gasp — no map needed. As we headed up the mountain, soon enough we started to see the vertical banners hanging above, guiding our way. Shortly thereafter, we came up the Pillow’s wonderful, huge, bright yellow signs, which heralded our arrival at George Carter Road to our left. We had made it, without getting lost. Yea me!
I think it is important to note here that I had actually been to the Pillow a short five days earlier, when I had taken the kids to Community Day, intending to base my column on that experience. However, it was so brutally hot that we didn’t last long enough to see any actual dancing, and thus I had to make the second trip in order to have a full experience of the Pillow. Sharon knew this, but still did not have full confidence in my ability to find the place again, and rightfully so. I have been known to get lost in my house at night on the way to the bathroom.
We found parking immediately, fairly close to the entrance, and then started to make our way across the grounds. Another feature I love about the Pillow is the very clear, numerous signposts that point your way to any part of the facility, which is quite expansive. The signs made me smile, because they are the same type of signpost that was featured in my all-time favorite TV show, “M*A*S*H.” Remember how it pointed out the direction and distances to the homes of the residents of the 4077th, like Toledo, Ohio, over 6,000 miles away, home to Corp. Maxwell Klinger? But I digress …
The historic property, which bears the same name as the farm founded there by the Carter family in 1790 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003, was purchased in 1930 by dance pioneer Ted Shawn and his wife, Ruth St. Denis. It is rumored that the property was also a stop along the Underground Railroad. On July 9, 1942, the very first theater in the United States created specifically for dance, the Ted Shawn Theatre, opened its doors.
The Inside/Out series, created under the tenure of Liz Thompson (1980-89), is held on the Marcia & Seymour Simon Performance Space. The free performances are held Wednesday through Saturday at 6:30 p.m. during the festival season. Lydia Johnson Dance was performing the night of our visit.
The company performed two different sets of pieces over a total of 40 minutes. The first set saw the women dancers in simple short shifts, with the men in white T-shirts and khaki pants. In the second series, all the dancers were clothed in short black shorts and sleeveless tops in shades of blue from royal to periwinkle. Sharon and I agreed we liked the women best in the ultra-feminine attire of the first set, but the shorts allowed us to see the incredible muscles of all the dancers more clearly in the second set.
The company uses a combination of classical ballet as well as modern dance; the lifts were beautiful to behold and the feeling overall was very sensual and intimate. I thought the 40 minutes passed far too quickly and was sad to see it over. We both said we were going to tell friends and family about this incredible opportunity to see such free performances.
But now we were at a loss. It was far too early to head to our second destination of the night, so how would we while away the time? We decided to head to the Coffee Bar; having been out late the previous night, we were already starting the evening a little bit wiped.
But we were distracted on the way to our coffee. Walking past the Pillow Store and the Tea Garden, we saw a group of people gathered in a doorway. Naturally, I had to know what they were looking at.
We found ourselves peering into the Bakalar Studio, where a rehearsal (of what I don’t know) was under way. Sharon and I stood with mouths agape as the dancers practiced their movements across the floor, with the clearly defined muscles in their legs rippling as they leapt in their grand jete and landed lightly on the floor’s surface. I felt like my now-9-year-old when she was but a preschooler, peeking in the door of one of the studios at Terpsichore on North Street in Pittsfield, spying on the “big girls” in their pointe class before heading into her pre-ballet session. I think I was just as enthralled this night as she was on those long-ago Saturday mornings.
We finally headed for our coffee, drinking it as we walked around the grounds past the Pillow Pub, the Doris Duke Studio Theatre and the Ted Shawn Theatre. It was a beautiful evening — the meticulously landscaped grounds, the surrounding trees with their chirping birds and the approaching twilight all contributed to a feeling of peacefulness. It was a sublime way to kick off a weekend evening with a good friend after a busy work week
The grace of the dancers and the beauty of the Pillow property contribute to an atmosphere unlike that of any other venue I have visited in the Berkshires. And as for being in the “wilds of Becket”? Sharon was amazed to find that it is, in fact, only a short 10 or 15 minutes from Lee. And if I can find it, then you should make it a point to find it, too. The adventure is worth it.
Jacob’s Pillow is located at 358 George Carter Road in Becket, just off of Route 20. The festival season runs from June 14-Aug. 24. Each week during the season, the free Inside/Out performances are held Wednesday through Saturday at 6:30. There are numerous other free events as well, including Pillow Talks and pre-show and post-show talks. Each year the Pillow also holds a Community Day with free events and giveaways, which this year was held on July 20. Info: jacobspillow.org or 413-243-9919.