Jacob’s Pillow has an exceedingly long and illustrious dance history, as most people know. What is also remarkable, however, is how many of the choreographers and dancers who grace the Pillow stages each summer have a connection to the Pillow in their past. And sometimes that connection is not so direct.
During her curtain speeches, Jacob’s Pillow Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge often delights in letting the audience know how the artists they are about to see are connected to the Pillow, and she did so again this past weekend when David Dorfman brought his company, David Dorfman Dance , to the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage. Ms.
Tatge noted that Dorfman first came to the Pillow as a dancer with Susan Marshall & Company way back in 1987. He then returned with his own company for the first time in 1993, and he has had a relationship with the Pillow ever since. Dorfman has been making dances for nearly 40 years.
As he himself notes, during that time he has “created movement-based theater that seeks to de-stigmatize the notion of accessibility and interaction in post-modern dance by embracing audiences with radically humanistic, visceral, dance, music, and text.” While that may be a bit of a mouthful, Dorfman then clarifies by saying he simply wants to “get the whole world dancing.” This past weekend, Dorfman and his company of excellent dancers brought his piece “(A) Way out of my Body” to the Leir Stage.
He describes the piece as a “meditation on the.