Dawn Lane & Co. To Perform At Inside/Out At Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – Jacob’s Pillow Dance, the celebrated international.jpeg)
dance organization and National Historic Landmark nestled in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, presents Dawn Lane & Community Access to the Arts (CATA) as part of its Inside/Out series on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 6:30pm. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival presents both renowned and emerging dance companies and is considered one of the premier arts festivals of the world. The Inside/Out series showcases a different company every day and features a panoramic view of the Berkshire Hills as a backdrop for performances. Inside/Out showings take place at 6:30pm Wednesdays-Saturdays during the Festival and are free and open to the public. This performance series is part of the Pillow’s extensive audience engagement programming, offering more than 200 free performances, events, talks, Archives access, and tours of the 163-acre National Historic Landmark. The 2009 Festival runs June 24 – August 30.
Currently, Dawn Lane is the Artistic Director for Community Access to the Arts, a non-profit arts organization that provides over 1,000 visual and performing arts workshops for 600 individuals with developmental, physical, emotional, and/or mental disabilities throughout Berkshire County.
Lane is an alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow and her Inside/Out program will include common ground, featuring dancers from CATA’s Moving Company, and Berkshire County dancers Lorimer Burns and Jane Goodrich. Founded in 1997, Moving Company is a group of dancers with and without disabilities from Berkshire County. Also performing are third grade students from Becket Washington School in Berkshire County. Lane, a Jacob's Pillow Curriculum in Motion® dance educator, participates in a two-week residency each year at the Becket Washington School. Her piece, Signature Dance, is the result of a 2009 Curriculum in Motion® residency.
“Our audiences love to see a wide variety of dance companies and styles and Inside/Out gives them the opportunity to see a multitude of very talented artists, without cost,” says Ella Baff, Jacob’s Pillow Executive Director. “The companies that perform on Inside/Out are carefully chosen for their artistic excellence and are an important part of the Pillow experience.”
Dawn Lane's choreography blends poignancy, humor and democracy with dancers and audiences of all abilities. In 2008, Dawn was honored as a Distinguished Alumnae of Massachusetts College of Art and was recognized as a Finalist in Choreography by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work has been funded by the MCC, the LEF Foundation, the Cottonwood Foundation, and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Council. Since 1993, Dawn has been one of three nationally chosen dance educators to lead Curriculum in Motion® residencies at local Berkshire County schools.
Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion® uses choreography to develop creative thinking and mastery of academic concepts. In core subjects such as algebra, biology, languages, and social studies, students and teachers work with outstanding Pillow artist-educators chosen for their skill in this method and brought in from all over the country. Longstanding partnerships with Berkshire County schools include working with Great Barrington’s Monument Mountain Regional High School for over 20 years. Program results are persuasive; students demonstrate higher test scores, improved critical thinking, and have deeper social interaction with their peers and teachers. The program meets state and national dance standards, and has been featured at national education conferences and on National Public Radio’s The Best of Our Knowledge.
The 2009 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival features 52 companies on three stages, spanning the multifaceted genres of contemporary dance, tap, hip hop, flamenco, ballet, dance-theatre, and more. The 2009 Festival runs June 24 through August 30, and offers more than 110 ticketed events and 200 free events, including performances; moderated interviews, film screenings, and book signings with artists and celebrities; art and photography exhibits; observations of The School at Jacob’s Pillow; receptions; special events; guided tours, access to the videos, books and dance treasures of the Archives; and over 75 dance classes for the community.
For Festival ticket prices, Berkshires lodging information, and complete details about Jacob’s Pillow go to www.jacobspillow.org.
