BECKET, Mass. — More than 100 community members of all ages celebrated the opening of Jacob's Pillow's Doris Duke Theatre with a community pop-up dance and open house on Sunday. 

 

The event precedes the theater's ribbon-cutting ceremony, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. 

 

The day was filled with smiles, laughter, tears, art unveilings, and, of course, lots of dancing. 

 

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival at 93 years is the longest-running dance festival in the nation, and the only national historic landmark dedicated to dance, said Pamela Tatge, executive and artistic director. 

 

"There are very few places in our nation that care about, revere, preserve, and celebrate dance like Jacob's Pillow. This theater is all about dance," she said. 

 

"It's dance in the future. It's dance in a way that will not only include artists that have made their artistic homes at Jacob's Pillow, but artists of the future. We are about the past, present, and future of dance at Jacob's Pillow."

 

Since the 1990s, the dance venue has had three stages: the Ted Shawn Theatre, the first theater built for dance in America; the outdoor stage, which has the backdrop of the Berkshire Hills; and Doris Duke Theatre. 

 

The Duke Theatre, named for the philanthropist and arts supporter, was the smaller of the two performance venues at the dance festival. The Ted Shawn Theatre, named for the festival's founder, has more than 600 seats. 

 

"Doris Duke Theatre was an intimate space, a flexible space, where artists who experiment, who are emerging, have the opportunity to present their best work," Tatge said. 

 

The theater opened in 1990 and was Jacob's Pillow's first large studio. It was used for developing new work in class, rehearsals, and performances. 

 

That was until 2020, when it burned down in a fire amid the pandemic. Despite that, the dance community banded together, rising above the ashes, and brought the theater back to life. 

 

"The new Doris Duke Theatre will not only have all of the intimacy and warmth and character of the original Duke, supporting emerging artists, artists who want to have a visceral connection to their audience. We will also have as a hallmark of our work, dance that integrates with technology," Tatge said. 

 

"That is work that gives an audience an experience that they wouldn't otherwise have in person, and also contributes to our online presence, bringing dance to audiences around the world."

 

In preparation for the pop-up dance, the Pillow sent a request out for volunteers who had learned a dance commissioned for the event by Broadway and five-time Tony-nominated choreographer Camille A. Brown. 

 

"What dance does is it builds community. When we move together, we experience the kind of feeling that we wish we had all the time in our world," Tatge said. 

 

Following tours of the new space, the volunteers rehearsed with Camille A. Brown dancers Brianna Dawkins and Eboni Edwards. 

 

Following lunch, the fun and joyful dance was performed in front of the new theater, on its roof, and on the veranda. 

 

"The idea being let's birth this building together and put our good energy and all of the future that awaits us," Tatge said.