Berkshire Art
Artists, Galleries and Music in and around the Berkshires

Dance

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

PO Box 287
Lee, MA
Box Office 413-243-0745
http://www.jacobspillow.org
Jacob's Pillow, the home of America's longest-running dance festival, celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2007.

The only dance institution to be named a National Historic Landmark, it encompasses—beyond the world-class performances by leading companies—a professional school, rare and extensive archives open to the public free of charge, an Intern program, year-round Community Programs, and a Creative Development Residency program. The historic site includes 163 acres, 31 buildings, three unique stages (including the first theater in the U.S. built specifically for dance), three dance studios, exhibition spaces, restaurants, the Pillow Store, residential housing, administrative offices, a health center, gardens, trails, and woodlands.

Albany Berkshire Ballet
25 Monroe Street
Albany, NY 12210
and
51 North Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201
http://www.berkshireballet.org/
The Albany Berkshire Ballet was founded in 1960 by Artistic Director Madeline Cantarella Culpo as an outgrowth of her school, the Cantarella School of Dance, located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Originally known as the Berkshire Ballet Guild and later as the Berkshire Civic Ballet, it was originally intended as a performance outlet for the school's advanced students. The aspirations and abilities of the students soon pushed the Company in a professional direction. Renamed the Berkshire Ballet in 1975, it emerged as a full-time professional Company servicing the Northeast and Canada. In 1989 the company expanded again by establishing an additional home in Albany, New York, thus joining the growing number of professional ballet companies who seek to broaden their base of support with partnerships in other arts centers. Once again, its name changed to reflect its new status.

more shortly...