Week 5 at the Pillow was all about creative collaboration!!
BalletX presented “Sunset, o639 Hours,” created by choreographer Matthew Neenan and composer Rosie Langabeer. The dance interpreted the dramatic, true story of pilot Edwin Musick’s 1938 inaugural airmail flight across the Pacific. Then, ZviDance showed dances inspired by the work of three visual artists: M.C. Escher, Francis Bacon, and Mark Rothko, created in collaboration with composer Scott Killian.
Listen to their fascinating Post-Show Talks, explaining how these wonderful artists – dancers, choreographers, musicians, and visual artists – worked together!
BalletX Artistic and Executive Director Christine Cox, choreographer Matthew Neenan, and composer Rosie Langabeer, in conversation with Jacob’s Pillow Scholar-in-Residence Philip Szporer.
Choreographer Zvi Gotheiner, composer Scott Killian, and dancer Ying-Ying Shiau in conversation with Jacob’s Pillow Scholar-in-Residence Maura Keefe.
“Creative spark is kind of an impulse – it’s not an intellectual process that I can explain every aspect of – so I thought that adding [the two artists] to Escher would be a choreographic exercise, something that would push me to new directions in creating different processes for each piece… trying to create a language that was specific to that work.”
Nel Shelby is Video Producer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Owner & Filmmaker for Nel Shelby Productions, her New York City-based company dedicated to dance videography and editing. Nel shares her mission to preserve and promote the art of dance with her husband, Christopher Duggan, a dance and wedding photographer. They collaborate on projects with dance companies of worldwide renown, up-and-coming choreographers, dance educators, dance schools and more. Nel is also the proud Director and Producer of PS DANCE! — a New York Emmy-nominated documentary about dance education in NYC’s public schools.