Ted Shawn Theater Opens at Jacob's Pillow
On this day in 1942, the first theater in the nation dedicated exclusively to dance opened at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, a small town in the Berkshire Hills. The building was named for Ted Shawn, the modern dance pioneer who founded the nation's longest running summer dance festival on a farm he bought in 1930. During the first few years, wartime gas rationing meant that people came on foot, but come they did — drawn by the festival's mix of modern, ethnic, folk, and classical dance. Jacob's Pillow has been home, studio, classroom, and stage to countless dance legends including Agnes de Mille, Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, and Robert Joffrey. Today, the Pillow is considered the nation's home for dance.
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