Lyrical, elegant “Lar Lubovitch Dance Company” enchants at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

BECKET, Mass. — Immerse yourself in a total experience of dance, food, and history, in a bucolic setting at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival this summer.
In March, President Barack Obama honored the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival with a National Medal of Arts, the highest arts award given by the United States Government. Named a National Historic Landmark in 2003, Jacob’s Pillow is the first dance performing organization that has received this honor, and the accolades are well deserved.
Each week different guest artists perform, and this week the magical, lyrical Lar Lubovitch Dance Company graces the stage at the Ted Shawn Theatre through Sunday.
For those who saw the Robert Altman film “The Company” it was Lubovitch who choreographed its highlight, with the charming, graceful dance to “My Funny Valentine,” by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Lubovitch’s signature style is smooth, graceful, and endlessly pleasing.
The 10 gifted dancers performed for an energetic two hours Wednesday. The first was an ensemble performance called “North Star,” originally choreographed by Lubovitch in 1978. It feels just as fresh and timeless today, with the whole company, plus solo performances by Jenna Fakoury and Reid Bartelme, with various quartets, trios, and duets interwoven throughout.
Fakoury performs an amazing, robotic, herky-jerky like solo under a bright spot light that is as shocking as it is riveting to watch, and even gets her massive curling hair into the action, with hyper-kinetic body contortions at frenetic pace.
The prerecorded music of “North Star” is composed by the fabulous Philip Glass, and has a dream-like, ethereal quality that is transformative and mesmerizing.
The dancers are all wearing similar navy tunics and navy tights that make them look identical at first, until time subtly unveils their unique characteristics and personalities. Costumes by Clovis Ruffin.
Next Katarzyna Skarpetowska in white and Brian McGinnis in blue perform a elegiac, graceful, and romantic “Duet From Meadow” from 1999 by Lubovitch, set to music composed by Gavin Bryars called “Incipit Vita Nova” with costumes by Ann Howard.
Following the brief intermission the dancers return all in black for Lubovitch’s 2010 “The Legend of Ten,” set to Johannes Brahms’ “Quintet for Piano and Strings in F Minor, Opus 34” movements I and IV.
After the second intermission they dance to “Coltrane’s Favorite Things” performed by the John Coltrane’s Quartet’s live rendition, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.
It is a tribute to Lubovitch’s seamless, distinctive choreography that despite the various composers, his own sensual, flowing, and elegant style remains consistent throughout.
Arrive early to the event or pop in during intermission to the free display in the airy Blake Barn of photographs by Annie Leibowitz whose mother was a dancer and who photographed dancers Mark Morris and the inimitable Mikhail Baryshnikov and others at Jacob’s Pillow.
Some patrons arrived well before the opening performance Wednesday to enjoy their own homemade picnics, while others grabbed a burger and beverage at the Pillow Pub.
If you really want to experience a special evening, however, make reservations for the al fresco Café at Jacob’s Pillow offering a select menu, which changes periodically. Jacob’s Pillow serves locally grown products from Berkshire and Hudson Valley farms.
The performances for Lubovitch have only limited seating available through Sunday, but fortunately there are other troupes through the end of August that are coming to Jacob’s Pillow, including the LDP/Laboratory Dance Project, from South Korea; Big Dance Theater; 3e Etage: Soloists and Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet; and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Expand your horizons and discover what makes Jacob’s Pillow such a life-affirming, remarkable place.

LAR LUBOVITCH DANCE COMPANY
Four Stars
Theater: Ted Shawn Theatre
Location: 358 George Carter Road, Becket, Mass.
Production: Artistic director and choreographer Lar Lubovitch. Executive director Ricard J. Caples. Lighting director Jack Mehler. Production stage manager Maxine Glorsky. Company manager Leticia D. Baratta. Costumer Naomi Luppescu.
Running time: About 2 hours with two 10-minute intermissions.
Show Times: Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. through July 24.
Tickets: $59.50 to $64.50. For more information call their box office at 413-243-0745, or visit their website at www.jacobspillow.org.
DANCERS
Jonathan E. Alsberry
Reid Bartelme
Nichole Corea
Attila Joey Csici
Rory Hohenstein
Jenna Fakhoury
Jason McDole
Brian McGinnis
Laura Rutledge
Katarzyna Skarpetowska