Dance Heginbotham Competitors

Jacob’s Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest-running international dance festival, celebrating its 86th Festival in 2018. The Pillow announced its transition to becoming a year-round center for dance in June 2017 through a five-year strategic plan titled Vision ‘22. Each Festival includes more than 50 national and international dance companies and over 350 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, events, and community programs. The School at Jacob’s Pillow, is one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S. The Pillow also provides professional advancement opportunities across disciplines of arts administration, design, video, and production through seasonal internships and a year-round Administrative Fellows program. With growing community engagement programs, the Pillow serves as a partner and active citizen in its local community. The Pillow’s extensive Archives, open year-round to the public and online at danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org, chronicle more than a century of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and videos. Notable artists who have created or premiered dances at the Pillow include choreographers Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Kevin McKenzie, Twyla Tharp, Ralph Lemon, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Wally Cardona, Andrea Miller, and Trey McIntyre; performed by artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carmen de Lavallade, Mark Morris, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villella, Rasta Thomas, and hundreds of others. On March 2, 2011, President Barack Obama honored Jacob’s Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the high est arts award given by the United States Government, making the Pillow the first dance presenting organization to receive this prestigious award.

Ballet Hispánico is the nation’s renowned Latinx/e/Hispanic dance organization and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. Ballet Hispánico brings communities together to celebrate and explore Latine/x cultures through innovative dance performances, transformative dance training, and enduring community engagement experiences. Founded in 1970 by National Medal of Arts recipient, Tina Ramírez, the organization emerged during the post-civil rights movement on New York’s Upper West Side, providing a safe haven for primarily Black and Brown Latinx youth seeking artistic sanctuary during New York City’s plight in the 1970s. The need for place, both culturally and artistically, led families to find Ballet Hispánico. The focus on dance as a means to develop working artists, combined with the training, authenticity of voice, and power of representation, fueled the organization’s roots and trajectory. With its strong emphasis on dance, achievement, and public presence, the organization has flourished in its three main programs: its Company, School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnerships. The organization serves as a platform for historically omitted and overlooked artists providing them with increased capacity, voice, and affirmation. Over the past five decades, by leading with Latinx culture at the forefront of performance, education, and advocacy, Ballet Hispánico’s mission is a catalyst of change and possibility for communities throughout our nation.

The Ailey organization's mission is to further the pioneering work of Alvin Ailey by establishing an extended cultural community that provides dance performances, training, and community programs for all people. As important as its artistic and educational mission, the Ailey organization plays a social role, using the beauty and humanity of the African American heritage and other cultures to inspire and unite people of all races, ages and back grounds. Named “Cultural Ambassador to the World,” by a United States Congressional Resolution, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater numbers 31 of the most talented dancers in the world, and its diverse repertory is unparalleled in modern dance. A typical season includes engagements in its home base of New York City: 5 weeks each winter at New York City Center and 2 weeks each spring at Brooklyn Academy of Music, a 20 city United States tour and extensive international touring. Annually, nearly 500,000 people experience Ailey performances and programs. A multifaceted organization, the Ailey family also encompasses Ailey II, a second company dedicated to the development of young artists and community outreach; The Ailey School, a world-class dance academy which provides instruction to a diverse group of students aged 3-25; and Ailey Arts in Education and Community Programs which provide young people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds the opportunity to explore dance, build self-esteem and develop life skills.