PROJECT DANCE FOUNDATION 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.

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope, and outreach. Recognized as a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT is the only major cultural institution that annually tours the United States, performing for more than 450,000 people. Over its 83-year history, the Company has also performed in a total of 139 cities around the world. As a result of this vast domestic and international reach anchored in its American roots, in 2006, by an act of Congress, American Ballet Theatre became America's National Ballet Company.® When American Ballet Theatre was founded, the aim was to develop a repertoire of the best ballets from the past, and to encourage the creation of new works by gifted young choreographers, wherever they might be found. In January 2022, former American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer, Susan Jaffe, was appointed Artistic Director. Jaffe is committed to maintaining the Company's vast repertoire, engaging the leading choreographers of our time to create exciting new work, and bringing the art of dance theater to the great stages of the world. With a repertory of the great full-length classical ballets and contemporary one-act ballets, ABT’s performance season includes a Summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House and a Fall season at the Koch Theater in New York City. ABT also tours in the US and abroad and has a robust Education program which includes the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (JKO) School, ABT Summer Intensive programs across the US, and the ABT National Training Curriculum, a training program for dance educators.

ADF presents dance performances, educational opportunities, community/humanities programs, and maintains an international reach.