Sarasota Ballet invited to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

The Sarasota Ballet is having a transcendent season. With a heralded Sir Frederick Ashton Festival, a world premiere of Will Tuckett’s “The Secret Garden,” the company closing the New York City Center “Fall For Dance” Festival, Alastair Macaulay of “The New York Times” naming principal dancer Logan Learned’s performance one of the best of 2014, and the company’s current challenging and diverse season, any ballet company would consider a year like this a banner season.

And now, as the year draws to a close, the Sarasota Ballet has yet another honor to add to this year’s extensive list: the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival has come calling.

Located in the lush New England forests of Becket, Mass., Jacob’s Pillow is the nation’s premiere stage for new and thought-provoking dance and choreography. It is the longest-running international dance festival in America, a National Historic Landmark and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Jacob’s Pillow is the nexus of all things dance in America and around the world.

“It’s another step up,” says Mary Anne Servian, managing director of the Sarasota Ballet. “There’s over 600,000 people a year that go through Jacob’s Pillow. It’s another opportunity for people from around the world to see the Sarasota Ballet.”

The Sarasota Ballet has been invited to dance seven performances at the festival’s Ted Shawn Theatre, the first theater built specifically for dance, between Aug. 12 and Aug. 16. Performing Christopher Wheeldon’s “The American,” Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Monotones I & II” and a new work ballet created by resident choreographer Ricardo Graziano, the repertoire chosen will display Iain Webb and the Sarasota Ballet’s penchant for combining the modern with revitalized classics. In addition, following the Aug. 13 performance Webb, Graziano and dancers from the company will be part of a public discussion and talk back with a Jacob’s Pillow scholar-in-residence to discuss their ballet mission and Graziano’s new work.

This Florida-Massachusetts dance exchange, however, could not have been possible unless it was for the relentless pursuit and promotion of the Sarasota Ballet by a few key donors.

“Two of our donors, Edwin and Jean Weiller, have been going to Jacob’s Pillow for years and years,” says Servian. “As the ballet got better and better, they kept saying to Ella Baff, executive and artistic director of Jacob’s Pillow, have you looked at our company in Sarasota.”

And thanks to the Weillers’ constant championing of the ballet, Baff and Jacob’s Pillow reached out to Webb and invited the ballet to this prestigious dance festival.

“Anytime we have an opportunity to perform outside of Sarasota, it’s a step forward,” says Servian. “By getting this national recognition, we are broadening our audience.”