Christopher Duggan Photography

I’ve been trying all week long to put into words the feeling I get from watching Nrityagram. These beautiful women from a rural part of India not too far from Bangalore have me completely enchanted.
They live together in their dance village of Nrityagram. They work, study, rehearse, grow their own food everyday from 6am until 11pm or midnight. They spend 3 hours before each performance ironing their own costumes. Then another 2 1/2 hours putting on their make-up, costume and ornaments. And when they step on stage they take your breath away. Their precision, focus, and love for what they do overtakes you. I saw them perform over and over again last week. I am not allowed to show performance photos here, but even if I could, they wouldn’t be able to convey all that these charming ladies from Nrityagram are.

Tania Perez Salas is here at The Pillow this week with a show filled with beautiful imagery, gorgeous dancers, and moments that keep the audience on the edge of their seat until they leap to their feet for the nightly standing ovations. And The Pillow had another very special guest this week who stirred no fanfare, but caught my eye and left me absolutely delighted.

Janet Stone Wiggins and her daughter visited with Norton Owen , The Pillow’s Director of Preservation. The sweetness with which Norton treated her and the way the two of them interacted assured me that they had been friends for years. Norton gave her a very special tour of the current Ted Shawn exhibit in Blake’s Barn, noting specific details and relating stories that Ms. Wiggins seemed to have quite an understanding of and perspective on.

Norton told me later that Ms. Wiggins worked for the A.H. Handley Co., the booking agent that handled Ted Shawn and His Men Dancer’s New England area tour dates in the 1930’s! Welcome back to The Pillow, Ms. Wiggins. Looking forward to your next visit.

The founding father of Jacob’s Pillow is Ted Shawn. He bought this property from the Carter family in 1931 and the first public performance of Ted Shawn’s Men Dancers was in 1933. It’s Shawn’s vision that still drives the festival and thus it is fitting that the main stage theater be named after him.

I have begun to look at and photograph this theater from all sides. (And I’ve been asked to recreate an image or two from the 1940’s.) I rarely make photographs without people in them. But I think I’m seeing how this building is the focal point of the festival and the campus and I’m getting some of it’s character and personality. Usually I’m keying in to people’s expression and action. Here I’m seeing people interact with an environment and a history. It’s a stretch for me and I’m enjoying it.