Alex Tisdale 
Photo credit: Photo by Fabrício Lira
As summer 2026 can be seen in the distant view, Jacob‘s Pillow Summer Dance Festival will feature a collaboration with Tanglewood and Boston Symphony Orchestra, where the dance company Martha Graham will perform with the BSO.
As in previous years, popular dance companies from around the world will be at the dance festival, held at the iconic Beckett grounds, for the 94th annual festival, which runs from June 24 to August 30.
Even though this 10-week schedule has not been released in full, some dance companies have confirmed they will be in attendance at Jacob’s Pillow.
“This is an inspiring time of year as we look ahead to all the human creativity coming to Jacob’s pillow and the power connection that we feel on our campus our return to a 10 week festival marks a joyful milestone, and we are honored to celebrate it with artists who embodied the stylistic breadth and innovation of today’s dance world,” said Pamela Tatge, Executive, and Artistic Director.
Some companies include the Martha Graham Dance Company, which performs at Jacob’s Pillow and Tanglewood on August 14 with the BSO in a program that includes Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which premiered in 1944 with Graham’s original choreography.
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham U.S premiere of White Space which follows their world premiere in Switzerland at the Lugano dance festival.
Gauthier dance, which is based in Germany, will come to Jacob’s Pillow for the fourth time, while Shamel Pitts will perform Touch of Red, which is a duet inspired by boxing, the gaga movement, and Lindy Hop in classical nightlife culture.
Another program that will be performed is Faye Driscoll’s Weathering, a multi-sensory performance sculpture developed during the 2022 pillow lab residency.
There are a couple of dance programs and media that will make their very first debut, including Jacob’s Pillow, featuring Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Huang Yi, who will perform Ink, which was also collaborated on with audiovisual pioneer Ryoichi Kurokawa.
These performances are taking place in the new Doris Duke Theater, which just opened last summer. This 2000-square-foot theater replaced the former 8500-square-foot theater, which was lost in a fire on November 17, 2020.
The last summer festival abruptly ended early on August 5 after production manager, Kat Sirico, passed away on August 1 from a fatal accident that happened on festival grounds.
This year’s summer festival, confirmed, Jacob’s Pillow has yet to announce the full lineup, but it will be announced soon in February 2026. But before the summer festival could take place, the Duke Theatre will hold spring performances.
To learn more information about these events and upcoming performances in Beckett, click here.
Click here for more stories from digital media generation.
Demanyé 
Dalila Benmakhlouf 
