Tero Saarinen Company and The Boston Camerata in Borrowed Light; photos by Laurent Philippe.

Becket, MA – After touring 11 countries across Europe, North America, and Oceania, Tero Saarinen Company and The Boston Camerata return to Jacob’s Pillow with the acclaimed production Borrowed Light. This unique evening-length work had its U.S. premiere at Jacob’s Pillow in 2006 and was invited for a return engagement as part of the 80th Anniversary Season “Back by Popular Demand” series. A beautifully integrated union of stunning visuals, powerful choreography, and haunting live music, Borrowed Light presents a highly theatrical experience inspired by the culture of the Shakers. John Rockwell of The New York Times raved, “The movements evoke religious austerity and ecstasy…‘Borrowed Light’ is a true child of ‘Appalachian Spring,’ and for a lover of American modern dance there can be no higher praise.” Borrowed Light runs July 11–15 in the Ted Shawn Theatre.

Ninu Lindfors of Tero Saarinen Company in Borrowed Light; original photo by Laurent Philippe.

“Borrowed Light premiered in the U.S. at the Pillow in 2006, and many audience members have talked about it since as one of their most memorable experiences.” commented Ella Baff, Executive and Artistic Director of Jacob’s Pillow. “I asked Tero Saarinen and The Boston Camerata if they would revive it for our 80th Anniversary Season; if ever there was an evening of dance and music that belongs at Jacob’s Pillow, it is this one. Borrowed Light is full of passionate dancing and exalted, spiritual music. It is a very contemporary work, but the inspiration and the music are part of the unique history of New England and the Berkshires.”

First premiered in 2004 in France, Borrowed Light was developed by Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen and Joel Cohen, the Music Director Emeritus of the pioneering early music ensemble The Boston Camerata; together with the stark, extraordinary lighting and set design by Mikki Kunttu, this work is rich with spiritual vision.

The United Society of Believers was a religious sect of Christianity founded in 1747 in Manchester, England, and soon came to be known as the “Shaking Quakers,” then finally the “Shakers,” after outsiders witnessed adherents’ convulsions of spiritual experience. Shaker tenets included celibacy, pacifism, and the sharing of goods and wealth. They moved to America in 1774, and sought to lead a life of heaven on earth in their tight-knit communities, the first of which was established in New Lebanon, New York, just across the state border from Jacob’s Pillow. Another center was closer to the Pillow, in Hancock, Massachusetts, a village which continues today as one of the foremost examples of Shaker life. The phrase “borrowed light” comes from Shaker architecture, which is characterized by simple but highly practical designs using materials such as wood, stone, or bricks; the term describes the passage of light from one indoor area to another through an ideally placed window. The historic Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow, America’s first theatre built specifically for dance, is thus one of the few places in America where Borrowed Light could appear with so much contextual power. John Rockwell of The New York Times writes, “Considering the…deep Shaker tradition in this part of the country, Jacob’s Pillow is the ideal spot to see and hear this dance.”

While Borrowed Light draws motivation from the traditions of Shaker communities, Saarinen and Cohen stress that this work does not aim to recreate Shaker history or comment on their beliefs. Rather, they were inspired by the Shakers’ powerfully simple music as well as their cultural emphasis on community and devotion. The work unites Saarinen’s ecstatic contemporary movement with the Shakers’ haunting compositions that Cohen transcribed and arranged from previously unpublished original manuscripts; a few of those Shaker songs had not been performed live in America for more than one hundred and fifty years until Borrowed Light‘s 2006 U.S. premiere at the Pillow. What arises from these Shaker influences is a work that audiences and critics alike have rendered as one of the most spiritually moving works in recent years. Karen Campbell of The Boston Globe called Borrowed Light “a powerful, strikingly original evocation of communal devotion unlike anything this reviewer has experienced.”

Tero Saarinen, a former soloist with the Finnish National Ballet, has created over 30 works, which have been presented by prominent dance companies around the world including Nederlands Dans Theater, Batsheva Dance Company, and Lyon Opéra Ballet. Saarinen’s works are considered all-encompassing productions that present impressive combinations of striking visuals, live music, and unique choreography. His style shows influences ranging from butoh and Nepalese folk dance to classical ballet and Western contemporary dance. Saarinen was an artist faculty member of The School at Jacob’s Pillow in 2009.

Tero Saarinen Company was founded in 1996 to promote a greater understanding of humanity through the language of dance. The company has toured in nearly 40 countries in addition to running an international teaching program. Tero Saarinen Company’s most recent productions include Scheme of Things and Vox Balaenae with the Ensemble Intercontemporain (France) and Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Finland). The group is the resident company of Helsinki’s Alexandre Theatre, the former home of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.

The Boston Camerata was founded in 1954 and is considered to be America’s foremost early music ensemble, presenting European and American music from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras. Simple Gifts, a recording of Shaker spirituals and chants, topped the national Billboard magazine classical charts in 1995 and 1996, with subsequent releases of English and American folk music becoming bestsellers in Europe. Joel Cohen led the ensemble for 40 years before becoming Music Director Emeritus in 2008, when Anne Azéma became the ensemble’s Artistic Director. In June 2011, The Boston Camerata presented five new programs of medieval music during a residency in Reims, France, to celebrate the 800th Anniversary of Reims Cathedral.

Cohen and The Boston Camerata have collaborated with Tero Saarinen Company on the creation and performance of Borrowed Lightsince 2003.