Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival National Register of Historic Places Listing

Ted Shawn bought a rundown, rocky 18th-century family farm in Becket back in 1931. He paid $9,000. Cheap retreat. But Shawn, a pioneer of American modern dance, turned the place into a battleground against the era's deep-seated homophobia and rigid gender norms. He brought his all-male dance troupe there in 1933. They did hard labor. They cleared pine forests, split heavy oak logs, and raised barns with their bare hands. Shawn wanted to prove that dance was rigorous, athletic work. Locals loved it. They actually paid seventy-five cents each to watch these shirtless, muscular athletes perform outdoor "Tea Lectures" on weekends. Revolutionary stuff.

Then came the Ted Shawn Theatre in 1942. It was the first performance space in the United States constructed specifically for dance. Architect Joseph Franz used raw hemlock to make it look like a barn. Inside lay a state-of-the-art stage. Over the decades, absolute legends of modern dance-including Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Katherine Dunham-tested their wild new ideas on those creaky pine floorboards. It became a sanctuary. International artists fleeing war or political censorship found a safe, sweaty haven in the Berkshires. So, the federal government designated it a National Historic Landmark in 2003. Not just some artsy summer camp. This place is the literal cradle of American concert dance.