Ryan Casey & A Reason to Celebrate

HOORAY! Jacob's Pillow raised $150,000 to Save the Inside/Out stage this summer. That's right, they raised $50,000 more than their goal. We will finish up our series on the efforts to preserve this landmark over the next few days with some posts about how this funding will be used. To celebrate today, however, Monkeyhouse asked the ever eloquent Ryan Casey, to talk about his experience performing at Inside/Out with the School at Jacob's Pillow's first Tap Program.

by Ryan Casey
As a new student of The School at Jacob's Pillow, I was told that I would have the privilege of performing on a stage on which decades of legendary artists had sprinkled their "dust." Tap dancers, of course, leave a literal dust of their own, but as the first group of tappers studying at the School, we had the added honor of leaving dust that would hopefully serve as the foundation for serious tap education at the Pillow in the future. The Inside/Out stage was the perfect place to perform as a culmination of our intensive studies: it is a formal stage, yet intimate; the outdoor setting brings the audience and performers together in one great creative space; the natural setting reminds us that we are all a part of something much greater than ourselves, just as we are dancers participating in a rich tradition; and it encompasses the nature - literally and figuratively - of where and how we have been studying, enjoying the great outdoors and the beauty of the dance mecca that surrounds us. I am proud and thrilled to have left some of my own dust on that stage, to have participated in a great tradition of sharing, connecting, and loving dance. To preserve the stage is not just to preserve all of that dust and the emotions and memories it disseminates when stirred up, but to allow future generations of gifted, dedicated, passionate dancers to continue this wonderful tradition - and stir up a real dust storm in the Berkshires.

Photo Credit: The School at Jacob’s Pillow Tap Program at Inside/Out; photo Kristi Pitsch