Community Calendar

Join the Lee Historical Society for a conversation with Madeline Cantarella Culpo, Founder-Artistic Director of Cantarella School of Dance and Albany Berkshire Ballet. She will be joined by some of her former students who took ballet classes in Lee from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Refreshments will be provided by the Lee Historical Society.

Culpo grew up in the Berkshires taking dance lessons with various local instructors. As a teenager in 1949 and 1950, she had the opportunity to take dance classes at Jacob’s Pillow. After attending the Juilliard School, Culpo returned to the Berkshires in 1955 and opened the Cantarella School of Dance on North Street in Pittsfield. Beginning that first year, she offered off-site lessons in both Lee and Adams.

"Miss Madeline" would bring her students to Jacob’s Pillow at least once a summer so they could see professional dance and see what they could become. Beginning in 1958, Ted Shawn, the founder of Jacob’s Pillow, attended Cantarella’s annual end of year recital in Pittsfield High School’s auditorium and awarded outstanding students scholarships to enroll in Jacob’s Pillow’s summer dance school, University of the Dance. Several outstanding dance students from Lee were scholarship recipients.

This discussion is presented as part of the month-long June exhibit in the Scolforo Gallery titled “Jacob’s Pillow in Lee, Mass.” The exhibit traces the long and often overlooked relationship between the internationally renowned dance hub Jacob’s Pillow, and the neighboring town of Lee from the early 1930s to today. This exhibit is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Lee Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

To conclude the month-long exhibit “Jacob’s Pillow in Lee, Mass.,” hosted by the Lee Library, the Lee Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a closing reception with three speakers from Lee: Alex Heddinger, Vinny Vigilante, and Bill Yehle. They will lead a discussion on marketing, tourism, and business relations between Jacob’s Pillow and the Town of Lee.

Alex Heddinger is the Director of the Lee Chamber of Commerce and a past Jacob’s Pillow intern and staff member. Vinny Vigilante is Director of Facilities, Safety & Security at Jacob's Pillow, and Bill Yehle is a former Production Manager at Jacob's Pillow. They will be joined by Lee business leaders and staff from Lee Town Hall.

Each summer, the connection between Jacob’s Pillow and the town of Lee comes alive in ways both ordinary and extraordinary. Marketing interns walk up and down Main Street asking shop owners if they can hang posters. Vendors from Lee have provided a vast range of goods and services over the decades. Performers, students, and interns stop for coffee, a meal, or an ice cream cone. Local businesses advertise in the festival program, hoping to catch the attention of visitors who travel through Lee on their way to Becket. These everyday interactions, repeated year after year, have built a long and layered relationship between the Pillow and Lee. What began as a simple stop along the road to the festival has grown into a partnership that links art, commerce, and community.

The exhibit at the Lee Library was researched and curated by Joshua D. Bloom and is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Lee Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

A fan-favorite since SPAC’s grand opening in 1966, New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to celebrate 60 years of world-class dance and summer magic.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy and set to Mendelssohn’s music, Balanchine’s masterpiece bursts with color, charm, and endless delight.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wednesday • Jul 08, 2026 • 7:30pm

Thursday • Jul 9, 2026 • 7:30pm

Friday • Jul 10, 2026 • 7:30pm

Saturday • Jul 11, 2026 • 2:00pm

New York City Ballet’s 2026 season at SPAC runs July 8-11, featuring full-length story ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream, George Balanchine’s romantic masterpiece Serenade, Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer and a new work by choreographed by Tiler Peck.

Learn more and buy tickets at spac.org

A fan-favorite since SPAC’s grand opening in 1966, New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to celebrate 60 years of world-class dance and summer magic.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy and set to Mendelssohn’s music, Balanchine’s masterpiece bursts with color, charm, and endless delight.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wednesday • Jul 08, 2026 • 7:30pm

Thursday • Jul 9, 2026 • 7:30pm

Friday • Jul 10, 2026 • 7:30pm

Saturday • Jul 11, 2026 • 2:00pm

New York City Ballet’s 2026 season at SPAC runs July 8-11, featuring full-length story ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream, George Balanchine’s romantic masterpiece Serenade, Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer and a new work by choreographed by Tiler Peck.

Learn more and buy tickets at spac.org

Experience signature works and an exciting premiere with George Balanchine’s romantic masterpiece Serenade; Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer, set to Prokofiev’s feverish concerto; and a new work by NYCB Principal Dancer Tiler Peck, which will have its world premiere as part of NYCB’s 2026 Spring Gala.

Part of New York City Ballet’s 2026 season at SPAC running July 8-11, along with full-length story ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Innovators & Icons

Friday • Jul 10, 2026 • 2:00pm

Saturday • Jul 11, 2026 • 7:30pm

Learn more and buy tickets at spac.org

A fan-favorite since SPAC’s grand opening in 1966, New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to celebrate 60 years of world-class dance and summer magic.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy and set to Mendelssohn’s music, Balanchine’s masterpiece bursts with color, charm, and endless delight.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wednesday • Jul 08, 2026 • 7:30pm

Thursday • Jul 9, 2026 • 7:30pm

Friday • Jul 10, 2026 • 7:30pm

Saturday • Jul 11, 2026 • 2:00pm

New York City Ballet’s 2026 season at SPAC runs July 8-11, featuring full-length story ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream, George Balanchine’s romantic masterpiece Serenade, Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer and a new work by choreographed by Tiler Peck.

Learn more and buy tickets at spac.org

A fan-favorite since SPAC’s grand opening in 1966, New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream returns to celebrate 60 years of world-class dance and summer magic.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy and set to Mendelssohn’s music, Balanchine’s masterpiece bursts with color, charm, and endless delight.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wednesday • Jul 08, 2026 • 7:30pm

Thursday • Jul 9, 2026 • 7:30pm

Friday • Jul 10, 2026 • 7:30pm

Saturday • Jul 11, 2026 • 2:00pm

New York City Ballet’s 2026 season at SPAC runs July 8-11, featuring full-length story ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream, George Balanchine’s romantic masterpiece Serenade, Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer and a new work by choreographed by Tiler Peck.

Learn more and buy tickets at spac.org

Experience signature works and an exciting premiere with George Balanchine’s romantic masterpiece Serenade; Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer, set to Prokofiev’s feverish concerto; and a new work by NYCB Principal Dancer Tiler Peck, which will have its world premiere as part of NYCB’s 2026 Spring Gala.

Part of New York City Ballet’s 2026 season at SPAC running July 8-11, along with full-length story ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Innovators & Icons

Friday • Jul 10, 2026 • 2:00pm

Saturday • Jul 11, 2026 • 7:30pm

Learn more and buy tickets at spac.org

What becomes possible when we listen to the songs of our scars? Through original songs and stories,Wholly Unwinding creator Hailey McAvoy lets the scars of growing up with Cerebral Palsy sing, and takes us all with her on a journey of healing and acceptance. Inspired by artists that range from Joni Mitchell to the Jackson Five to Hildegard von Bingen to The Chicks, it’s a multi-genre work that defies categorization much like the healing process - part musical, part folk song concert, part night of spirituals and stories around the campfire that invites us all to come home to our bodies by singing the songs of our scars.

A landmark for Hogfish - it is our first main stage production that started as a regenerative arts seed project by a Hogfish artist-in-residence.

What becomes possible when we listen to the songs of our scars? Through original songs and stories,Wholly Unwinding creator Hailey McAvoy lets the scars of growing up with Cerebral Palsy sing, and takes us all with her on a journey of healing and acceptance. Inspired by artists that range from Joni Mitchell to the Jackson Five to Hildegard von Bingen to The Chicks, it’s a multi-genre work that defies categorization much like the healing process - part musical, part folk song concert, part night of spirituals and stories around the campfire that invites us all to come home to our bodies by singing the songs of our scars.

A landmark for Hogfish - it is our first main stage production that started as a regenerative arts seed project by a Hogfish artist-in-residence.