The Making of Markova

Jacob's Pillow in the Berkshires is a world-renowned dance venue and festival, featuring some of today's most gifted, imaginative dancers and choreographers. But flash back to 1940, and you'll find an organization on the verge of financial collapse.

The tides turned in 1941, when a 31 year-old pioneer stepped on the scene with a vision to develop a non-profit, international dance festival and training ground at Jacob's Pillow. That individual wasn't a businessman or an industry contractor — it was the legendary British prima ballerina Alicia Markova.

Markova's legacy is the subject of a new book by Tina Sutton, a fashion and feature writer for The Boston Globe. It's called The Making of Markova, and she joins us to shed light on her contributions to Jacob's Pillow, and furthermore, to ballet as a whole.

Tina Sutton, fashion and feature writer for The Boston Globe, and author of The Making of Markova.

The Boston Globe, "In 1941 she was instrumental in establishing the first international dance festival on the grounds, and the success of that venture — and Markova’s personal connections with the media and one very generous millionaire — saved Jacob’s Pillow from being sold off as vacation or development property for some wealthy landowner."