Caleb Teicher, left, and Nic Gareiss performed the inaugural fall program at Jacob's Pillow on Friday night. 

For more than 90 years, Jacob’s Pillow has been a summer destination for dance devotees.
 
But this weekend, for the first time in its storied history, the Pillow is hosting a weekend of fall performances with the duo Caleb Teicher and Nic Gareiss. These fine technicians of the feet – Teicher, a tap master; and Gareiss, a lord of Irish step and Appalachian clogging — melded their styles in a seamless love letter to the percussive power of the heel, sole and toe.
 
These two appeared like siblings, united in their respect for the art in which they represent a healthy portion. (The metaphor with the shared muffin, a bit they performed on a bench, informed us all.) And the program, in the newly built Doris Duke Theatre is equal parts homespun and sophisticated. These two artists, particularly together, must be seen as their synchronicity elevates them both.
 
The program began with a calm Gareiss appearing barefoot, circling the square stage in the center of the theater, which is set up in the round. As Gareiss wheeled around, he offered glimpses of his foot power – a slide here and little pound there, accented with Irish skips and hops. He makes way for Teicher who runs to the stage, barefooted too, but in a more exuberant and jocular manner. Teicher starts the audience laughing – clearly delineating who is the comic relief.
 
The two add socks and then shoes to their back and forth on the stage, equipped with microphones, until they are together creating joyous and syncopated rhythms on the boards.
 
At first, I was disappointed that they were not accompanied by musicians. But these two, and their symbiotic relationship, are so intriguing that no musicians were needed. Besides, they also sang. Gareiss started out the vocals by singing and dancing to “John Brown’s Dream,” a traditional square dance tune that he punctuated with square dance calls.
 
Teicher sang too – first on the previously mentioned bench with Gareiss – and then after they spread sand on the stage to step and slide as they sang Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Teicher is a limber dancer that startles with his athleticism, especially with the jumps that land low and nearly horizontal to the floor. Teicher’s dashes are accented by their hand play, claps, slaps and finger snaps.
 
Gareiss, who offered up a sweet tribute to his Irish dance teacher with “Scraping for Peggy” on the sandy floor, tempered Teicher’s energy with a calming, optimistic strength. Together, their union melted into one, beautiful universe of soulful and sentimental sounds.
 
The highly recommended program will be repeat at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 and 2 p.m. Oct 26. Tickets can be purchased at www.jacobspillow.org.

Soles of Duende, features, from left, Brinda Guha, Okai Musik, Ryan Stanbury, Amanda Castro, Arielle Rosales and AJ Jagannath, (Photo by Daryl Padilla)

​If this were a perfect world, it would look like Soles of Duende.
 
This incredible sextet – three dancers and three musicians – oozed joy in a bubbling mix of percussive styles – American tap, flamenco and kathak to music from all the world – demonstrating that differences are not to be feared, but marveled.
 
And indeed this small ensemble’s showing on Friday night at Proctors’ GE Theatre commanded utter ebullience. These artists – tapper Amanda Castro, flamenco dancer Arielle Rosales and kathak dancer Brinda Guha – did not try to fuse their abilities. Rather they respected each other’s artistic space, standing side by side, playing with their styles in a buoyant and easy flow. It wasn’t about overtaking, adapting or assimilating, it was about knowing what the other brought to the floor. And it was beautifully authentic.
 
These open-minded artists were skillfully accompanied by trumpeter and percussionist Ryan Stanbury, who was also music director, drummer Okai Musik and guitarist Andrew “AJ Jagannath.” They played everything Indian, Afro-Caribbean, Latin and jazz music as the dancers hammered out rhythms with their feet.
 
As Guha was bare-footed, her light stamps jingled with her ankle bells, while Castro and Rosales shoes thudded and skidded along the boards.
 
Among the first thing you notice, aside from their differences and steady synchronized sounds, are their hands – Guha’s open and soft as if receiving a gift from a child; Rosales’, curled like a flower about to bloom; and Castro’s, wide and swinging as if she were a pitcher hurling a ball from the mound.
 
The star of this show was hand down Castro. She had more energy and charm than any tapper I have seen. One could see her mind racing as she entered the rhythm circle with everything she had, occasionally striking the floor with a hand, touching her heart or spinning around and around taken by her own intoxication. She, with a killer smile, bewitched all.
 
Rosales was the sophisticated one in the trio – strutting her flair with her velvet skirt, flicking her head in a hard turn and jutting forth her chin in a signal of strength. Her serious demeanor melted when she was joined by Castro or Guha who would give her a cool slap to her hand or a toss her a look that said, “let’s go.”
 
Guha was most lovely. Her style, though often fleet, felt soft and sweet. Though she soothed with gentleness, she was fearless – keeping up with the hard-shoe steppers.
 
Soles of Duende’s passion was so great, it easily transferred to the audience. And when the stage went black at the end, the audience spontaneously stood that instant in a well-deserved standing ovation.
 
Bravo for Soles of Duende.