2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Berkshire Pulse, as well as the end to a long journey.
“It started in a gym, in a recreation center at the top of a hill in Stockbridge, at the Congregation of Marians. They had a, the was the name of it was the Eden Hill Recreation Center. And I had moved to the area a year prior. I was just going to be here temporarily, and sort of discovered that there was a lack of after school dance programming that was accessible for kids," said Founder and Artistic Director Bettina Montano.
To fill the dance education void in the Southern Berkshires, she decided to take what she then thought was a temporary teaching position.
“The one year turned into 10, and we and we were very quickly, after a year, we were renting other spaces because we only had the one space up there," Montano continued. "So, we were renting yoga studios and fitness spaces and all throughout South County. And we had started, by 1996, we'd started our first in-school programming at the Stockbridge Plain School, a week long and then a month-long program, bring dance to school during the school day, to kids during the school day, free.”
Montano says the name of the center came to her all on its own.
“I dreamt it," she said. "It was a dream! It was such a freaky dream, okay? I dreamt it- I think I was pregnant with my second child at the time, and I woke up, and we were sort of just in the early stages of conversation about, could we do this without being in a subsidized situation and really form our own thing? And I dreamt I was driving past a building, and there was a neon pulse just dancing across the building in lights. And I was like, well, that's not really me, but I love the idea of pulse and the heart, just the pulse and the rhythm of it. Rhythm is such a connecting force on so many levels. And the founder of our world music program would start all of her first classes talking about, where does rhythm begin and end? It's like with the heart and the heartbeat. So, pulse was really, it just seemed right, the idea of things flowing, the blood flowing through the body, and the rhythm and the energy of it.”
After years of bouncing around short-term rentals, Berkshire Pulse found its current home in Housatonic in 2014. Montano says the program’s wilderness years helped it build relationships throughout the community and established partnerships that continue to flourish decades later.
“The mission is really finding a new way to express yourself," she told WAMC. "With movement, you're not borrowing someone else's language, you're speaking your own. And I think it's just an exciting way for especially- Well everyone, everyone now. I mean, we have our student body from four to 80-something, maybe 90-something, actually- But I think in particular, because the program started with youth, I just found that it's an amazing way for kids to connect with themselves, connect with other people. It levels the playing field in terms of intelligence and learning styles. It gives space for breathing after school, when you've been in a very structured environment, to let your body be do the learning and the and the expressing.”
In December, Berkshire Pulse closed on the three-story, 13,350-square foot building at 410 Park Street just across a parking lot from its present location along the banks of the Housatonic River. Executive Director Abigail Rollins says the building represents a bevy of new opportunities.
“I am so thrilled by the idea of adding a performance space, because we don't really have that right now, so that you cannot just rehearse your work, but to actually be able to perform it there as well," she said. "So, we're talking about a black box or studio theater, and the ground floor, that can also be a space for public performances, and again, just to bring more of the community into the building. I'm, you know, of course, very excited for my team and be able to give them adequate working space, because that's, you know, that's really important. And I am very excited about sort of the communal spaces and how we can think about where our community can gather our families and all of that.”
With the support of its loyal donor base, Berkshire Pulse raised $3.7 million to secure its permanent headquarters. While it will still be years until 410 Park is ready to fully house the center and its operations, its purchase alone is a new beginning for founder Montano.
“It is a very special experience for me, the idea that that this organization will have a home forever," she told WAMC. "I- It's hard to talk about and not get emotional, because, though the transience of all of what we have done has been really important, particularly at this time of my life, and having raised two children in the area, just to know that there is something that's going to be here forever- This means a lot to me.”
