Ms. Baff's own introduction to theater, music and dance came early.

Ella Baff, the festival's executive director, has continued this tradition with flying colors.

"The board and staff demonstrated an exemplary institutional will," Ms. Baff said.

"Each thing is very different from another at this festival: that's the idea," Ms. Baff said recently in a telephone interview.

For Ms. Baff, who was appointed in April, it is a sanctuary.

"Artists are working under harsh conditions," Ms. Baff said.

Ella Baff is the executive director of Jacob's Pillow, a dance performance space.

"The pleasurable and interesting ways you can connect with dance are endless," Ms. Baff said.

Twas that lovely baff you give us, sire," a bandit offered.

Bobby could smell sweat and hear the heavy biff and baff of gloves on flesh.

Her older sister, Regina Baff, became an actress.

"We are the first dance institution to achieve that status," Ella Baff, the festival's artistic director, said.

Ms. Baff said the Capezio money would go to artists and their projects at the Pillow.

If the studios and living spaces were winterized, Ms. Baff said, they could have year-round residencies.

Yet one suspects Ms. Baff's enthusiasm lies in her belief that there is always something over the horizon to be explored.

Ms. Baff and other institutional managers offer a number of reasons why too many young people spurn the Berkshires.

Ms. Baff said that a desire to renew her acquaintance with the troupe led to an invitation to perform at the festival last summer.

But Ella Baff, the executive director of Jacob's Pillow, is keeping the larger picture in mind.

"Ballet has had an awkward transition from early classicism to a contemporary period, unlike classical music," Ms. Baff said.

Taryn Baff, who graduated from Lehigh University in June, warns against taking along too much.

Neither is BAFF a trade union.

"It's a little like biodiversity," said Ella Baff, executive director of Jacob's Pillow.

Only Regina Baff, as Lady Driver, seems miscast.

As a child in New York City, Ms. Baff studied piano, violin and harp.

Ella Baff, director of the Pillow, first saw Batoto Yetu in a benefit for the company.