1
We acknowledge and pay respect to Lenape people past, present, and coming in the future. We acknowledge and offer deep gratitude to Lenapehoking where New York Live Arts is located, the land, and waters of the Lenape homeland.
Anniversaries are milestones, a time to pause, take stock, look backwards at the road traveled, look inward, do some soul searching, look outward at the state of the world, look forward to the journey ahead. Emerging from this unforgettable year in time to celebrate not one but two anniversaries—the 10th for New York Live Arts and the 40th in 2022 for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company—we can’t help but feel exuberant and proud. The world has changed since the freewheeling 60s that birthed Dance Theater Workshop and inspired the two aspiring artists, Bill and Arnie, when they performed there in the late 70s and early 80s. That wild spirit of experimentation is still alive and it is that which we must preserve and nurture. Artists must be the freest people in society, even in one that does not always value the arts and can only comprehend its worth in economic terms. Even though it seems like we never stopped performing in front of a live audience during the digital existence of the past year (sometimes behind windows for people on 19th Street), we are excited to fully reopen our spaces this Fall. Works by Daniel Alexander Jones, Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory, Colleen Thomas, Sasha Velour, Christopher Williams, and Ni’Ja Whitson will be presented in our theater, studio and digitally, as well as a three-day festival exploring the intersection of art, neuroscience and artificial intelligence in partnership with Media Art Xploration. The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company will return to the Park Avenue Armory with the long-awaited premiere of Deep Blue Sea. And beginning this season the performers of the company will receive an annual wage, a step towards equity for arts workers. So, with gratitude, humility, courage, curiosity, passion, and compassion, we continue on our journey. We hope you will join us. –Bill T. Jones & Janet Wong
Photo by Stephanie Berger, above, left by Phillip Habib
OUR SEASON OF ANNIVERSARIES
FALL 2021 CALENDAR
Announcing our Fund for Equity
SEP 9 530PM SEP 15-18 730PM SEP 28-OCT 9
Bjorn Amelan Ford Foundation Live Gallery opening reception
LAUNCHES SEP 22 OCT 11 8PM OCT 28-30 730PM OCT 30 230PM NOV 5-7 DEC 1-4, 8-11 8PM
Daniel Alexander Jones: ALTAR NO. 1 - ATEN
DEC 16-19, 21-24, 26-27, 29-31 730PM
Sasha Velour: Smoke & Mirrors
As we examine our values as they relate to our mission of providing much-needed resources to artists at every stage of their careers, New York Live Arts has developed the Fund for Equity. We see this initiative as a way to increase artist compensation at Live Arts starting with members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company by instituting an annual wage for company performers that is not tied to our touring and rehearsal schedule. This represents the beginning of a meaningful change to what it means to be a working artist here at Live Arts.
Box Office
Colleen Thomas: Light and Desire Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company @ Park Avenue Armory
Live Feed In-Process: Ni’Ja Whitson Christopher Williams: Narcissus
MAXlive 2021: The Neuroverse Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist, Raja Feather Kelly: Wednesday
Tickets can be purchased at newyorklivearts.org or by calling the box office at 212.924.0077 Hours: M onday–Friday: 3pm–9pm Saturday & Sunday: 11am–9pm
Discounts
Members, Live Core artists, Students and Seniors receive 20% off select regular priced tickets. $15 Con Ed tickets available for every show. Limited $10 student rush tickets day of the show, pending availability.
Directions
219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011 (Between 7th & 8th Aves) Subway: 1 to 18th Street, 2/3, F, M, L and A/C/E to 14th Street.
01
BILL T. JONES/ ARNIE ZANE COMPANY
Deep Blue Sea
SEP 28-OCT 9 730PM MON-THU 8PM FRI-SAT 3PM SUN
“Pip saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; WORLD PREMIERE and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God.” -Herman Melville, Moby Dick PARK AVENUE ARMORY Deep Blue Sea revolves around the interplay of single and group identities. Bill T. Jones conceived this highly personal work in pursuit of the elusive “we" during these fractious times through a cast of 100 dancers/community members, and a deconstructed text from Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Conceived for the Wade Thompson Drill Hall, Deep Blue Sea magnifies the vast space through a design by Elizabeth Diller of the architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro and projections by Tony Award-nominated projection designer Peter Nigrini (Beetlejuice, Fela!). With an original vocal score by composer Nick Hallett and electronic soundscape by Hprizm aka High Priest, Rena Anakwe, and Holland Andrews. In addition to choreographing and directing, for the first time in over 15 years, Jones himself performs. Sep 30, 6PM Artist talk with Bill T. Jones and Elizabeth Diller
Tickets can be purchased at www.armoryonpark.org or call 2212.933.5812
Commissioned by Park Avenue Armory, Manchester International Festival in collaboration with Holland Festival Commissioning support provided by The Mann Center for the Performing Arts with original support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia. Additional commissioning support from Carolina Performing Arts, Partners in Creation, Ed Bradley Family Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, NEFA/NDP and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Produced and developed by Park Avenue Armory in collaboration with New York Live Arts
02
Photo by Maria Baranova
"The music is live and largely elegiac, the dancing, virtuosic and mostly abstract though flecked with gestures of vulnerability, pain and anger" -Brian Seibert, New YorkTimes
OCT 24-25
OCT 27
NOV 10-14
Afterwardsness
UMASS Fine Arts Center Amherst, MA
Arts Transcending Borders at College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA
Northrop, University of Minnesota & Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN
In the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, afterwardsness is “a mode of belated understanding or retroactive attribution of sexual or traumatic meaning to earlier events... “ Jettisoning the sexual component and emphasizing the notion of “trauma”, this awkward though evocative term comes very close to describing Jones’ state of mind when offered a commission to create a socially-distanced work at this particular collective moment. In some ways, the title parodies Jones’ (and many others’) desire to have reached an end point to our twin pandemics: COVID-19 and on-going violence against Black bodies.
Commissioned and Produced by Park Avenue Armory The creation of new work by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company is made possible in large part by Partners in Creation: Anonymous, Anne Delaney, Zoe Eskin, Eleanor Friedman, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen, Suzanne Karpas, Ellen Poss, Jane Bovingdon Semel, in memory of Linda G. Shapiro, Slobodan Randjelović & Jon Stryker.
The piece was constructed quickly and within the constraints and uncertainty of social distancing. Afterwardsness engages a retrospective dimension from choreographic assignments given to the dancers during their isolation. The dancers studied archival videos and learned phrase material no longer in the company’s repertory and dating as far back as 40 years. Musical Director Pauline Kim Harris, in collaboration with composer/vocalist/ instrumentalist Holland Andrews, created a composite score that includes Kim’s original work Homage written in honor of George Floyd. Following the work’s retroactive logic, the score also includes a conscious excerpting of Olivier Messiaen’s great war-time composition Quartet for the End of Time.
Photo by Stephanie Berger 03
LIVE GALLERY
Image: Detail of 91½” x 74” sumi ink on hemp painting
Bjorn Amelan
FALL 2021
Bjorn Amelan returns to the Ford Foundation Live Gallery with his large sumi ink paintings. Novelist Salman Rushdie remarks: “Bjorn Amelan uses his line to mark his sheets and summon up both forms and stories - forms both natural and fantastic, characters both credible and incredible.” About these works, Amelan says, "I have ever more come to see my practice as the creation of scores, like musical scores. I do not understand this music. However, I invite the viewer to lean in with me and by looking, listen to what is being sung."
SEP 9 530PM
04
INSTALLATION FORD FOUNDATION LIVE GALLERY
OPENING RECEPTION
LIV FEED
COLLEEN THOMAS
“…or chamber of hallucinations, the perfect setting for the stark and fiery choreography.” - Eva Yaa Asantewaa SEP 15-18 730PM
WORLD PREMIERE 3RD FLOOR STUDIOS
Light and Desire Tickets Start at $25
Created against the backdrop of increasing political radicalism worldwide, Light and Desire simmered on hold during a global pandemic. Now transformed, Colleen Thomas with international collaborators Carla Forte (Venezuela), Ermira Goro (Albania/Greece), Rosalynde LeBlanc (North America), Joanna Lesnierowska (Poland), and Ildiko Toth (Hungary/Germany) meet the audience with shifted priorities and deep embodiment and articulation of their light and desire. This feminist collective takes a personal and universal look at women artists and asks how women hold, embody and express power through their own radical expression during fascist times. Sep 16 Stay Late Conversation
The Live Feed Residency program is supported in part by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Partners for New Performance. This piece is made possible by the generous support of the Trust for Mutual Understanding and Barnard College's Presidential Award. Image by Madcollage
05
DANIEL ALEXANDER JONES
ALTAR NO. 1 – ATEN
ONGOING DIGITAL PROJECT
Acclaimed theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones’s latest work, ALTAR NO. 1 – ATEN uses our solar system as both metaphor and method SEP 22 DIGITAL for an immersive journey through the celestial, within and without. ALBUM RELEASE The work invites you to take part in a dynamic new creative odyssey through the ever-expanding digital portal aten.life. ALTAR NO. 1 – The Live Feed Residency program is supported in part by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Partners for ATEN unfolds through a series of weekly installments that include a new album of fifteen original songs by Jones and Josh Quat; connected New Performance. music videos ; a series of probing podcast conversations with special ALTAR NO. 1 is commissioned by The Public Theater, and created with support from CalArts Center for New guests; and invitations for visitors to engage on and offline. It is a site Performance and New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency, with funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the for you to return—to replenish, reflect, and contribute to a growing Partners for New Performance. archive of shared reflection and inspiration. ALTAR NO. 1 – ATEN launches Daniel Alexander Jones’s multivalent ALTAREDSTATES project, devised over the last two years in collaboration with the creative braintrust of Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Ebony Noelle Golden, Walter Kitundu, Josh Quat, and Sangodare Wallace. 06
ALTAREDSTATES is made possible with generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional support provided by the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. Produced by CalArts Center for New Performance. Photo by Angel Origgi
NI’JA WHITSON
“Whitson’s work references ritual and sacred practices while offering new transcendent, poetic experiences of movement and sound." - Marlynn Wei, Huffington Post OCT 11 8PM
3RD FLOOR STUDIOS
LIVE FEED In-process: The Unarrival Experiments - Dark Dive Tickets start at $15
The Unarrival Experiments is a transdisciplinary, multi-site, multiform project that centers the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy through a Black, Queer, and Transembodied lens. Dark Dive will be an experiment for audiences and performers in near complete darkness in a performance that challenges pursuits of the "blackest black".
The Unarrival Experiments by Ni'Ja Whitson is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by New York Live Arts, Inc., EMPAC, and NPN. For more information: www.npnweb.org. Photo by Maria Baranova
07
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS “one of the most exciting choreographic voices out there” - The New York Times
Narcissus
Tickets start at $25 Narcissus is an original, evening-length ballet set to Nikolai Tcherepnin's score Narcisse et Echo composed in 1911 for the Ballets Russes incorporating themes of the eponymous Greek myth on which it is based to re-envision the original ballet through a contemporary queer lens. The work, featuring costume and set designs by Andrew Jordan as well as lighting by Joe Levasseur, is performed by dancers Christiana Axelsen, Janet Charleston, Breckyn Drescher, Alan Good, Joshua Harriette, Casey Hess, Gildas Lemmonier, Justin Lynch, Jake Montanaro, Alexander Olivieri, Logan Pedon, Caitlin Scranton, Jin Ju Song-Begin, Mac Twining, and Charmaine Warren, with Taylor Stanley/Cemiyon Barber in the title role. Oct 29 Stay Late Conversation moderated by Aaron Mattocks
08
OCT 28-30 730PM OCT 30 230PM WORLD PREMIERE
The creation of Narcissus was supported by the Live Feed Residency program with generous funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Partners for New Performance. The work was also made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement/Creative Learning, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a grant from the Harkness Foundation for Dance. Photo by Andrew Jordan
MAXlive 2021: THE NEUROVERSE
NOV 5-7
Media Art Xploration pushes the limits of intelligence- artificial and otherwise Co-produced by New York Live Arts
Live arts and the most cutting-edge technology in the world of neuroscience and artificial intelligence are mixing in explosive new ways to bring you The Neuroverse. With sound installations, live music, robots, immersive pieces, visual arts and live conversations from artists like Annie Dorsen, slow immediate, Leigh Silverman, Stephanie Dinkins, Suzanne Kite, The Nuum Collective and Daniel Fish to name a few, The Neuroverse is easily going to be the most groundbreaking festival of the fall. Come experience it at venues like New York Live Arts, 1014 - space for ideas, and more as we take over the island of Manhattan and turn it into The Neuroverse.
Photo credit
Media Art Xploration produces live & immersive arts that harness & interrogate the scientific advances of our times. Biennially, award-winning artists, top scientists, and cutting-edge technologists collaborate to bring to life an electrifying live arts festival. Harnessing the power of AI and the creative energy of artists and technologists alike, this year MAXlive 2021: The Neuroverse will take audiences to depths they didn't even know existed. 09
RANDJELOVIĆ/STRYKER RESIDENT COMMISSIONED ARTIST 10
DEC 1-4, 8-11 8PM WORLD PREMIERE
Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory WEDNESDAY Tickets Start at $25 WEDNESDAY is a queer-fantasia where music, movement, and speech are inseparable. In this dance-theatre speculative documentary, Live Arts 2019-2020 Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Raja Feather Kelly and the feath3r theory search for the true motivations behind an infamous Brooklyn bank robbery; the centerpiece of the 1975 cinematic-drama Dog Day Afternoon. The piece re-centers the story of Raja's relationship to American Trans-woman Liz Eden, for whom the character Leon in the film is loosely based—and the reason why the character Sonny conspires to rob the bank.
Since its inception, the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist program has received lead support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and has been named for lead donors Jon Stryker and New York Live Arts board Vice-chair Slobodan Randjelović. Photo by Kate Enman 11
Smoke & Mirrors Tickets start at $50
Sasha Velour’s Smoke & Mirrors must be seen to be believed. At over 90 minutes, Smoke & Mirrors is a lip-synched autobiographical fantasy with captivating visuals and breathtaking surprises. Dreamed up and meticulously performed by Velour, every second of this iconic production remains heartfelt and unforgettable. The soundtrack spans from Judy Garland to Le Tigre, featuring Velourian classics like So Emotional (Whitney Houston) and Cellophane (Sia) Throughout, theatrical techniques are used to unmask deeper truths about gender, grief, fame, and community. This is a show dedicated to anyone who dares to live life "over the top!"
“Smoke & Mirrors shows what a top-of-her-game queen Velour really is, both as an artist and as a storyteller.” - PAPER MAGAZINE
Photo courtesy of the artist
12
DEC 16-19, 21-24, 26-27, 29-31 730PM
SASHA VELOUR
13
RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
FRESH TRACKS
The Fresh Tracks Residency & Performance program is a season-long residency for emerging movement-based artists in support of new work creation and professional development with nia love as Artistic Advisor. The program originated at Dance Theater Workshop in 1965 to bring new choreographic artistry to the forefront and has included great minds such as Bill T. Jones, Bebe Miller, and current Live Feed Artists Vanessa Anspaugh and Milka Djordjevich. A new cohort of artists will be announced in late September 2021.
New York Live Arts’ residency programs provide much-needed resources to artists at every stage of their career, resulting in the creation of work from emerging talent being seen for the first time, to the mid-career artists who will be our next great masters.
The Fresh Tracks Residency & Performance program is supported in part by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Partners for New Performance.
LIV FEED
RANDJELOVIĆ/ STRYKER RESIDENT COMMISSIONED ARTIST
LIV FEED
The Live Feed creative residency program The current Live Feed Artists are is a laboratory for the development of new Vanessa Anspaugh, Holly Bass, work commissioned and presented by Live Charlotte Brathwaite, Milka Djordjevich, Arts. Informal public showings offer a sneak Emily Johnson,Holly Daniel Alexander Jones, Vanessa Anspaugh, peek into each resident artist’s process andBass,Shamel Pitts | TRIBE, Charlotte Brathwaite,Colleen Thomas, ideas before the work premieres. Artists Milka Ni’Ja Whitson, Emily Christopher Williams, Djordjevich, have the opportunity to show their work atJohnson,, Raphael Xavier, and Abby Z and the Daniel Alexander Live Artery during the annual Association Jones, of New Utility. Shamel Pitts, Colleen Performing Arts Professionals Conference.Thomas, Ni’Ja Whitson, Photos of artists are in alphabetic order. Christopher Williams, The Live Feed Residency program is supported in part by Rockefeller Raphael Xavier, Brothers Fund and Partners for New Performance.
The Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist (RCA) awardee receives two years of full-time salary, healthcare benefits, full-time access to dedicated office space during the entire residency period, creative funds, a technical theater residency and fully-produced production. Since the creation of the program in 2011, artists selected were Yasuko Yokoshi, Kyle Abraham (MacArthur Genius Fellow 2013), Okwui Okpokwasili (MacArthur Genius Fellow 2018), RoseAnne Spradlin, and Raja Feather Kelly. Since its inception, the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist program has received lead support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and has been named for lead donors Jon Stryker and New York Live Arts board Vice-chair Slobodan Randjelović.
14
Photo of Jordan Lloyd's NEIGHBORS by Maria Baranova
Photo by Valeda Stull
Photo by Pamela Janzesian
Photo by Alex Apt
Photo by Barbara Anastacio
Photo by Justin Streichman
Photo by Tracy Rector & Melissa Ponder
Photo by Scott Shaw
FAYE DRISCOLL Faye Driscoll is New York Live Arts 2021-2022 Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist. She is a performance maker and artist who has been hailed as a “startlingly original talent” (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times).She is the recipient of numerous awards, including Doris Duke Artist Award, United States Artist Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship and Creative Capital Award. Her work has been presented at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, La Biennale di Venezia, BAM/Brooklyn Academy of Music, Walker Art Center, Melbourne Festival, Wexner Center for the Arts, Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens, and more. She also choreographs for plays and films, including the Broadway production of Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, and Josephine Decker’s award-winning feature film M adeline’s Madeline.
Photo by Maria Baranova 15
MEMBERSHIP
DONATE/SUPPORT
You attend our presentations. You show support to resident artists as they develop their work under our roof. You cheer Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company on. That makes you a VIP in our book! So why not make it official by becoming a member? With just one step more you can open the door to 20% discounted tickets, exclusive members-only presales, invitations to private rehearsals and opportunities to engage in person with the virtuosic artists who grace our stage. Membership at Live Arts is the gateway to increased access and benefits.
Artists play a distinct role in our communities, especially in times of upheaval and change. We are honored to play a small part in ensuring artists are supported, seen, and heard. Live Arts is sustained by the generosity of individuals, and your presence and participation is vital to our ability to continue the important work ahead of us.
LIVE CORE Are you an artist working to connect with larger audiences and raise funds to support your work? Enrollment in Live Core is $100 for a full year of unlimited access to the program’s offerings, including Fiscal Sponsorship Program, discounts on tickets and workshops, professional development services and more! For more information on joining our membership programs visit newyorklivearts.org or contact Bianca Bailey at bbailey@newyorklivearts.org.
Photos (above) by Jesse Anders and Maria Baranova 16
Your tax-deductible donation of any amount provides vital resources to artists at every career stage in the form of commissioning funds, residencies, studio space, and professional services. We thank our Trustees, Patrons Circle, Advisory Council, and Members for their generous support. To learn about ways to support New York Live Arts and the artists we serve please visit newyorklivearts.org/support or contact Ali Burke at aburke@newyorklivearts.org.
SUPPORT Support for New York Live Arts is provided by the Arnhold Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ed Bradley Family Foundation, The Brant Foundation, Inc., Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Dance/NYC, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Marta Heflin Foundation, Alex Katz Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Alice Lawrence Foundation, Samuel M. Levy Family Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund in the New York Community Trust, The Poss Family Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, The Semel Charitable Foundation, Scherman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Tides Foundation.
The creation of new work by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company is made possible in part by the company’s Partners in Creation: Anonymous, Anne Delaney, Zoe Eskin, Eleanor Friedman, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen, Suzanne Karpas, Ellen Poss, Jane Bovingdon Semel, in memory of Linda G. Shapiro, Slobodan Randjelović & Jon Stryker. We thank our Partners for New Performance for supporting the Live Feed, Fresh Tracks, Live Ideas, Open Spectrum, and Bill Chats: Alexes Hazen, Linda Hirschson, Julie Orlando, Andrea Rosen, Nina Stricker.
Public support for New York Live Arts is from Humanities New York, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Correction, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Corporate support for New York Live Arts includes Con Edison, Google, Otter AI, Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
17
New York Live Arts 219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011 Home of the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Company
New York Live Arts @NewYorkLiveArts @nylivearts
Cover Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company Photo by Maria Baranova