Spring 2022 Brochure by New York Live Arts

SPRING 2022

OUR SEASON OF ANNIVERSARIES With the return to in-person live performance, and still full from our experience of Deep Blue Sea at the Armory, we reaffirm what we already know — there’s nothing like the transformative experience of live performance. This is worth fighting for, even as our world remains fractious and uncertain, obsessing over the next digital hype. New York Live Arts’ Season of Anniversaries - 10th for Live Arts and 40th for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company - continues with premieres by Live Feed Artists Milka Djordjevich, Raphael Xavier, and Abby Zbikowski, as well as new works by the Bill T.Jones/ Arnie Zane Company and a new group of Fresh Tracks artists. Other highlights include Live Artery, a Bill Chats with Yvonne Rainer, exhibitions in the Ford Foundation Live Gallery, the annual Live Arts Pride celebration, and the announcement of a couple of exciting new initiatives in the Spring.

We’ll leave you with a little story. Forty years ago, Bill and Arnie formed a company. The little community looked like a cross section of the world they wanted to live in. Not the world as it was in 1982. The company was their child when they were not allowed to have children. Always needing to be fed and nurtured, it has been a raft and a burden, a source of happiness and doubt, capable of beauty and terror. Against all odds, this child survived pandemics, culture wars, financial crises, even the loss of one of its founders. There were times when the remaining founder questioned if maintaining a company is possible. Well, the story of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company goes on… –Bill T. Jones & Janet Wong

Cover photo of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and portraits above by Maria Baranova

SPRING 2022 CALENDAR JAN 6 530PM JAN 13-18 JAN 18 8PM JAN 20-22 730PM FEB 17 7PM FEB 27 6PM MAR 3- 5 730PM MAR 11-APR 6

Box Office

Discounts

Directions

Tickets can be purchased at newyorklivearts.org or by calling the box office at 212.924.0077 Hours: Monday–Friday: 3pm–9pm Saturday & Sunday: 11am–9pm 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. 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.

Bjorn Amelan Ford Foundation Live Gallery opening reception Live Artery Live Feed: Milka Djordjevich CORPS

Bill Chats: Yvonne Rainer Jaamil Olawale Kosoko: Black Body Amnesia Raphael Xavier: The Musician and The Mover In/Between Ford Foundation Live Gallery

APR 13 530PM APR 15-16 730PM MAY 4 7PM

Bjorn Amelan Ford Foundation Live Gallery opening reception

MAY 16 MAY 18-21 730PM JUN 9-11 730PM JUN 12 3PM JUN 21 8PM JUN 26

The Anniversary Gala

Fresh Tracks: New Works Bill Chats: Community Scholars: Aimee Meredith Cox, Jasmine Johnson, Darnell Moore, Emil Wilbekin Abby Z and the New Utility: RADIOACTIVE PRACTICE Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company: Curriculum II @ Montclair State University

Live Feed In-Process: Ni'Ja Whitson PRIDE 2022: The House Party

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.

LIVE ARTERY

BILL T. JONES/ ARNIE ZANE COMPANY Photo by Maria Baranova

EMILY JOHNSON

Photo by Tracy Rector & Melissa Ponder

MOLLY & ELEANOR

HEIDI BOISVERT & KAT MUSTATEA

Tickets Start at $15 Presented during the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference (APAP), the 2022 edition of Live Artery returns in two concurrent parts, Live Artery and Virtual Artery, featuring the recent work of New York Live Arts’ residency artists and curated guests. Live Artery will present in-person performances and works-in-progress showings in the studio and theater at New York Live Arts. Virtual Artery will stream performances that recently premiered in our theater to be enjoyed at your leisure. Live Artery has evolved to become a space for artists to network and share their work with presenters from around the world which has led to commissions, tours and the building of long-term relationships. After the last edition which took place in an exciting 3D virtual environment during the global lockdown, we are excited to celebrate live performance both in person and virtually. 02

VANESSA ANSPAUGH

MILKA DJORDJEVICH

SHAMEL PITTS | TRIBE

FAYE DRISCOLL

Photo by Maria Baranova

Photo by Alex Apt

LIVE ARTERY THEATER JAN 13-15, 8PM Black Hole (NY premiere) Shamel Pitts | TRIBE JAN 15 3-5PM Performing Tech: 4 Perspectives (presentations & performance) with Brandon Powers, LaJuné McMillian, Annie Dorsen and Heidi Boisvert & Kat Mustatea JAN 16 6PM Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (invitation only)

THEATER (CONT.) JAN 18, 8PM CORPS (NY premiere) Milka Djordjevich STUDIO PERFORMANCE JAN 15 & 16, 730PM GLORIA (remount) Molly Lieber & Eleanor Smith VR EXPERIENCE JAN 14, 5-8PM DUET Brandon Powers

Photo by Maria Baranova

STUDIO WORKS-IN-PROCESS JAN 15 2PM Lacina Coulibaly 5PM Faye Driscoll 2021-2022 RCA (invitation only)* JAN 16 12PM Vanessa Anspaugh 2PM Emily Johnson 5PM Shamel Pitts | TRIBE VIRTUAL ARTERY Colleen Thomas Christopher Williams The Motherboard Suite Prayers of the People Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory

LIV FEED MILKA DJORDJEVICH

“A brazen, sensual and blessedly chaotic force.” —The New York Times JAN 18 8PM JAN 20-22 730PM Tickets Start at $25 NEW YORK PREMIERE

CORPS CORPS explores how labor and gender are addressed under the lens of regimented movement. The work is a continuation of Djordjevich’s ongoing questioning of dance practices preoccupied with producing neutrality and anonymity. CORPS aims to unravel and disorient the militaristic conditioning of groups ‘keeping together in time.’ The work reveals similarities across traditional, combative, ritualistic, athletic, and folk movement forms. Over time methodical systems of labor and cooperation rally into a procession of distorted collectivity. Moving with a steady urgency, the performers yo-yo between collapsing and rectifying, creating an ever-changing engine on a pathway to unruliness.

The creation of CORPS is made possible, in part, by individual donors, the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) at Florida State University, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, CalArts Dance, Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow and by a commission from New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency program with additional support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Partners for New Performance. Photo by Maria Baranova

JAAMIL OLAWALE KOSOKO

Black Body Amnesia Performance Reading & Book Launch Blending poetry and memoir, conversation and performance theory, Black Body Amnesia: Poems and Other Speech Acts (published by Wendy Subway, 2022) enlivens a personal archive of visual and verbal offerings written and organized by poet, performance artist, educator, and curator Jaamil Olawale Kosoko. Inspired by Audre Lorde’s concept of biomythography, Kosoko mixes personal history, biography, and mythology to tell a complex narrative rooted within a queer, Black, self-defined, and feminist imagination.

FEB 27 6PM Tickets Start at $15

Attire: Fun, Festive, Colorful Signature cocktails will be served. Presented as part of Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism - A Citywide Festival, February – March 2022 04

Photo by Freddy Koh

LIV FEED RAPHAEL XAVIER

“...Xavier captivated his audience with the impassioned lyrical delivery of a hip-hop artist.” -The Broad Street Review

MAR 3-5 730PM Tickets start at $25 NYC PREMIERE

The Musician and The Mover Raphael Xavier (pronounced ZAH-vee-ay) is a mover who for the past 20+ years has explored Breaking as social, physical and mental “movement.” Utilizing Jazz as a backdrop, XAVIER’S: The Musician & The Mover features 4 seasoned Jazz musicians and 3 movers, highlighting the traditions of freestyle and improvisation of both forms: Breaking and Jazz.

The Live Feed Residency program is supported in part by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Partners for New Performance. Photo by Brian Mengini

FRESH TRACKS APR 15-16 730PM Tickets start at $15 WORLD PREMIERE

JESSICA COOK

Photo courtesy of the artist

This season’s Fresh Tracks artists present their new work in a shared evening in the theater. Fresh Tracks Residency & Performance program is a season-long residency for emerging movement-based artists in support of new work creation and professional development. This season marks the 57th year of Fresh Tracks, which was a signature program of Dance Theater Workshop to bring new choreographic artistry to the forefront. Fresh Tracks is supported in part by Partners for New Performance

JOHN MARIA GUTIERREZ

LILACH ORENSTEIN

MAJESTY ROYALE

MALEEK WASHINGTON

Photo by Lívia Sá

Photo by Constance Mensh

New Works

Photo courtesy of the artist

LIV FEED ABBY Z AND THE NEW UTILITY “an onslaught of thwacking arms, emphatic kicks, dizzying spins, swift somersaults, perilous balances and slippery contortions" - The New York Times

MAY 18-21 730PM Tickets start at $25 WORLD PREMIERE

The Live Feed Residency program is supported in part by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Partners for New Performance. RADIOACTIVE PRACTICE is a National Performance Network/Visual Artist Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by New York Live Arts, Dance Place, American Dance Festival, Wexner Center for the Performing Arts and NPN/VAN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Caroline Hearst Artist in Residence program at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and the University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign Campus Research Board , the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org. Photo by Effy Falck

RADIOACTIVE PRACTICE Choreographer Abby Zbikowski and crew have created a genrebending work that brings together a mosaic group of dancers to redefine purpose for themselves as they labor their way through complex, demanding, and often perplexing physicality as a means to confront expectations and dive into the unknown head on. Utilizing the skills they have honed through their practices in movement traditions including (but not limited to) street dance, post-modern dance, contemporary African forms, tap, synchronized swimming, soccer, and martial arts, the cast draws from an arsenal of physical possibility to shatter assumptions of established forms and test the group’s own physical and mental limits. Working with Senegalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye as dramaturge, this work embodies the amalgam of contemporary living, chock full of cultural collisions, unlikely relationships, minor to major misunderstandings, a desire for logic, and being hard-wired to survive.

OUR SEASON OF ANNIVERSARIES Announcing our Community of Scholars The New York Live Arts Community of Scholars initiative will bring together a rotating international cohort of scholars, artists, and thought leaders to discuss the question: What does one need to know to be an informed global citizen...now? Truly taking up the moniker "Live Ideas," this group will work and think closely with Bill T. Jones as he plots the next phase of New York Live Arts and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company's artistic intervention in the world of ideas and transformative action. Members of this collective will also produce their own writing and creative projects as part of an ongoing dialogue with Bill T. Jones and the New York Live Arts community. Aimee Meredith Cox*, Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at Yale University will spearhead this initiative and serve as the lead scholar for the duration of the project. The first cohort of scholars include Jasmine E. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at University of Pennsylvania, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Princeton University, Darnell L. Moore*, Director of Inclusion Strategy for Content & Marketing at Netflix and Emil Wilbekin, Founder of Native Son, and former Editor-in-Chief of Giant and Giantmag.com and Vibe Magazine.

AIMEE MEREDITH COX

JASMINE E. JOHNSON

*New York Live Arts Board of Directors

DARNELL L. MOORE

EMIL WILBEKIN 08

40th Anniversary Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company was born out of an 11-year collaboration between Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane (1948–1988). During this time, they redefined the duet form and foreshadowed issues of identity, form and social commentary that would change the face of American dance. Since then, the Company has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 40 countries on every major continent. 40 years later, the Company is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the modern dance world.

Photos by Maria Baranova

BARRINGTON HINDS

DEAN HUSTED

SHANE LARSON

S. LUMBERT

DANIELLE MARSHALL

NAYAA OPONG

MARIE LLOYD PASPE

JACOBY PRUITT

JADA JENAI

HUIWANG ZHANG 09

BILL T. JONES/ ARNIE ZANE COMPANY

What Problem? & Deep Blue Sea National Tour Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company’s latest work What Problem? provokes the tension between belonging to a community and feelings of isolation that many feel during these divisive political times. Adapted for proscenium stages from the massive work, Deep Blue Sea (2021), Jones conceived of this highly personal work in pursuit of the elusive “we” including a cast of local community members, a deconstructed text from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Jones and the company develop individual content with local community members in each of the touring locations making each performance specific to its host city.

JAN 29

Georgia Tech Arts Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA arts.gatech.edu

Dancers’ Workshop Jackson Hole, WY dwjh.org

MAR 24-26

APR 29-30

Deep Blue Sea The Mann Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA manncenter.org

Meany Center for the Performing Arts Carolina Performing Arts University of University of North Washington Carolina at Chapel Hill Seattle, WA Chapel Hill, NC meanycenter.org

FEB 4-5

carolinaperformingarts.org

FEB 11

Center for the Jones reflects on King’s immortal words, we shall overcome, mixed Performing Arts with the scripture of our democracy as formed and shaped by WE THE Penn State PEOPLE. There has always been an uneasy recognition of the truth University Park, PA at the base of the great Du Bois statement concerning “the problem cpa.psu.edu

of the color line” for Du Bois represented the epitome of otherness; yet we now understand this is much more complex. In our fractious era, What Problem? elaborates on this line in terms of sexual politics, gender identity, class struggles and immigration.

MAR 18

APR 2

ASU Gammage Tempe, AZ asugammage.com

Commissioned by Park Avenue Armory 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. Photo by Maria Baranova

JUN 9-12

Curriculum II

WORLD PREMIERE

The genesis of the series of works entitled Curriculum came from the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe’s ideas around archive and curriculum. Curriculum I began with exploring the rich archive of Bill T. Jones’ movement phrases which are mostly non-theatrical, non-psychological, non-narrative, all made with the intention of clarity and form. Running parallel to and in juxtaposition with this formal exploration is a ticker tape of topical concerns informed by the 24-hour news cycle: climate change, racial violence, identity politics, reparations, decolonization. Mbembe might categorize these concerns as ‘planetary curriculum’.

PEAK PERFORMANCES, MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY peakperfs.org

The work attempts to embrace formal directness and clarity while allowing it to be intruded upon by word fragments, imagery and the stuff of Mbembe’s planetary curriculum. As with any curriculum, it is a dynamic entity made up of intersecting parts whose content will and must change in response to time, place and purpose.

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, Michael P.N.A. Hormel in Loving Memory of Jim Hormel, Suzanne Karpas, Ellen Poss, Carol Tolan, Jane Bovingdon Semel, in memory of Linda G. Shapiro, Slobodan Randjelović & Jon Stryker. Photo by Maria Baranova

THE ANNIVERSARY GALA

Celebrating 10 years of New York Live Arts and 40 years of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company Join us as we honor the past and look toward the future. Co-chairs: Sarah Arison*, Darnell L. Moore*, Slobodan Randjelović* & Jon Stryker Host: Helga Davis Venue: Chelsea Factory, 547 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001 *New York Live Arts Board of Directors

MAY 16

LIVE ARTS PRIDE

NI’JA WHITSON

JUN 21 8PM

JUN 26 LIVE FEED In-process: The Unarrival Experiments Dark Dive Tickets start at $15

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 Scott Shaw

The Unarrival Experiments is a transdisciplinary, multi-site, multi-form 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 House Party Live Arts’ Pride: The House Party epic celebration embodies and honors the historical importance and unwavering power of houses, collectives, and chosen family in LGBTQIA culture. Both legendary and young families from NYC’s queer nightlife and art scene come together under one roof to serve up the city’s most colorful and fierce performance, music, queer marketplace, installations and more for a multi-space, nonstop celebration for the ages.

Lead support from Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Papi Juice, Photo by Santiago Felipe

BILL CHATS

Yvonne Rainer

FEB 17 7PM

Community Scholars: Aimee Meredith Cox*, Jasmine Johnson, Darnell L. Moore*, Emil Wilbekin

MAY 4 7PM

Moderated by Patricia Hoffbauer

Tickets Start at $15 3RD FLOOR STUDIOS

The popular series continues with Bill T. Jones in conversation with invited guests. Bill Chats is supported in part by Partners for New Performance *New York Live Arts Board of Directors

Photo of Yvonne Rainer courtesy of the artist; Photo of Bill T. Jones by Maria Baranova

THROUGH JUNE 2022 INSTALLATION 3RD FLOOR

Daniel Alexander Jones

LIVE GALLERY

An altar containing the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. It offers an assemblage of works that speak to the heavenly bodies that comprise the ATEN project [The Aten (Sun disk), Mercury, Venus, Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto]. These objects include photographs, jewelry from the collection of Jomama Jones, everyday ceremonial objects from the collection of Daniel Alexander Jones, and objects gathered specifically for this installation. As well there are some paintings by Jones and by visual artists Tonya Engel [“Love”, and “Flowering” (the album-cover portrait of Jomama from 2016)]; Bridget Carpenter ["No."]; and Todd Christopher Jones [“Raziel”]. This altar was conceived by Daniel Alexander Jones and built by Jones with assistance from Beth Golison. Photo courtesy of the artist

JAN 6 - MAR 6 APR 13 - JUNE INSTALLATION FORD FOUNDATION LIVE GALLERY

JAN 6 & APR 13 530PM OPENING RECEPTION

Bjorn Amelan 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."

Photo by Maria Baranova

MAR 11 - APR 6 INSTALLATION FORD FOUNDATION LIVE GALLERY

APR 6 530PM

CLOSING RECEPTION

In/Between

NYFA Immigrant Artist Exhibition Initiated in 2019, In/Between is an annual immigrant artist group exhibition created by artists Yanira Castro, Martita Abril and Poppy DeltaDawn. It is developed in partnership with New York Live Arts and New York Foundation for the Art’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. The purpose of In/Between is to support and showcase the work of immigrant artists from the NYFA program by exhibiting their work and sharing it with the public, thereby increasing visibility and conversation around their work. The name In/Between reflects on the multiplicity of immigrant artists' experiences, identities, practices, and politics, while also speaking to the liminal experience of home/residence/community. Photo by Maria Baranova

PARTNERSHIP

DONATE/SUPPORT

Our institutional partners include University of Florida College of the Arts, Cornell Tech, Loyola Marymount University, New York Foundation for the Arts (Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program) with whom we collaborate on residency, educational and visual arts initiatives.

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.

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.

MEMBERSHIP 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.

Photos (above) by Maria Baranova 16

FUNDING 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.

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.

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