New York Live Arts presents Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company: "Curriculum II"
Company:
New York Live Arts
NEW YORK LIVE ARTS PRESENTS RETURN OF
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED CURRICULUM II
BY THE BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE COMPANY
“To the Moon! A Vivid Bill T. Jones Dance Leaves Earth’s Orbit” - The New York Times
OCTOBER 4TH - 7TH, 2023 AT 7:30PM
New York, NY (September 12, 2023) - New York Live Arts (Live Arts) proudly presents the return engagement of resident Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company‘s Curriculum II to kick-off fall 2023 mainstage performances. Conceived and directed by Jones and choreographed by Jones with Janet Wong and the Company, Curriculum II is an apt poetic quilt - sewn of text, lecture as narration, live song, sound and visual installation, and the Company’s distinctive movement lexicon - that transverses ideas from the great minds of Achille Mbembe, Louis Chude-Sokei, and Sylvia Wynter. Curriculum II will be presented at New York Live Arts (219 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011), Wednesday, October 4th - Saturday, October 7th at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $25, with limited $15 ConEdison options, and can be purchased at NewYorkLiveArts.org or 212-924-0077, on sale now. Please see more ticketing information below.
In The Sound of Culture: Diaspora and Black Technopoetics, Louis Chude-Sokei quoted Sylvia Wynter: “The other must be understood as not just that which is oppressed or marginalized or rendered inhuman, subhuman, or animal; it also must be understood ‘as that which is to come.’” Part of Jones’ Curriculum series, this work explores the historical and persistent connection between race and technology and the pursuit of what is human. Jones says “I have oscillated between two or more polarities my entire career: love, mortality, and what it means to be human.”
The title is an ironic reference to Achille Mbembe’s 2018 interview by the Norwegian journalist Torbjorn Tumyr Nilsen, in which he said “for me, this is a matter of common sense. I am in favor of expanding the archive, reading the different archives of the world critically, each with and against the others. There can’t be any other meaning to a planetary curriculum.” Curriculum II traverses this proposition through the rich archive of Jones’s movement phrases, which are mostly non-theatrical, non-psychological, non-narrative, and made with the intention of clarity and form. The formal clarity and directness are juxtaposed with word fragments and imagery, exploring a range of urgent topics of the day that are as expansive as Jones’s artistry. This ticker ticker tape of sorts includes climate change, racial violence, identity politics, reparations, and decolonization.
After a sold-out, extended run punctuating the company's 40th Anniversary last season, Curriculum II is performed by Barrington Hinds, Jada Jenai, Shane Larson, s. lumbert, Danielle Marshall, Marie Lloyd Paspe, Jacoby Pruitt, Nayaa Opong, Philip Strom, and Huiwang Zhang. “The dancers give tour de force performances — unflappable, tireless, committed and wholly individual, said Gia Kourlas of The New York Times. The piece features lighting design by Robert Wierzel, sound design by David van Tieghem, installation and costume design by Liz Prince, and video design by Janet Wong.
Curriculum II is commissioned and produced by New York Live Arts with commissioning support from PEAK Performances at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ and the American Dance Festival. Curriculum II premiered with PEAK Performances in June 2022. Created with support from the Made in Wickenburg Residency Program at the Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts in Wickenburg, Arizona with funding from the R.H. Johnson Foundation and The Welk Foundation.
New York Live Arts’ 12th season confronts the current critical moment, in which the changing social, political, and cultural tides call to deepen its vision as a conduit for engagement through art. It underscores Live Arts as a central place devoted to bringing people together in interdisciplinary exploration of common values. Standard pricing is on a variable scale, with a minimum of $15 made possible by Con-Edison. Live Arts offers a standard ticket price, as well as options to pay more or less. Live Core artists, Students and Seniors receive 20% off select tickets. Limited $10 student rush tickets day of the show, pending availability. Save 25% on the entire ticket order when purchasing tickets to each of Live Arts’ fall mainstage shows.
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company in "Curriculum II." Photo by Maria Baranova
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