Meany Center for the Performing Arts

SEATTLE, WA — Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington has announced five additional events for the 2022–23 Season. The events are part of a new season-long contemporary performance series Becoming: At Home in the World, guest curated by Bill T. Jones, the world-renowned choreographer, dancer, writer and artistic director of New York Live Arts, co-producer of the series. Featuring artists working at the cutting edge of their disciplines, the Becoming events are inspired by Jones’ deep interest in “what it takes to be a well-rounded citizen of the world in these fractious times.”

The five artists whose work will be presented include South African choreographer Robyn Orlin, choreographer Abby Zbikowski, Portland-based musical artist Holland Andrews, performance artist Daniel Alexander Jones and musician Saul Williams, whose work The Motherboard Suite is a collaboration with seven choreographers and directed by Bill T. Jones.

“Our objective for this series,” says Meany Center Executive and Artistic Director Michelle Witt, “is to engage artists, faculty, students and community through innovative work that addresses the critical issues of our time. No one event in the series will be like any other; each will be informed by the unique perspectives, experiences and creative process of the artist who made it. The one commonality is the fierce originality of the artists as they integrate both rigorous form and social justice into their work to create an emotional connection with their audiences.”

“What unites these artists,” says Jones, “is perhaps a desire to redefine what is and was, to push against the status quo, crack it open and let the light come through.”

BECOMING: AT HOME IN THE WORLD EVENTS
https://meanycenter.org/tickets/becoming-home-world

Robyn Orlin
And so you see …
Friday–Saturday, September 30–October 1, 2022 at 8 p.m.
Meany Hall — Studio Theatre
General Admission

South African choreographer Robyn Orlin created this critique of shifting power relationships for the 20th anniversary of the end of Apartheid. Playful and ironic, and featuring the body of gender non-conforming dancer Albert Ibokwe Khoza, the work is a journey through the seven deadly sins that Orlin considers a “requiem for humanity.” Torn between sin, transformation, decline and brilliance, Khoza ritualizes an incantation of hope that is full of curiosity and positivity, despite the never-ending destruction facing future generations.

Abby Z and the New Utility
Radioactive Practice
Thursday–Saturday, October 27–29, 2022 at 8 p.m.
Meany Hall — Studio Theatre
General Admission

In this newest work by choreographer Abby Zbikowski, dancers of the New Utility dive head-on into the unknown, exploring complex movement that upends expectations. Radioactive Practice embodies the cultural collisions of contemporary living, testing the group’s own mental and physical limits with a hard-wiring for survival. Using movement traditions inspired by street and postmodern dance, contemporary African forms, tap, martial arts and sports, Abby Z shatters established assumptions through an arsenal of physical possibility.

Working with Senegalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye as dramaturge, Zbikowski and crew have created a genre-bending performance that challenges audiences to reconsider, if not completely abandon, their preconceptions of dance.

Abby Z and the New Utility’s Radioactive Practice is co-presented by Meany Center for the Performing Arts and On the Boards. This co-presentation represents a deeper engagement with Bill T. Jones as 2022–23 Meany Center guest Artistic Associate, to increase artist engagement, support new work, amplify diverse voices, and further expand and diversify audiences for contemporary performance in Seattle, including increasing access to new generations of artists and audiences.

Holland Andrews
Solo program to be announced
Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 8 p.m.
Meany Hall — Studio Theatre
General Admission

Performance artist, vocalist and composer Holland Andrews explores healing and freedom in a solo program of unique multilayered musical soundscapes. Through abstract operatic and extended vocal techniques, coupled with a dynamic range of sonic influences, Andrews expresses the chaos and oppression of our times. Their work is a rich aesthetic journey of profound creative balance, showing us what it means to create revolution, unlearn destructive patterns and — ultimately — transform the world around us.

The Motherboard Suite
Music Performed by Saul Williams
Directed by Bill T. Jones
Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 8 p.m.
Meany Hall — Gerlich Theater
General Admission

The Motherboard Suite brings to life a suite of music by musician, poet, actor Saul Williams. Directed by Bill T. Jones, this non-linear work is performed by Saul and his musical collaborators and features seven choreographers — Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Jasmine Hearn, Shamel Pitts|TRIBE and a local Seattle choreographer. Each choreographer is invited into the world of Williams’ exploration at the intersection of technology and race, exploitation and mystical anarchy, where hackers are artists and activists.

Daniel Alexander Jones
I Choose To Remember Us Whole
Spring 2023
Multiple venues and locations
Free and open to the public

Daniel Alexander Jones will lead participants from the University of Washington, Meany Center and greater Seattle communities through a series of conversations, creative workshops and rituals during the spring of 2023. These gatherings will culminate in the building of several temporary altars to be installed in and around the UW campus. A one-day processional performance rite will animate the altars and feature music, poetry, movement and testimony, inviting folks to embody an act of imagining and remembering.

Becoming: At Home in the World is generously funded by the Floyd and Dolores Jones Foundation, The College Inn Pub, and by John Robinson and Maya Sonenberg

TICKETS

Tickets for the Becoming events may be purchased now with a Choose Your Own Series subscription. Single tickets go on sale August 3. Ticket prices range from $10–$28. Discounts are available for students, youths, seniors, UW employees, UW alumni and veterans. For tickets and information, visit https://meanycenter.org/ or call the ArtsUW Ticket Office at 206-543-4880.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Born in 1955 in Johannesburg, Robyn Orlin studied at the London School of Contemporary Dance (1975–1980). With the help of a Fulbright scholarship, she then completed her Master of Fine Arts at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1990–1993). She has been working consistently on her own work in South Africa from then onward. Nicknamed in South Africa “a permanent irritation,” she is well known for reflecting the difficult and complex realities in her country. Integrating different media (text, video, plastic arts), she investigates a certain theatrical reality, which has enabled her to find her unique choreographic vocabulary. One often owes her uniqueness to her entertaining titles: If you can’t change the world, change your curtains (1990), The Polka dot lives on! (1995) for the Soweto Dance Theatre; Naked on a goat (1996), Orpheus… I mean Euridice… I mean the natural history of a chorus girl (1998) which obtained the FNB Vita Dance Umbrella award for choreography; Daddy, I’ve seen this piece six times before and I still don’t know why they’re hurting each other (1999); F…(Untitled) (2000), We must eat our suckers with the wrapper on and The future may be bright, but its not necessarily orange (2001), Ski-Fi-Jenni… and the frock of the new, a piece loosely based on the myth of Iphigeni, at Montpellier Dance Festival (2002), Although I live inside… (2004), a solo for Sophiatou Kososko, When I take off My Skin… (2005) at MC2 in Grenoble. In summer 2005, she created a solo piece for Vera Mantero in Aix en Provence, Hey Dude, I have talent, I am just waiting for God….

Robyn Orlin directed L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato from Haendel at the National Paris Opéra (2007). During the 2007–08 Season she created a piece for the Via Katlehong Dance in Créteil, part of Festival d’Automne. In Liège, Belgium, she created a piece with Swenkas, Dressed to kill… killed to dress… (2008), and was invited by Opéra Comique in Paris to direct Gershwin’s opera Porgy & Bess (2008). Walking next to our shoes… intoxicated by strawberries and cream, we enter continents without knocking… was created in 2009 with the Phuphuma Love Minus singers and presented as part of Banlieues Bleues Festival. She pursued the Babysitting series with another pièce for the Musee du Louvre entitled Babysitting Petit Louis, commissioned by the Louvre and the Festival d’Automne in Paris. In 2010, she presented Call it… kissed by the sun… better still the revenge of geography…, a solo for the French hip-hop dancer Ibrahim Sissoko with live graphic illustration by Maxime Rebiere. In 2011, Have you hugged, kissed and respected your Brown venue today? was presented at festival d’Automne à Paris and on tour in Luxembourg, in Monaco and in many other festivals. She created Beauty remained for just a moment then returned gently to her starting position… at Biennale de Lyon (2012). This piece was performed at Théâtre national de Chaillot for the Official Opening of the South African season in France. In 2013, she created in a world full of butterflies, it takes balls to be a Caterpillar … in Reunion Island and at Bastille theater, part of Festival d’Automne à Paris. In 2014, she created a new piece for festival d’Avignon, with the dancers of Ecole des Sable of Germaine Acogny, At the same time we were pointing a finger at you, we realized we were pointing three at ourselves…. http://www.robynorlin.com/

Holland Andrews is an American vocalist, composer and performance artist whose work is based on emotionality in its many forms. In their composition work, Andrews focuses on the abstraction of operatic and extended-technique voice to build soundscapes encompassing both catharsis and dissonance. Frequently highlighting themes surrounding vulnerability and healing, Andrews arranges music with voice and clarinet, harnessing the innate qualities of these instruments’ power and elegance to serve as a vessel for these themes. As a vocalist, their influences stem from a dynamic range of music stylings including contemporary opera, musical theater and jazz, as well as ambient and noise music. Wordless, the first in the series of EPs to be released through Nil Frahms Leiter-Verlag label, is out now.

In addition to creating solo work, Andrews develops and performs the soundscapes for dance, theater and film, and their work is still toured nationally and internationally. Andrews has gained recognition from publications such as The New York Times, Le Monde, La Republica, Business Times and more. Holland Andrews is currently based in New York City. https://www.hollandandrews.com/

Saul Williams has been breaking ground since his debut album, Amethyst Rock Star, was released in 2001 and executive produced by Rick Rubin. After gaining global fame for his poetry and writings at the turn of the century, Williams has performed in over 30 countries and read in over 300 universities, with invitations that have spanned from the White House, the Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, The Louvre, The Getty Center and Queen Elizabeth Hall, to countless villages, townships, community centers and prisons across the world. The Newburgh, New York native gained a BA from Morehouse and an MFA from Tisch and has gone on to record with Nine Inch Nails and Allen Ginsburg, as well as countless film and television appearances.

Williams’ most recent musical release, Encrypted & Vulnerable is the first album he has ever categorized as “spoken word” and is the second in a series of three albums and part of the multitiered MartyrLoserKing project. The album is self-produced by Williams, mixed by Warp artist Gonjasufi and features contributions from Dave Sitek, My Brightest Diamond, Grammy-winning trumpet player Christian Scott (Atoms For Peace), astrophysicist Bianca Rhym, producer King Britt, Orko Eloheim, Thavius Beck, CX KiDTRONiK, Paul Whiteman and Lippie. The album also acts as the score to his directorial debut musical, Neptune Frost, executive produced by Stephen Hendel based on the graphic novel Williams will be releasing in 2020 about African hackers living in a village made of upcycled computer parts. Of the album, Williams explains: “Encrypted & Vulnerable is simultaneously a personal and intimately optimistic takedown on struggle, defiance, awareness, aloneness and a takedown of heteronormative capitalistic patriarchal authoritarian politics in topics ranging from love, technology, religion, war to migration.” http://saulwilliams.com/

Abby Zbikowski created her company Abby Z and the New Utility in 2012. She is a 2020 United States Artists Fellow and received the 2017 Juried Bessie Award for her “unique and utterly authentic movement vocabulary in complex and demanding structures to create works of great energy, intensity, surprise and danger.” In 2018, Dance Umbrella UK awarded her a “Choreographer of the Future” commission. She is an inaugural Caroline Hearst Choreographer-in-Residence at the Lewis Center of the Arts at Princeton University (2017–19), current artist in residence at New York Live Arts (2018–20), and has been in residence at Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival and the STREB Lab for Action Mechanics. She is an assistant professor of dance at the University of Illinois and on faculty at American Dance Festival. She has taught at the Academy of Culture in Riga, Latvia; at Festival Un Pas Vers L’Avant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and studied at Germaine Acogny’s L’École de Sables in Senegal. Zbikowski holds a BFA in dance from Temple University and an MFA from The Ohio State University. Zbikowski has performed with Charles O. Anderson/Dance Theater X, Momar Ndiaye, and the Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project. Her company has been presented nationally, performing at venues such as Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts and the Fuse Box Festival in Austin, Texas, among others. http://www.abbyznewutility.org/

Daniel Alexander Jones is hailed by audiences, colleagues and critics as a groundbreaking and visionary artist. Over 25 years into his interdisciplinary practice, Jones’ distinctive, wildflower body of work deftly weaves performance art, theater, music, writing and teaching. His pieces include Altar No. 1: Aten, which premiered as a digital music, video and interactive site (CalArts Center for New Performance and New York Live Arts); Black Light (Public Theater); Duat (Soho Rep); and Phoenix Fabrik (Pillsbury House Theatre). 53rd State Press recently published Love Like Light, a collection of seven works from across Jones’ career, featuring introductory essays from a range of collaborators and colleagues; and the book Particle & Wave, a contextualizing conversation about his practice with Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Jones was honored as the 2021 PEN America/Laura Pels Foundation awardee in Theatre, and was praised for “perfecting a dramaturgy all his own based in the traditions of Africana studies, performance studies, queer theory and mysticism, challenging established traditions while creating space for audiences to ponder what theater is and who it is for.” Jones was a Guggenheim Fellow, a Doris Duke Artist, a USA Artist Fellow, a Creative Capital Grantee and has been commissioned by McCarter Theatre and the Public Theatre. He has taught at university for 20 years, most recently as a full professor at Fordham University. Daniel is a producing artist for the Center for New Performance at CalArts and is in residence with UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. http://www.danielalexanderjones.com/

Becoming: At Home in the World is generously funded by the Floyd and Dolores Jones Foundation, The College Inn Pub, and by John Robinson and Maya Sonenberg.

ABOUT BILL T. JONES

Artistic Director, Co-Founder and Choreographer of New York Live Arts, Bill T. Jones is recipient of the 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award; 2013 National Medal of Arts; 2010 Kennedy Center Honors; a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography of the critically acclaimed Fela!; a 2007 Tony Award, 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening; the 2010 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award; 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship; 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven; 2005 Wexner Prize; the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; 2005 Harlem Renaissance Award; 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; and a 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award. In 2010, Jones was recognized as Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Jones “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.”

Jones choreographed and performed worldwide with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. He has created more than 140 works for his company. Jones is artistic director of New York Live Arts, an organization that strives to create a robust framework in support of the nation’s dance and movement-based artists through new approaches to producing, presenting and educating.

ABOUT NEW YORK LIVE ARTS

Home of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (BTJ/AZ), New York Live Arts is a commissioning and presenting center of diverse artists at all stages of their careers through residencies, commissions and artist services. Located in the heart of Chelsea in New York City, New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation and active engagement with the social, political and cultural currents of our times. At the center of its identity is Bill T. Jones, world-renowned choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer. New York Live Arts serves as the home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and is the company’s sole producer, providing support and the environment to originate innovation and challenging new work for the company and the NYC creative community. New York Live Arts produces and presents dance, music and theater performances in its 20,000-square-foot home, which include a 184-seat theater and two 1,200 square foot studios that can be combined into one large studio. New York Live Arts offers an extensive range of participatory programs for adults and young people and supports the continuing professional development of artists and commissions. https://newyorklivearts.org/

ABOUT MEANY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington fosters innovative performances that advance public engagement, cultural exchange, creative research and learning through the arts. Meany Center provides opportunities for diverse artists, community, students and faculty to connect in the discovery and exploration of the boundless power of the arts to create positive change in the world. https://meanycenter.org/

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PRESS RELEASE

MEANY CENTER ANNOUNCES NEW CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE SERIES BECOMING: AT HOME IN THE WORLD GUEST CURATED BY WORLD-RENOWNED CHOREOGRAPHER BILL T. JONES

PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NEW YORK LIVE ARTS, THE FIVE-EVENT SERIES FEATURES WORK BY ARTISTS ROBYN ORLIN, ABBY ZBIKOWSKI, HOLLAND ANDREWS, DANIEL ALEXANDER JONES, AND SAUL WILLIAMS WITH BILL T. JONES DIRECTING