NEW YORK LIVE ARTS Announces New Series of Talks with Bill T. Jones, Begin. 1/26

New York Live Arts today announced Bill Chats, a series of free conversations featuring Bill T. Jones, Executive Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, in dialogue with noted artists, scholars and critics from the field of dance and other disciplines on key topics facing the community today. The first Bill Chat, presented in collaboration with The Aspen Institute Arts Program, will take place on January 26 at 5:00pm, with following events on March 9 at 5:00pm and March 23 at 5:00pm, in New York Live Arts' Theater.

Through the launch of Bill Chats, New York Live Arts continues to expand its footprint in the areas of thoughts and humanities. This new speaking program utilizes various entryways to examine the history, theories and ideas around contemporary performance, and examines the role of such factors as economy, race and politics in the definition of modern and contemporary performance. In each chat, Bill T. Jones discusses a new theme with noted artists, scholars and critics in an intimate setting.

"Sometimes when I consider the history of contemporary dance and performance, I am confronted with the reality that this history, like love or time, is dear to us, defining even, and yet very difficult to describe and often notoriously misleading," said Jones. "I look forward to speaking with an array of noted artists, scholars and critics and benefiting from their perspective on the evolution that has shaped and shifted our field and its interstitial histories: what has been lost, distorted or is hiding in plain sight."

The first Bill Chat, The Decrepitude of Art, is presented in collaboration with The Aspen Institute Arts Program. It will feature that program's director, the former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Damian Woetzel, and David Vaughan, former Merce Cunningham Dance Company Archivist in conversation with Bill T. Jones. This speaking program will focus on the pivotal years when modern performance was no longer looking towards classical forms and rules to dictate its working vocabulary. The relationship between Merce Cunningham and the traditional performance world will start the dialogue.

Further information regarding the spring Bill Chats will be released in February. The first Bill Chat,The Decrepitude of Art,will be live streamed in collaboration with 2ndLine.tv.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos / Corbis