Bill T. Jones Curates New Five-Artist Becoming Series at Meany Center

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

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