Mx Justin Vivian Bond Slates Live Ideas Festival 2017 Lineup

A special highlight of the 2016-2017 New York Live Arts season is its annual interdisciplinary humanities festival Live Ideas. For the 2017 edition, Mx'd Messages, trans-genre artist Mx Justin VivIan Bond curates a series examining the idea of a world without binaries.

The festival arrives at a critical moment in which the need to move beyond binary ways of considering gender, politics, religion, and race is more pressing than ever. Elizabeth Koke is the associate curator.

Opening with Richard Move/MoveOpolis!'s new work XXYY, Live Ideas 2017: Mx'd Messages includes a lunchtime reading series, an afternoon film program curated by Dirty Looks, Happy Hour panel discussions with artists, scholars and activists, participatory workshops and Prime Time genre-bending performance events. BGSQD will offer queer literature setting up a bookstore at the Live Arts theater lobby during the festival.

The festival starts March 8 and runs until March 19, 2017 at New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th Street, NYC. For tickets and information, visit newyorklivearts.org or call 212-924-0077.

"Mx'd Messages is an exploration of non-binary strategies to approach some of the most vexing and wide-ranging problems our planet is now facing," states Justin VivIan Bond. "We're bringing together artists, activists, academics, educators, poets, filmmakers, writers, performers and musicians to talk about a new approach to old problems. It is imperative that we join with people from all parts of the world in reexamining our strategies in support of women's rights, protections of LGBTQI communities, religious tolerance, migrant populations and the environment," states Bond.

Choreographer, dancer and performing artist Richard Move/MoveOpolis! kicks off Live Ideas 2017 with the world premiere of XXYY, a dance-theater event exploring the multiplicities of the gender spectrum while deconstructing the conventional binaries of male and female. The program will also feature Martha@...20, an anniversary celebration of Move's continuously evolving performance as legendary 20th-century icon Martha Graham. Performance dates are March 8-11, 2017, 7:30pm. Tickets start at $15.

Week two of Live Ideas 2017: Mx'd Messages begins on March 14, 7pm with a keynote, QUEER AS IN FUCK YOU: UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HOMOCORE with Lynn Breedlove and moderated by Kenny Mellman that brings together some of the players from the early Queercore Movement to discuss the transformative power of punk. Tickets start at $15. $75 VIP ticket includes pre-show reception.

The LUNCHTIME READING series features multi-genre performance artist
M. Lamar and his new book Funeral Doom Spiritual, Wednesday, March 15, and artist/model Casey Ledger, Thursday, March 16, who will read from her forthcoming memoir, Godspeed. Vetch Poetry Journal, the first literary journal dedicated to transgender poetry will host a series of poetry readings on Friday, March 17. Events presented at the LUNCHTIME READING series start at 1:00pm. Admission is free, donations are welcome.

Dirty Looks, a bi-coastal platform for a queer experimental film, video and performance, will present an afternoon film program, AFTERNOON DELIGHT BY DIRTY LOOKS, curated by Bradford Nordeen. Designed to trace contemporary queer aesthetics through historical works, Dirty Looks will show quintessential LGBTQI film and video, alongside up-and-coming artists and filmmakers.

Films will be shown on Wednesday, March 15, through Friday, March 17, starting at 2:30pm. Tickets start at $10.

Over the weekend, on Saturday, March 18, 1:00pm, the What Would an HIV Doula Do? Collective will host a participatory workshop on care taking for people living with HIV, partnering with members of WAVE (Women's AIDS Video Enterprise). On Sunday, March 19, 2:30pm, Colin Self will lead a choral workshop, Open Xhoir Practice, where participants will blend their voices to create and experiment with new sounds. Workshops are free with suggested donations.

A crucial component of the Live Ideas festival is HAPPY HOUR, a series of panel discussions that focus on relevant topics addressed during the festival. During the first discussion, Creating Black Futures, on Wednesday, March 15, artists, theorists and activists discuss the radical potential of genre fiction and Afrofuturist art. Moderated by Kimberly Drew, panelists include artist E Jane and author Andre Carrington among others.

The second discussion, Specter Spectrum: Exploring Trans Theologies, on Thursday, March 16, explores trans theologies with rabbi Mark Sameth, who meditates on the trans identity of god; Viva Ruiz, a feminist who melds ritual and performance art; and Linn Marie Tonstad, a theologian who interlaces Christian theology with queer and feminist theory; and Wazina Zondon. The panel will be moderated by Barbara Carrellas, author of Urban Tantra.

On Friday, March 17, the panel United Nations Commission on the Status of Women: Where is my Box? in conjunction with OutRight Action International and on the occasion of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, will consider the inherent challenges and possibilities of creating a future without the binary language of gender identity and sexual orientation while also advocating for the rights of women and gender non-conforming people around the world. The panel is moderated by Siri May.

The fourth dialogue, on Saturday, March 18, The Road to Trans Visibility: Roles, Trolls, and Tolls, with model Casey Legler, actor/model Hari Nef, television and film director Silas Howard, among others, and moderated by performer/activist Kate Bornstein, will look at what it means to be a trans role model. Transgender visibility in the media is at an all-time high, with film and television, fashion shoots, and advertising campaigns featuring trans talent. What are the responsibilities and challenges, if any, of being a trans person in the public eye?

All HAPPY HOUR discussions start at 5:30pm. Tickets start at $10.

For PRIME TIME, Live Ideas presents a series of performances and concerts, opening with Trajal Harrell's The Return of La Argentina followed by a conversation between Harrell, Mx Justin VivIan Bond and Bill T. Jones. In this solo the choreographer/dancer invites audience to a fictional archiving of Butoh co-founder Kazuo Ohno's renowned solo Admiring La Argentina as directed by Butoh's other founder Tatsumi Hijikata and dedicated to the famed Spanish dancer Antonia Mercé. The Return of La Argentina will be presented at Participant, Inc. on Wednesday, March 15, at 8:30pm. Tickets start at $15.

A special highlight will be a performance by theater ensemble The TEAM of RoosevElvis (Re-MX'D), a re-imagining of their internationally acclaimed production especially for Live Ideas 2017. The piece follows a meatpacking plant worker in South Dakota named Ann, on a hallucinatory road trip from the Badlands to Graceland where the spirits of Elvis Presley and Theodore Roosevelt battle over what kind of man or woman Ann should become. A playfully pointed duet about icons and gender, performed by actresses Libby King and Kristen Sieh, which the New York Times calls "a spirited and insightful commentary on two archetypes of American masculinity." RoosevElvis (Re-MX'D) will be presented on Thursday, March 16, 8:00pm. Tickets start at $15.

Chronic/Eclipse, on Friday, March 17, 8:00pm, features a two-part evening of performance that confronts identity and politics. Brontez Purnell Dance Company will perform the world premiere of Chronic: A Dance About Marijuana. Oakland-based trans musician, pop singer/songwriter Star Amerasu will present the musical project AH-MER-AH-SU. Tickets start at $15.

House of Whimsy, on Saturday, March 18, 8:00pm, is an alluring, edgy and irreverent evening of divas and deviants from the downtown performance scene, including Dane Terry, Janani Balasubramanian, Kate Bornstein, Lynn Breedlove, Nath Ann Carrera, Severely Mame, Taja Lindley, and Wo Chan - selected and introduced by Live Ideas curator Mx Justin VivIan Bond who will also be performing. Tickets start at $15.

The festival will end with the Ostara Ball, a Queercore dance party featuring The Homobiles, Cristy Road and others and will be hosted by the Dauphine of Bushwick. The event will take place on Sunday, March 19, starting at 6pm. Tickets start at $15.

Mx Justin VivIan Bond is a trans-genre artist living in New York City. As a performer both on- and off-Broadway, Mx Bond has received numerous accolades, winning an Obie (2001), a Bessie (2004), a Tony nomination (2007), the Ethyl Eichelberger Award (2007), a Peter Reed Foundation Grant and a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant for Artists. V authored the Lambda Literary Award winning memoir TANGO: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels (The Feminist Press, 2011). Films include John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus (2006), Sunset Stories (2012), Imaginary Heroes (2004) and Fanci's Persuasion (1995). Solo exhibitions of JVB's watercolors, sculptural installations and live art have been presented by Participant, Inc. (NYC, 2011), Art Market Provincetown (2014) and Vitrine (London, 2015). Albums include Kiki and Herb: Do You Hear What We Hear?, Kiki and Herb Will Die For You at Carnegie Hall, Dendrophile and Silver Wells.

Elizabeth Koke is a writer, performer, and activist living and working in New York City. Currently she is Director of Advocacy Communications at Housing Works in addition to supporting the work of book publisher Semiotext(e). Previously she has worked at the Feminist Press at CUNY, the Brooklyn Museum, and Seagull Hair Salon.

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 Artistic Director Bill T. Jones, world-renowned choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer. New York Live Arts serves as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and is the company's sole producer, providing support and the environment to originate innovative and challenging new work. New York Live Arts produces and presents dance, music and theater performances in its 20,000 square foot home, which includes 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.

---

LIVE IDEAS 2017: MX'D MESSAGES:

READINGS, LECTURES, PANELS AND CONVERSATIONS

KEYNOTE CONVERSATION
QUEER AS IN FUCK YOU: UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HOMOCORE
With Lynn Breedlove, moderated by Kenny Mellman
New York Live Arts Theater
March 14, 7pm
Tickets start at $15/ $75 VIP tickets include pre-show reception

LUNCHTIME READINGS
New York Live Arts, 3rd Floor Studios
Wednesday, March 15-Friday, March 17, 1pm
Free with suggested donation
March 15: M. Lamar: Funeral Doom Spiritual
March 16: Casey Legler: Godspeed
March 17: Vetch Poetry Journal: Poetry Readings by Trans Writers

HAPPY HOUR (Panel Discussions)
New York Live Arts, 3rd Floor Studios
Wednesday, March 15-Saturday, March 18, 5:30pm
Tickets start at $10
March 15: Creating Black Futures
March 16: Specter Spectrum: Exploring Trans Theologies
March 17: UN Commission on the Status of Women: Where is my Box?
March 18: The Road to Trans Visibility: Roles, Trolls, and Tolls

DANCE AND THEATER EVENTS

FESTIVAL KICK-OFF
RICHARD MOVE/MOVEOPOLIS - XXYY and MARTHA@...20
New York Live Arts Theater
March 8-11, 7:30pm
Tickets start at $15
Choreographer, dancer and performing artist Richard Move/MoveOpolis! kicks off
Live Ideas 2017 with the world premiere of XXYY and Martha@...20.

PRIME TIME

TRAJAL HARRELL - The Return of La Argentina
Participant, Inc., March 15, 8:30pm
Tickets start at $15
The choreographer/dancer invites audience to a fictional archiving of Butoh co-founder Kazuo Ohno's renowned solo Admiring La Argentina as directed by Butoh's other founder Tatsumi Hijikata and dedicated to the famed Spanish dancer Antonia Mercé. Following the performance will be a conversation between Harrell, Mx Justin VivIan Bond and Bill T. Jones.

THE TEAM - RoosevElvis (Re-MX'D)
New York Live Arts Theater
March 16, 8pm
Tickets start at $15
A hallucinatory road trip from the Badlands to Graceland with the spirits
of Elvis Presley and Theodore Roosevelt

CHRONIC/ECLIPSE
New York Live Arts Theater
March 17, 8pm
Tickets start at $15
A two-part evening of performance that confronts identity and politics
Brontez Purnell Dance Company will perform the world premiere of
Chronic: A Dance About Marijuana. Oakland-based trans musician, pop singer/songwriter Star Amerasu will present the musical project
AH-MER-AH-SU.

HOUSE OF WHIMSY
New York Live Arts Theater
March 18, 8pm
Tickets start at $15
An alluring, edgy and irreverent evening of divas and deviants from the downtown performance scene-selected and introduced by Mx Justin VivIan Bond.

WORKSHOPS

What Would an HIV Doula Do?
New York Live Arts, 3rd Floor Studios
March 18, 1pm
Free with suggested donations.
A collective of activists, artists and caregivers will host a participatory workshop about caregiving and how to honor, support and activate transitions in personal health.

COLIN SELF - OPEN XHOIR PRACTICE
New York Live Arts, 3rd Floor Studios
March 19, 2:30pm
Free, with suggested donations.
Led by Colin Self, participants will blend their voices to create and experiment
with new sounds.
FILM

AFTERNOON DELIGHT BY DIRTY LOOKS
New York Live Arts Theater
March 15-17, 2:30pm
Tickets start at $10
Curated by Bradford Nordeen, Dirty Looks shows quintessential LGBTQI film
and video, alongside up-and-coming artists and filmmakers.

PARTIES AND CELEBRATIONS

OPENING NIGHT VIP RECEPTION
New York Live Arts, 3rd Floor Studios
March 14, 5:30pm
Tickets start at $75, includes admission to Keynote

OSTARA BALL: TEA DANCE AND CLOSING PARTY
New York Live Arts, 3rd Floor Studios
March 19, 6pm
Tickets start at $15
An evening of non-binary punk pagan witchery to celebrate the vernal equinox with
The Homobiles, Cristy Road and others. Hosted by the Dauphine of Bushwick.

For more information, visit www.newyorklivearts.org.