Bill T. Jones News

The National YoungArts Foundation today announced its 2013 YoungArts Winners. Out of approximately 10,000 applications, 685 emerging young artists have been recognized for their outstanding work and accomplishments in one of nine disciplines across the visual, literary and performing arts fields. A complete list of the Winners is available online at this link.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company kick-starts the new year with the return of FELA! After a sold-out run in 2011, the hit Broadway musical returns to STC's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) from January 29 - February 10, 2013. Presented by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and Ruth and Stephen Hendel, FELA! is directed and choreographed by Tony Award® winner Bill T. Jones. Adesola Osakalumi will star as Kuti alongside a cast combining the toast of Broadway and members of the American and European casts.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association today announced the lineup for the 41st edition of Dance on Camera. Taking place February 1-5, the dance-centric film festival returns to the Film Society for the 17th consecutive year with an exciting and diverse array of dance films, including several premieres.

Chris Isaacson Presents brings you the perfect Holiday gift of the season, Upright Cabaret's A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS! Coming this Holiday Season, watch Stars and Snowflakes glitter together as Upright combines the best of Broadway with the carols of Christmastime. Cozy up next to your someone special, and be warmed not by an open fire but by yuletide joy and the sweet songs from your favorite musicals like Jersey Boys, Wicked, The Christmas Story, Billy Elliot, Dreamgirls - and more.

One of history's most personal and powerful antiwar statements, Trojan Women, written by Euripides in 451 BC, is brought to vital life in a propulsive new staging by acclaimed director Anne Bogart and SITI Company from a new adaptation by Irish playwright Jocelyn Clarke.

The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, has announced the winners of the Third Annual Choreographers of Color Award: Ma Cong, William McClellan and Jeremy McQueen. This announcement follows a national call for artists to submit applications, which began in August. Rounding out the artistic talent on this year's program is fashion designer LaQuan Smith who will conceptualize and design the costumes for McQueen's piece. The Choreographers of Color Award was created to recognize promising young minority choreographers whose diverse perspective will ignite creativity in the field of dance. Each of the three selected choreographers will be given a minimum of 30 rehearsal hours to set a new work on the Joffrey Academy Trainees. Each winning choreographer will also receive a $2,500 stipend and an opportunity to work directly with Joffrey Academy Artistic Directors, Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik. The three World Premieres will be presented in Choreographers of Color Award 2013: Winning Works at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive, in one performance only, Sunday, March 10, 2013 at 4 pm.

On November 15th, the winners of the Stage Directors and Choreographers' Joseph A. Callaway award were announced at an intimate presentation at the SDC offices, attended by most of the finalists. John Tiffany, director and Steven Hoggett, choreographer each won the prestigious award for their collaborative work on Once, produced by New York Theatre Workshop.

On Friday, November 30, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will offer a live webcast of the first of five performances of an updated version of the 16th-century Chinese Kunqu opera masterpiece Peony Pavilion that will take place in the Met's Astor Court, the courtyard modeled on a 17th-century Chinese garden. This 70-minute version of the opera has been developed and directed by celebrated composer Tan Dun, with a new score by Mr. Tan and choreography by Huang Doudou, one of China's most prominent dancers. It will be performed by Zhang Jun, one of China's most respected Kunqu performers, and the Shanghai Zhang Jun Art Center Company.

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) will honor director and choreographer Debbie Allen, violinist Joshua Bell and actor and alumnus Adrian Grenier at An Affair of the Arts Performance and Gala on Saturday, January 12, 2013, held in Downtown Miami at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts and the Historic Alfred I. DuPont Building. The evening will bring together prominent artists, community leaders, philanthropists and celebrities to applaud the participants in the 2013 edition of YoungArts' signature program, YoungArts Week, which provides 150 of the nation's most outstanding young talents in the visual, literary and performing arts with life-changing experiences, including master classes, workshops, inter-disciplinary activities, performances and exhibitions.

Two-time Tony Award winner and Theater Hall of Fame inductee Ben Vereen will bring his one-man show -- a timeless and intimate journey through the Broadway songbook - to NJPAC's Victoria Theater on Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 1 p.m.

One of history's most personal and powerful antiwar statements, Trojan Women, written by Euripides in 451 BC, is brought to vital life in a propulsive new staging by acclaimed director Anne Bogart and SITI Company from a new adaptation by Irish playwright Jocelyn Clarke.

Since its founding in 1992, SITI Company has redefined contemporary theater in the United States through an innovative approach to collaboration, cultural exchange, and actor training. With the idea of the ensemble as its bedrock, SITI has served as a creative home for a core group of artists: ten actors, four designers, the director Anne Bogart, and a stunning list of international collaborators. Working together, SITI has not only reimagined what is possible both on and off the stage, but, more broadly, what it means to be a global artist in the new millennium. To celebrate its 20th year of groundbreaking theater, SITI will present its most ambitious and diverse season of activities to date.

The Joyce Theater announced today the programming for its 2013 Spring/Summer Season featuring extraordinary international companies, including two festivals, one focusing on Nordic dance and the other on American ballet choreographers.

My distant cousin Walter Elias 'Walt' Disney had a knack for turning everything into perfection, or at least practically perfect in every way. He took the mean, cranky nanny from P.L. Travers' book "Mary Poppins" and turned her into a saint. He excised two of the four Banks children, allowing the cutest ones to remain in the story. Travers' nanny couldn't dance on rooftops, didn't have adventures with Bert, didn't win at the horse races and couldn't sing. Travers was Australian; they take pride in being able to endure aggressive crocodiles, harsh deserts and appalling alloparenting. For those of us in the northern hemisphere who prefer our protagonists to be a bit on the spoonful of sugar side, Disney's Mary Poppins is just the ticket.

As the latest initiative of National YoungArts Foundation's (YoungArts) ongoing work to help increase arts education and awareness, YoungArts has begun distributing copies of Pursuing Your Passion: Lessons from YoungArts MasterClass, a study guide booklet and 2-DVD set, free of charge to middle and high schools nationwide.

Dallas Theater Center continues its exciting and conversation-provoking 2012-2013 season with the regional premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. This unique experience will transport audience members into the thrilling and aggressive world of professional wrestling, complete with a wrestling ring, while weaving a story of power and class in America. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity runs at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre tonight, October 19 - Sunday, November 11.

Bacardi U.S.A., Inc. (Bacardi USA) announced today that National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) , a non-profit organization, has acquired the iconic landmark Bacardi Tower and Museum building complex in Miami, Florida. In an act of civic and cultural philanthropy, Bacardi has conveyed the property to YoungArts at a significant reduction of its market value, ensuring that an important part of Miami's architecture, social and cultural fabric will be preserved and honored. Bacardi has always maintained a core philosophy that design, art and architecture reflect a quality of life and the quality of the superior spirits brands produced and marketed by the company.

Antonio Brown, whose work was the centerpiece of EXPLORE DISCOVER (9/22/12) has great potential as a choreographer. Though it might be incumbent upon a local reviewer to extol his work, it would not be a service to him or his audience. Brown is just developing a style and dance philosophy that will take years and maturity to polish, and needs honest evaluation to help him on his path. Verb should be praised for giving the young man a chance to ply his creativity and give him a chance to experiment.

Dallas Theater Center continues its exciting and conversation-provoking 2012-2013 season with the regional premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. This unique experience will transport audience members into the thrilling and aggressive world of professional wrestling, complete with a wrestling ring, while weaving a story of power and class in America. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity runs at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre Friday, October 19 - Sunday, November 11.

As the country prepares for the 2012 presidential election, Texas Performing Arts welcomes one of America's premiere artists, Laurie Anderson, performing her intimate but volatile piece, Dirtday! Anderson looks at politics, theories of evolution, families, history, and animals in this riotous and soulful collection of songs and stories. As Anderson says, "Politicians are essentially story tellers. They describe the world as it is and also as they think it should be. As a fellow story teller, it seems like a really good time to think about how words can literally create the world."