Bill T. Jones News

On Monday May 18, 2020 at 7:00pm, Harlem Stage, the legendary uptown performing arts venue will host an online premiere celebration on Facebook and Instagram in place of its annual spring gala.

Contemporary American artist Carrie Mae Weems and legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones will join the American Medical Association's Dr. Aletha Maybank, and Harlem-based The Brotherhood/Sister Sol co-founder & Executive Director Khary Lazarre-White for a virtual conversation on Wednesday, May 13, at 3PM ET.

In this time of social distancing and remaining responsibly indoors, we are all looking for ways to brighten our days and get moving any way we can! In the spirit of celebrating theater and providing motivation to get up and get shakin', we're taking a look back and paying tribute to some of the greatest dance numbers in musical theater history!

If you are still unable to get to the barber, Opera Philadelphia can at least bring a Barber to you! Week 3 of the company's Digital Festival O features a broadcast of Rossini's comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville, premiering on Friday, May 15, at 8:00 p.m. on YouTube and operaphila.org. Following Friday's digital opening night, the 2014 production will stream on-demand through Monday, June 29.

Opera Philadelphia is now streaming its production of We Shall Not Be Moved!

Over the last five years, Opera Philadelphia has presented an impressive group of new operas it has commissioned, along with some classics from the standard rep. Starting tomorrow, we'll get a look at some of the best of them, with the company's Digital Festival running through May 29, available on YouTube and the company's website.

Over the past five years, Opera Philadelphia has presented no fewer than nine world premieres, scoring multiple awards and winning international audience and critical recognition. Now that the 2019-20 season has been cut short by the need for social distancing, the company is extending its season online with Digital Festival O.

While live performances have temporarily shut down, many dance companies have brought their performances online! Here is a list of places to stream dance online:

Need your dance fix while in quarantine? We've got a roundup of some performances that are available to stream while you're stuck inside!

Just last night, Off-Broadway's The New Group honored its Board President Abby Merrill and Erica Schmidt and Peter Dinklage (Cyrano) at the its Annual Gala, this year celebrating the company's 25th Anniversary.

The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis) -- Harlem's nationally acclaimed youth development, education, and social justice organization -- today announced legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones and celebrated contemporary American artist Carrie Mae Weems as the organization's inaugural artists in residence.

This April, renowned director, choreographer, and dancer Bill T. Jones presents and performs in the world premiere of his monumental new work, Deep Blue Sea, at Park Avenue Armory, marking Jones' first time performing in fifteen years. Using deconstructed texts from Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” and Herman Melville's Moby Dick, the highly personal work explores the interplay of single and group identities and the pursuit of the elusive “we” during fractious times.

The New Group will launch its 2020-2021 Season with Black No More, featuring Book by John Ridley (Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave), Music and Lyrics by Tarik Trotter (Black Thought of The Roots), Choreography by Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening, Fela!) and Music Supervision, Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Daryl Waters (Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk).

The Joyce Theater Foundation (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) joins the worldwide celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birthday with its presentation of Trois Grandes Fugues, featuring three interpretations of the composer's complex a?oeGrosse Fugea?? from a trio of trailblazing female choreographers a?" Lucinda Childs, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, and Maguy Marin a?" danced by Lyon Opera Ballet. The engagement will play The Joyce Theater from March 18-22. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$55, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Sarah Mettin has been named Artistic Associate of Metropolitan Ballet Company in Jenkintown, PA.

Bard SummerScape's 17th edition celebrates one of the most important female figures in classical music history, with seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film and the SummerScape Spiegeltent, centered around the 31st Bard Music Festival, 'Nadia Boulanger and Her World.'

Boston Ballet's rEVOLUTION: Dance on the Edge features three works by pivotal choreographers which stretch the label 'contemporary' to its breaking point. The three pieces, which all premiered between 1957-1987 may trace through the timeline of progress for commercial ballet in America, but I question if anything a ballet company can do could live up to the streamlined, techno aesthetic toted by their marketing team. The title, with its radical use of capitalization, cuts through the smooth blackness on the cover of the program above a photograph of two dancers in an acrobatic pose in green leotards. Inside the booklet, a geometrically conceived sketch of a dancer invites us to an event called 'Turning Pointe' where we can engage with a?oeleading innovators in the arts, sciences, and industry who are building the future in Boston.a?? Another page announces Boston Ballet's upcoming collaboration with Stephen Galloway, the creative movement director for the Rolling Stones, promising to a?oeshatter expectations of what ballet can bea??. 

The Apollo Theater announced today its first multi-work commissioning initiative dedicated to the creation of a diverse, 21st century American performing arts canon, Apollo New Works. Made possible with the support of a $2 million grant from the Ford Foundation for the creation of new work by artists of color, the initiative is also funded by a $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the Apollo's Master Artist in Residency, a central component of the program.

Eight new half-hour episodes of Poetry in America will begin airing on public television stations nationwide (check local listings) and on the World Channel starting this April and continuing through the spring and summer. Also in April, which is National Poetry Month, the series will be available to stream on pbs.org and individual episodes will be available on poetryinamerica.org.

New York Live Arts' (Live Arts) Live Feed creative residency and commissioning program presents the world premiere of light and desire, a new evening-length work by the NYC-based dancemaker and professor Colleen Thomas, featuring an ensemble of acclaimed international female performers and artmakers. The piece - anchored by a short film by the award-winning filmmaker Carla Forte - looks at how women artists cope under unjust and manipulative power structures. light and desire will be presented at New York Live Arts Studio (219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011) from Wednesday, March 25th through Saturday, March 28th; all performances at 7:30 pm.