Co-presented with Harlem Stage
Major support provided by The Rockefeller NYC Cultural Innovation Fund
About Breaking Ground with Bill T. Jones
A New Series is Launched: On October 9, 2007, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company launched an on-going Harlem community dialogue series in partnership with Harlem Stage, taking place at Harlem Stage's The Gatehouse. Artistic Director, Bill T. Jones, moderates this compelling public "talk show" series, featuring a multi-generational, cross-section of distinguished cultural and civic leaders, artists and thinkers. "Breaking Ground" focuses on a diverse range of subject matter from creativity to politics and creates an open conversation between some of our best minds and the broader public.
A Harlem Community Gathering: Each program is a collaboration between the audience and the guests, and is a large-scale "salon" with Jones as the catalyst for stimulating exchanges. A discussion between guests and Jones (which may include performances by the guests) begins the program. After the discussion/performances, the forum is open to questions and comments from the audience. Communal participation is followed by a raffle drawing to win tickets and prizes, and then a post-event reception takes place where guests and audience members meet and greet. On-line web casts and/or pod casts of each program are posted on this web site in addition to an on-line interactive forum (links to each).
Don't Miss The Next Breaking Ground
Friday, June 12, 2009
Following the 7:30PM-8:30PM performance of Chapel/Chapter
At Harlem Stage
Admission with purchase of ticket to the Friday, June 12 performance of Chapel/Chapter.
Tickets
Click here to purchase tickets.
Location:
Harlem Stage Gatehouse
150 Convent Avenue (W. 135 & Convent Ave.)
212-281-9240 ext. 19
Recent Dialogues
Exploring Judgment and Redemption
Friday, June 12, 2009 Following the 7:30PM-8:30PM performance of Chapel/Chapter At Harlem Stage Leading with the question, "How can this event suggest the uneasy distance our mediatized era helps...
Lincoln's Legacy in Harlem
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 7:30 PMAt Harlem Stage Harlem's radical cultural, political, social and aesthetic transformations since the beginning of the last century have been the subject of ongoing...
Fela is Alive!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 At Harlem Stage Gatehouse Fela Is Alive! is the fifth of the innovative community discussions, "Breaking Ground with Bill T. Jones" co-presented with Harlem Stage....
Harlem, Cultural Capital: Naming The Future
"Naming things is only the intention to make things"--poet Frank O'Hara, "Memorial Day 1950"WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008, 7:30 PMBill T. Jones' third in a series of invigorating community dialogs focused...
Harlem - The Scene
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 7:30 PM
This lively discussion was given poetic resonance with a reading by essayist and activist Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts accompanied by musician /composer Craig Harris as well as a performance by hip-hop artist Swave Sevah. Jones led the moderated discussion which expanded upon subjects such as, where do artists (musicians, poets, dancers, actors, singers) hang out now? What are the various Harlem social scenes? Is there a racial and ethnic divide? How are things changing with the encroachment of gentrification? Is there still an innovative jazz scene? Are there places and restaurants where locals go to hang? What kind of impact does tourism have on the neighborhoods? In addition to Rhodes-Pitts, Harris, and Sevah, guests included author and cultural historian, Michael Henry Adams, and author, restaurateur and former opera singer, Alexander Smalls.
Link to pod cast
Special thanks to WNYC for providing the recording of Harlem-The Scene
