IN PROCESS: KNONAME ARTISTS | RODERICK GEORGE

Roderick George is a choreographer, performer, and director from Houston, Texas. He trained at Ben Stevenson’s Houston Ballet Academy, The Alvin Ailey School, and Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. George has performed with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Theater Basel, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and The Forsythe Company. In 2015 he founded kNoname Artist, a Berlin-founded, New York City–based collective developing collaborative work exploring memory, care, and community. His choreography has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center, New York Live Arts, Suzanne Dellal, Tanzhaus Zürich, Sophiensæle, Kaatsbaan, Pocantico Center, HarlemStage, Guild Hall, and Fall for Dance North. Honors include the YoungArts Fellowship, Mertz Gilmore Dancer Award, Jacob’s Pillow Men Dancers Award, and the Princess Grace Award and Fellowship, as well as recognition from the National Performance Network and NEFA National Dance Project.

Across his work as a maker and collaborator, George remains committed to creating environments that honor collective labor, amplify marginalized histories, and sustain artistic practice through care and shared responsibility.

Photo: Laura Fuchs

kNoname Artist is a Berlin-founded, now New York City-based company created in 2015 by Roderick George. kNoname Artist is a collective that strives to use art as a form of protest and healing method to find agency. The company invests in reflecting the times, both past and current events, and using the culture of origins as a vessel for creative expression. The knowledge of division created by colorism, class, and social-economic differences provoked the mind of George, yet also with joy and hope to motivate the growth of kNoname Artist. The mission of this multidisciplinary company is to gift its spectators’ evocative stories told through raw, percussive, and fluid movement interspersed with dialogue and humor. The iterative and evolving vision for the company melds dynamic movement, music, and scenic landscapes into experiential works exploring themes of queerness, blackness, and human rights. kNoname Artist has performed at festivals such as Festival Quartiers Danses, Suzanne Dellal, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Zurich Tanzhaus, Hollins University, New York Live Arts, Pavillon Noir| Ballet Prejlocaj, Sophiensæle Festspiele, Pocantico Art Center, and Fall for Dance North/NIGHTSHIFT.

Photo: Rebecca Hurson

BILL JONES (Artistic Director/Co-Founder/Choreographer: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; Artistic Director: New York Live Arts) was the Associate Artist of the 2020 Holland Festival and recipient of the 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award; the 2013 National Medal of Arts; the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors; a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography of the critically acclaimed FELA!; a 2007 Tony Award, 2007 Obie Award, and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation CALLAWAY Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening; the 2010 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award; the 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship; the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven; the 2005 Wexner Prize; the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; the 2005 Harlem Renaissance Award; the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; and the 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award. In 2010, Mr. Jones was recognized as Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.”  

Mr. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company in 1982. He has created more than 140 works for his company. Mr. Jones is the Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, an organization that collaborates with boundary-pushing artists, advocates for their vision, and fortifies a creative future. For more information visit www.newyorklivearts.org.

Bill T. Jones. Photo: Stephanie Crousillat. Courtesy of New York Live Arts

Since 1998, Pomegranate Arts has worked in close collaboration with a small group of contemporary artists and arts institutions to bring bold and ambitious artistic ideas to fruition. Creative and executive producers Linda Brumbach and Alisa E. Regas, along with their committed team at Pomegranate Arts, have produced the Olivier Award-winning revival of Einstein on the Beach; Taylor Mac’s epic A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Holiday Sauce, and now – their third collaboration  together, along with composer Matt Ray – a rock opera meditation on queerness called Bark of Millions; the touring production of Ambrose Akinmusire and Aszure Barton’s A a | a B : B E N D; Available Lightby John Adams, Lucinda Childs and Frank Gehry; Robin Frohardt’s The Plastic Bag Store and Home Depot Parking Lot; Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch’s Shockheaded Peter; and the Drama Desk Award-winning production of Charlie Victor Romeo. In recent years, Pomegranate has expanded into non-performative mediums, including the feature documentary film Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music (HBO Original Doc), the film short Taylor Mac: Whitman in the Woods (ALL ARTS), and museum installations for Machine Dazzle. Pomegranate Arts is proud to support North American touring for Batsheva Dance Company and Sankai Juku. pomegranatearts.com

Creative & Executive Producer, Linda Brumbach

Creative & Executive Producer, Alisa E. Regas

General Manager, Rachel Katwan

Operations Consultant, Kaleb Kilkenny

Line Producer & Company Manager, Florent Trioux

Administrative Assistant, Elena Messinger

Production Consultant, Jeremy Lydic