This program is now sold out.
Join Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence, Jacob Jonas The Company (JJTC) for an Open Class. This 1-hour physical movement class will combine calisthenics, yoga, and an introduction to the JJTC system.
Jacob Jonas The Company (JJTC) is a Los Angeles based creative company that intersects dance across mediums to make original works and initiates nontraditional collaborations. JJTC has created over 100 original works for the stage and the camera. Presentations in live performance include Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, and Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
ABOUT GUILD HALL WILLIAM P. RAYNER ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
The Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence (WPR AiR) program offers artist collectives the time and space to research, experiment, and develop new ideas and projects. Artists are provided with creative mentorships, administrative support, a commissioning fee, living space, and a purpose-built.
Throughout several 2-4 weeklong residencies, residents connect with accomplished artists, community leaders, and philanthropists at weekly salon dinners. They receive mentorship from select members of the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts, closer collaborators, and professional staff while visiting artist studios, cultural centers, and the natural landscape of the Hamptons. The program culminates with a works-in-process presentation for an invited or public audience.
Residents are invited to the program by a committee of celebrated artists, creative professionals, Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts members, and Senior Leadership. Past selection committee members and creative mentors have included Alice Aycock, Laurie Anderson, Jon Robbie Baitz, Carter Burwell, Eric Fischl, RoseLee Goldberg, Ugo Rondinone, Phil Schultz, and Susan Stroman.
Artist Collectives selected for the 2023 Guild Hall WPR AiR include Hamptons Dance Project, Music From The Sole, The Beatbox House, and Jacob Jonas The Company.
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Jacob Jonas The Company
Jacob Jonas The Company (JJTC) is a Los Angeles–based creative studio and contemporary dance company that expands the possibilities of movement through interdisciplinary collaboration, film, and community engagement. The company is at the intersection of dance, science, architecture, music, and media, bringing together artists, thinkers, and institutions to explore new ways movement can connect people and ideas.
Rooted in Los Angeles’ culture of experimentation, JJTC’s movement language blends street movement, acrobatics, and contemporary ballet with improvisation and somatic exploration. The company’s work moves fluidly between theater, public space, and digital platforms, reaching audiences both locally and globally. Through this hybrid approach, JJTC aims to expand the visibility of dance and engage audiences who may not traditionally encounter contemporary performance.
JJTC has been presented across North America at venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Jacob’s Pillow, and The Music Center in Los Angeles. The company has served as Company in Residence at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Central to JJTC’s creative practice is collaboration. The company has worked with a wide range of artists, scientists, designers, and cultural leaders including the late Sir Ken Robinson, Donald Byrd, Daniel Ezralow, and Tessa Matthias. JJTC has also created projects with internationally recognized artists and brands including Kanye West, Alejandro Iñárritu, SZA, Tame Impala, Vanessa Beecroft, Gap, Nike, and Sony.
In 2021, JJTC launched Films.Dance, a global platform dedicated to dance film that has produced more than forty original works featuring over 375 artists across 26 countries. The series connects artists from diverse disciplines and cultural backgrounds, bringing dance into conversation with music, fashion, architecture, and film. Films.Dance has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and IGNANT, received Vimeo Staff Pick recognition, and reached a global audience of over one million viewers.
The company also produced #CamerasandDancers, an international project bringing dancers, photographers, architects, and cultural institutions together to create collaborative work in iconic spaces. Events have taken place with institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, de Young Museum, and the Swiss National Museum, as well as leading dance companies and architectural firms around the world.
Beyond performance, JJTC invests deeply in community engagement and education through workshops, public programming, and its movement methodology known as The System, a practice that integrates movement, improvisation, and somatic awareness as tools for creativity and healing.
Through live performance, film, and global collaborations, Jacob Jonas The Company continues to push the boundaries of how dance can exist in the contemporary world - bridging disciplines, communities, and cultures while expanding the role of movement in art and society.
Sponsors
Principal Sponsor: Kathy Rayner in memory of her husband, Billy Rayner
Guild Hall’s Learning + New Works programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional major support comes from The Patti Kenner Arts Education Fellowship, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Endowment Fund, and The Melville Straus Family Endowment.
