The Virginia Film Festival kicked off two much-anticipated UVA artist residencies last week. On Sunday, Choreographer Bill T. Jones returned to Grounds for a screening of A Good Man and "One Hundred Migrations," two documentaries about his dance productions—the latter of which was the Lincoln bicentennial piece that started his relationship with UVA in 2008—and Grammy-winning trumpeter and bandleader Frank London, a newcomer to the University, spoke following a screening of The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground, a film about the groundbreaking Klezmer band of which he is a founding member.
For Jones, whose major honors include a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and two Tony Awards for Best Choreography, this visit completes the three-part UVA residency of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and when it culminates in a performance of "Serenade/The Proposition" at the Paramount on Friday, it will also conclude the company’s three-year international tour of the production. Upcoming residency events also include a screening of "Still/Here" tonight at the Jordan Conference Center—a documentary about Jones’ creation of a piece based on his work with the seriously ill—and a Medical Center Hour discussion of the film tomorrow at 12:30. On Thursday, a free ticket will get you in to a work-in-progress showing of "Story/Time" at Culbreth, a dance developed with UVA professor and composer Ted Coffey that flirts with the art of storytelling. For an even sneakier peak at "Story/Time," Jones and company are holding open rehearsals from 5-6pm tonight and tomorrow, also at Culbreth Theatre.
The trailer for "A Good Man"
London’s residency isn’t as full of opportunities to hear the man speak—yesterday he took part in the last one, a roundtable called "Frank London’s Transnational Sonic Stew: Klezmer as Post-Modern Phenomenon?"—but the capstone of his residency is still yet to come. On Thursday night, London plays with the UVA Klezmer ensemble, which, according to ensemble leader Joel Rubin, has been practicing a music sent in by London all semester.
The Klezmatics – "A Glezele Vayn"
