Turn crisis into art: Choreographer Bill T. Jones on “Afterwardsness," his pandemic masterpiece
Spark & Fire: Fuel Your CreativityShow Notes
When faced with a crisis, how do you move forward? Sometimes, you look backward first. It’s March 2020, and legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones is weeks away from a world premiere, when his company is forced into lockdown. All seems lost. But what comes next paves the way for a transcendent performance at the Park Avenue Armory called “Afterwardsness” — one of the only large-scale performances held anywhere during the pandemic. On Spark & Fire, the larger-than-life Bill T. Jones tells this powerful story of creative grit, love of art and reckoning with legacy — in his own fierce, fiery, funny words. He’s joined at times by his Associate Artistic Director, Janet Wong, and together they offer inspiration and ideas to fuel your own creative journey. In 1982, Bill T. Jones co-founded the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company with his partner Arnie Zane. Jones is the company’s artistic director and choreographer; he’s also won two Tony awards for work on Broadway. He is a 1994 MacArthur Fellow and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2013. Follow on Instagram at @billtjonesarniezaneco Follow along (with transcript and amazing photos) at https://sparkandfire.com/billtjones/ Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr This episode was shortlisted for a 2021 Webby for Best Individual Episode. Of any podcast. Do you know how many individual podcast episodes were made in the past 12 months? Conservatively, one zillion. Yes it's that good. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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From the team behind Spark & Fire, we're happy to share the first episode of Offsite Adventures, our newest show uncovering the gems, magical moments, and unique learnings in iconic business travel destinations. Three minutes before midnight in Times Square, one of the most trafficked commercial centers in the world momentarily transforms into a vibrant digital art installation, providing a refreshing pause for locals and tourists alike. It’s called the Midnight Moment, and you won’t believe how something so unexpected came together. In this episode, Janet digs into the history of this unique collaboration between the advertising and arts communities before experiencing it herself with innovative, boundary-breaking artist Shahzia Sikander. Offsite Adventures is a Masters of Scale Production presented in alliance with Capital One Business. Special thanks to Jean Cooney and Times Squares Arts and artists featured as part of the Midnight Moment episode: Artist: Shahzia Sikander | Title: Reckoning | Video by Tatyana Tenenbaum Artist: Nora Maité Nieves | Title: Eyes of the Sea | Video by Tatyana Tenenbaum Artist: LuYang | Title: DOKU: Digital Reincarnation | Video by Phatt Features Special thanks to composer Du Yun for music featured in this episode. See this story come to life in our video series on YouTube. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERpUrWKdCjE See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
There’s a commonly held belief that great creative work comes from pain. But comedian and writer Phoebe Robinson says that this is a myth. Instead, Phoebe believes great creative work comes from a place of joy. As Phoebe shares her personal story of writing her debut essay collection, You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, she draws on the things that bring her the most joy in life, whether it’s her Peloton bike, or her obsession with the band U2. Her joy is what allows her to hone her unique creative voice, which she describes as having “a lot of pop culture references, but there's also some smarty smarty pants stuff that's going on.” Phoebe will inspire you to tap into what brings you joy, whatever it may be, and use it as fuel to create — and have fun doing it. Content Warning: This episode contains explicit language. Go to sparkandfire.com/download to download Spark & Fire's free creativity guide and access 100 activities designed to fuel your creative practice. Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/ Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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To make something irresistible, get to the fun part — fast. That’s how Exploding Kittens became one of the world’s most popular games. When cartoonist Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) and game developer Elan Lee (former Xbox) designed the card game Exploding Kittens, they took fun very seriously. This mindset unlocked their creativity in unexpected ways: They transformed a Kickstarter into a wildly successful interactive game, and radically simplified their instructions so their players could get to the fun part faster. In their story, you’ll find surprising lessons for any field on serving your audience and feeding your own creativity. Get the transcript, photos and original game sketches at https://sparkandfire.com/explodingkittens/ Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.