© Zani-Casadio

In the Veins of America

Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Company
A Letter to My Nephew

choreography Bill T. Jones with Janet Wong and the Company
set design Bjorn Amelan
original score and live performance Nick Hallett
lighting design Robert Wierzel
costume design Liz Prince
projection design Janet Wong
sound design Samuel Crawford

performers Vinson Fraley Jr., Barrington Hinds, Shane Larson, I-Ling Liu, Penda N’Diaye,
Jenna Riegel, Christina Robson, Carlo Antonio Villanueva and Huiwang Zhang

with
Matthew Gamble baritone

Italian premiere


Ever since his beginnings with Arnie Zane, Bill T. Jones has seen his choreography as a tool for political commitment: his harsh, powerful language captures the weaknesses and contradictions of society, and stages them in painful but memorable visions. A Letter to My Nephew is no exception, even with its intimate traits. The title recalls the work of social critic James Baldwin, and focuses on Jones’s nephew Lance, a talented dancer who struggled with illness and addiction. Composed in a sequence of flashbacks (fashion shows, street life, hospital beds), the Letter launches a swirl of images that bind the past to the place and time of the action in a continuing dialogue. Touching but forthright, like a stone thrown.


Duration:
1h 15’ without intermission

The programme