Park Avenue Armory launches its Social Distance Hall with a season of new commissions of dance, music, and theater created by artists during and in response to the pandemic. A new event conceived by Bill T. Jones will join other new commissions developed over the past eight months by Steven Hoggett, Christine Jones,and David Byrne; and Laurie Anderson and Jason Moran.Park Avenue Armory, like other open, flat-floored flexible venues, offers the possibility of welcoming live audiences back in a completely socially distanced and extremely safe environment that is not achievable in traditional performance venues that have fixed seating and tight corridors and lobbies.
The Armory, with its immense, 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall and multiple
airy rooms and entrances—featuring an air volume comparable to being outdoors—
can provide an early pathway and model
for the re-opening of the performing arts in New York and beyond.
Reflecting the organization’s commitment to support creative endeavors and the entire artistic community, beginning in May 2020 the Armory turned to artists close to the institution to create new works that would offer employment and a glimmer of hope to a devastated cultural sector. The resulting Social Distance Hall season includes:
Afterwardsness (May 19 to May 26, 2021), an original composition created by dancer, director, and choreographer Bill T. Jones. Performed by nine dancers of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Afterwardsness addresses imposed isolation and the trauma of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and the ongoing violence against Black bodies. The work is accompanied by a musical landscape featuring works by Holland Andrews, Pauline Kim—with an original violin homage to George Floyd entitled “8:46”—and the Company, as well as excerpts from Olivier Messiaen’s wartime composition Quartet for the End of Time. Afterwardsness, which was filmed in the Drill Hall in fall 2020 for future broadcasts, makes its premiere for ticketed audiences this year.
SOCIAL! the social distance dance club A new interactive and experiential movement piece commissioned by the Armory. Conceived by Christine Jones, renowned set designer for Spring Awakening, American Idiot, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Steven Hoggett, choreographer and movement director for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and multimedia artist and musician David Byrne of Talking Heads, SOCIAL! will begin previews in the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall on April 9 and open April 13, running through April 22. Show times during the week will be at 7pm and at 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays. With a playlist curated by Byrne, Hoggett, and Jones and mixed by New York City DJ Natasha Diggs, SOCIAL! invites participants to the to dance in their own socially distanced spotlights, all the while listening to a wonderfully singular instructional voice over by David Byrne with choreography by Yasmine Lee. Moving free-form or in sync with the spoken choreography (or not), audience members take part in a communal moment of cathartic release.
Jazz pianist, Oscar-nominated composer, and MacArthur “Genius” Jason Moran.
Party in the Bardo (Dates TBA), a collaboration between the great jazz pianist Jason Moran, who curates the Armory’s Artists Studio Series, and multi-Grammy Award-winning performance artist Laurie Anderson. Anderson and Moran will perform each night, underpinned by the soundscape of LOU REED: DRONES, a sonic installation utilizing guitars from Reed’s collection and curated by his former guitar technician Stewart Hurwood. Over a series of days devoted to sonic meditations for the city of New York, Anderson and Moran will invite multiple musicians each day to create their own layer of sound over the Drones.
TheArmory’s Artistic Director Pierre Audi said: “The difficult circumstances and isolation did not hinder this brilliant group of artists’ creativity; rather, it provided a canvas for them to create work of astounding beauty and depth, utilizing the Drill Hall’s unconventional, wide open space as a vast canvas. The result is a set of special experiences that don’t merely function despite the limitations imposed by COVID-19 but because of them—innovation sparked by challenges.”
“Creating new, body-based work at a time when physical proximity is discouraged is no small feat. However, as is often the case when artists are forced to push through limitations, this is when things get really good,” said Bill T. Jones. “Having the Drill Hall, this grand and glorious space to create and dance in, was quite liberating. The Armory is a space like no other in New York City—and if it’s like no other in New York City, then it’s pretty unique in the world.”
TICKETING All tickets will be electronic and mobile only and are available for purchase for Afterwardsness at armoryonpark.org. There will be no tickets available to purchase onsite. By purchasing a ticket to Afterwardsness, ticket buyers consent to being Rapid Tested for COVID-19 on site at Park Avenue Armory. For entry to the Armory, all audience members will be required to fill out a COVID questionnaire and provide contact tracing information. No exceptions will be made.
Tickets for SOCIAL! the social distance dance club and Party in the Bardo will go on sale at a later date, with additional details to be announced.
