The University will hold its first Assembly for the Arts Sunday, featuring dance choreographer Bill T. Jones and his dance company. Jones, who will be the primary speaker at Sunday’s event, will spend the following week at the University researching Abraham Lincoln and creating a dance celebrating the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth.
Elizabeth Hutton Turner, vice provost for the arts, said Jones will perform his work at the south end of the Lawn Nov. 15. The dance, titled “100 Migrations,” will be included in a larger collection of dances that will be performed in Chicago next year, Turner said.
The University was interested in hosting Jones not only because of his international renown but also because it wants to promote permanent collaboration between the arts and other disciplines at the University, Vice President of Research Thomas Skalak said.
“We want to make the habit of creativity visible [so that it can] inspire people across all majors,” he said. Skalak said he hoped that having a prominent artistic presence on Grounds will inspire others, regardless of current academic discipline. He noted that at the beginning of the creative process, everyone begins with a blank slate.
Skalak said Turner’s arrival on Grounds nearly one year ago was an important step in leading the University to put more emphasis on showcasing all types of arts. He noted that his office chose to cosponsor the event with Turner because “research means scholarship in every discipline and school, and research involves creativity and innovation.”
Turner “embodies the spirit of cross-cutting innovation that we hope will be a hallmark at the University of Virginia and which a lot of universities want but find difficult [to achieve],” Skalak said.
Turner noted that one of the benefits of Jones’ residency will be that the entire University community can watch his creative process as he rehearses and performs on the Lawn. She also noted that while Jones, who is famous for using non-dancers in his works, will arrive at the University with 10 dancers from his own company, the final dance will incorporate 100 dancers, some of whom may be University students.
The University also will sponsor an exhibit at the University Art Museum Dec. 11 that will bring artists and scientists together to collaborate on their respective projects. Skalak noted that this will be the first of many such events that he and Turner will cosponsor.
Turner said through these types of collaborative and artistic programs, she hopes University members will find ways to encourage a new level of engagement with the arts and incorporate art into their academic and everyday lives.
“We are a research university and we are all about the creation of new knowledge,” Turner said. “The arts can lead to that knowledge, and art can be a part of that research. Through the arts we can create important and strategic partnerships university-wide and worldwide.”
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