BAM: Bill T. Jones

I went to BAM last night to hear Bill T. Jones. It was part of the 150 years of BAM and the iconic artist series. The talk was moderated by Thelma Golden.

For those people who don’t know, Bill T. Jones is an artist, writer, and director, but what he’s most known for is his work as a dancer and choreographer. His name is normally tossed around in conversations about the Avant-garde, modern dance, or clasped at the end of something like, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, and [insert his name here].

From watching this regal and real artist what I realized was that we are all going through it, always.

Posing questions to be answered only by ourselves. Questions that can either hold us back or propel us forward. But it is the questions that provoke conversation. It is the questions that incite a decision, an action. It is the questions that are most important, because they cause us to endlessly search. It is the questions that make a working artist work.

But a question is asked only when there’s a sliver of curiosity. And curiosity comes from the drive to understand; from the emotion that swells; from observing beauty and misery living side-by-side; from wanting to start a dialogue and then later become part of the discussion.

How do we as a people continue to motivate curiosity? And how do I as an individual continue to find pieces of wonder and imagination within myself? How do I motivate myself to become more curious about my own life, to ask the questions that will move me to explore and produce work that triggers my core. And more importantly, how do I help motivate others to do the same?

Thank you Bill T. Jones for inspiring curiosity.

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