The Spectator's Moment or how to discover an artist, a piece of work or a company in just two minutes. It is a collection of programmes produced by the Maison de la Danse in Lyon and presented by Dominique Hervieu. Each episode is devoted to an artist or a company that is programmed at the Maison de la Danse and offers the public keys or artistic benchmarks for better understanding and appreciating the choreographic art.
 



© Maison de la Danse de Lyon

Bill T. Jones is an American dancer and choreographer, who has no taboos whatsoever. This performer, whose scenic presence thrills the audience, expresses violence, gentleness and emotion. His status as a black, homosexual dancer has influenced the social theme of these works, just like modern dance and the importance of improvisation have influenced the creative approach.
 

Brought up in a very modest African-American family, he studied theatre and dance at the University of Binghamton. A turning point in his life occurred there when he met the performer Arnie Zane who would become his companion and main partner. Together they founded the American Dance Asylum in 1973, before going on to become the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. Arnie Zane died from AIDS in 1988, Bill T. Jones, who is HIV-positive has continued the company ever since.
 

Bill T. Jones has created works for A. Ailey, the Boston Ballet, the Berlin Opera Ballet and the Lyon Opera Ballet for which he has been honoured with numerous awards. He has also worked on opera and theatre productions. Interested by the diversity of morphologies, he has made this one of his specialities. Black, athletic, sensual and technically highly-skilled, Bill T. Jones played on the differences between himself and Zane, who was small, white and who invented funny gestures and spiced the virtuosity of their duos with a certain kind of nonsense. Bill T. Jones addresses controversial subjects in his choreographical work, such as the status of African-Americans and homosexuality, and he even goes so far as to take a stand on different social issues. His dance, which is already narrative and has broken away from minimalism, is as such militant.

Sources : Panorama de la danse contemporaine, Rosita Boisseau (Ed. Textuel, Paris, 2006) ; New-York Live Arts 's website

More information : newyorklivearts.org 

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr