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Megan Andrews
Bill James is constantly challenging the public's perceptions of performance by presenting unconventional works in unusual spaces. Not only does he ask performers to delve deeply into the process, he often invites the audience right into the middle of the performance. An early project, the 365-Day Garden, was a year-long outdoor performance/installation, while Seven Mountains, created as an ode to writer Thomas Merton, was performed on seven large-scale ramps in an abandoned warehouse.
Intending to study architecture, James instead worked as a multidisciplinary performer with Le Groupe de la Place Royale (Montreal and Ottawa) for ten years, after which he returned to his interest in spaces by creating site-specific dance work. Atlas Moves Watching (1985), his first major work and the name of the company he founded in 1997, was performed in a storefront and on the sidewalk outside; casting for a later edition included street youth and patients from a nearby psychiatric hospital as well as professional dancers.
Part of the company's mandate is to work within the community, involving different groups in the artistic process. James engages street youth and youth at risk as performers, as well as building unique arts programmes which bring these youth together with artist/mentors. Along with musician/composer Chiyoko Szlavnics, James co-curates the summer festival Art in Open Spaces, presenting dance/music collaborations in fountains and sculpture gardens around Toronto. Via his many projects integrating diverse groups in new spaces, James continues to cultivate the experience of live performance.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kim, Bonnie. "Bill James: Les Espaces Enchanteurs," The Dance Current, September, 1999.
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Photo: Bill James
Credit: Cylla von Tiedemann
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