NAME: Houston-Jones, Ishmael

BIRTH DATE/LOCATION:
8 June 1951, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

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Photo: © Dona Ann McAdams

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  • identification & bio
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  • video documentation
  • photographic documentation
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  • movement notation
  • production materials
  • oral history
  • personal papers
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    IDENTIFICATION AND BIO:
    Ishmael Houston-Jones is a choreographer, writer, dancer, actor, curator, and performer who lives and works in New York City. Houston-Jones has made three works that he identifies as dealing with AIDS: Them (1985), a portion of which was performed at the first New York AIDS benefit, "Dancing for Our Lives!" at P.S. 122 in 1985; Unsafe/Unsuited (A High Risk Meditation) (1995), an improvised trio with Keith Hennessy and Patrick Scully; and the theatrical evening-length piece The Undead (1990) (see below) for which Houston-Jones served as co-director and -choreographer. Critic Daryl H. Miller describes a key movement sequence in the latter work, involving three pairs of performers: "One man in each pair crumples, while the other lowers him to the ground and traces an imaginary chalk outline around him...Soon the men are jumping up and slumping to the ground, alone." As in the other two works, the word AIDS is never spoken but is easily intuited.

    KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
    Ishmael Houston-Jones
    524 East 13th Street, Apt. D4
    New York, New York 10009
    212-979-2440
    ishmaelhj@aol.com

    HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
    (name and contact info, relationship to the artist and the work, assessment):
    Ishmael Houston-Jones

    VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
    (location, format, condition, assessment):
    Houston-Jones personally holds videotape documentation of Them as performed at P.S. 122 12 May 1985 and 28 November 1986, and in Toronto in 1987; of Unsafe/Unsuited in rehearsal and in life performance in San Francisco 1995; and of The Undead in performance at The Kitchen, New York City, 7 December 1991.

    The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library holds the following video document:

    Them (c1986)—videorecording of Ishmael Houston-Jones' choreography; presented by P.S. 122; conceived and directed by Ishmael Houston-Jones; choreography improvised by the dancers after a score by Ishmael Houston-Jones; music by Chris Cochrane; text by Dennis Cooper; lighting by Carol McDowell, based in part on a design by Michael Stiller; technical coordination, David Ferri; videotaped in performance at P.S.122, New York, on 29 November; one 3/4 in. videocassette (48 min.); call number MGZIC 9-4496.

    PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
    (location, format, condition, assessment):
    Houston-Jones keeps photos of his work in his home files. Dona Ann McAdams also has a photo file of his work.

    MOVEMENT NOTATION
    (location, type [including notes taken by dancers], assessment):
    None identified.

    PRODUCTION MATERIALS
    (scores, sound recordings, set/costume designs):
    Ishmael Houston-Jones holds all production materials.

    ORAL HISTORY:
    None identified.

    PERSONAL PAPERS
    (location of newspaper clippings, printed programs, press releases, notes, files, diaries; assessment):
    The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library maintains a clippings file for "Houston-Jones, Ishmael," call number MGZR.

    IMMEDIATE NEEDS
    (archival assistance? storage? other?):
    None identified.

    OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
    None identified.

    LIST OR OVERVIEW OF WORKS
    (title, premiere date, music, production notes, performers):

    Them (1985)—choreography by Ishmael Houston-Jones; original version presented by P.S. 122; conceived and directed by Ishmael Houston-Jones; choreography improvised by by Ishmael Houston-Jones, Donald Fleming, and Jonathan Walker after a score by Houston-Jones; music by Chris Cochrane; text by Dennis Cooper; lighting by Michael Stiller, Full version in November 1986; conceived and directed by Ishmael Houston-Jones; choreography improvised by the dancers Houston-Jones, Donald Fleming, Daniel Macintosh, Julyen Hamilton, Barry Crooks, and David Zambrano, after a score by Houston-Jones; music by Chris Cochrane; text by Dennis Cooper; lighting by Carol McDowell, based in part on the design by Michael Stiller; technical coordination, David Ferri. Toured to the Harbourfront Festival in Toronto in 1988 with a slightly different cast: Houston-Jones, Brian Moran, Daniel Macintosh, Benoit LaChambre, Barr Crooks and Almon Grimsted.

    Houston-Jones comments on the piece in an email conversation: "The full version had what I described as an AIDS coda in which during the nightmare sequence I was stripped down to a hospital gown, blindfolded and made to wrestle a sheep carcass on an old mattress where in the previous scene two men had done a duet to Cooper's text. This coda was quite controversial in the gay press and the New York Native panned the piece. The quote from Robert Sandla (I believe) was ‘and then a man comes out and fucks a dead pig.' One of my favorite quotes about myself. He was tying this to their theory of African Swine fever as a source of AIDS."

    The Undead (1990)—written by Dennis Cooper; co-directed and choreographed by Peter Brosius and Ishmael Houston-Jones; visual design by Robert Flyn; music by Tom Recchion; six performers: Luis Alfaro, Christopher Blande, Steven Craig, Scot Goetz, Keith Levy and Curtis York. Premiered at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions as part of the L.A. Theater Festival, 1990. Toured to San Diego (Sushi) and New York (The Kitchen) the following year.

    Unsafe/Unsuited (A High Risk Meditation) (1995)—improvisation featuring Ishmael Houston-Jones, Patrick Scully, and Keith Hennessy. Premiered at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. Toured to New York (P.S. 122); Oakland (Laney College); Houston (Diverse Works); San Antonio (Jump Start); Washington D.C. (Dance Place); Turin, Italy (Gallery of Modern Art).

    Cirque du Soleil (1993/4)

    BIBLIOGRAPHY:

    • Citron, Paula. 1988. "Treacherous Piece of Theatre Laments Days of Promiscuity" [review of Them]. Toronto Star (26 February).
    • Felciano, Rita. 1995. "Ballets and Banquets" [review of Unsafe/Unsuited]. San Francisco Bay Guardian (12 July).
    • Harding, Cathryn. 1996. "High-Risk Contact" [review of Unsafe/Unsuited]. Washington Blade (22 March).
    • Jowitt, Deborah. 1995. "The Space Between" [review of Unsafe/Unsuited]. Village Voice (29 March - 4 April).
    • Miller, Daryl H. 1990. "Specter of Death Looms over Two New Festival Productions" [review of The Undead]. Los Angeles Daily News (8 September).
    • Supree, Burt. 1986. "Men With Men" [review of Them]. Village Voice (23 December).
         		 
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