History
Bill James, Artistic Director
Bill James came to dance following study in architecture, theatre and fine arts. His first large-scale work was an installation using film projections and a forest of thirty-thousand Coke cans hung in a large space while a student at the University of North Dakota. Bill began his career as a dancer in 1975 with Le Groupe de la Place Royale in Montréal and Ottawa, working with choreographers Peter Boneham and Jean-Pierre Perreault among others.
He left that company in 1985 to specialize in the creation of site-specific work. He has fused many elements--dance, singing, poetry, design, photography, video, geography and architecture in unconventional locations, which make his work unique. Atlas Moves Watching (1985) and GEOGRAPHY (1987) established his reputation and since then he has created works both for the stage and for events in specific locations.
His preoccupation for several years has been a series of works inspired by the four classical elements and he is currently in-progress with "Wind", having produced "Inferno" (July 1995), "Flux" (July 1994) and "Serpent Lines" (May 1994), installation/performances in collaboration with designers Mary Louise Lobsinger and Dereck Revington, and composers Luc Marcel, Robert W. Stevenson and Chiyoko Szlavniks. Along with self-produced works, he has received commissions from Arraymusic (Big Pictures, 1992), the Museé du Quebéc (D'Helice, 1992-94), The Singapore Festival of Arts, Harbourfront, O Vertigo Danse, Danse Partout, Inde, and Museé de la civilization du Quebéc.
Bill has also taught at York University, and the Université du Quebéc `a Montréal. From 1988 through 1990 he was the Artistic Director of Dancemakers in Toronto. In 1989 he began the first of several travels through Indonesia, and has also researched in India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Turkey. He has created choreography for film ("Flux", 1995), ("Osso", 1997-) and for CD-ROM (Whirlwind, 1996). In 1991 he co-founded the multidisciplinary collective, BLOC 16, with Peter Chin. In June, 1994 BLOC 16 completed a year-long outdoor performance/installation involving 60 artists. He also co-curated, Art in Open Spaces (1995) with Chiyoko Szlavniks and Water Sources (1997), both outdoor performance series. Since August, 1996 he has designed three choreographic development labs for The National Ballet of Canada.
