Christopher Williams
2010-2011 Swing Space Resident, Building 110: LMCC’s Arts Center At Governors Island
Christopher Williams is a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He has danced for Tere O’Connor Dance, Douglas Dunn & Dancers, Rebecca Lazier’s TERRAIN, John Kelly, and Yoshiko Chuma & the School of Hard Knocks, among others, and has performed for puppetry artists Basil Twist and Dan Hurlin. His own works have been shown in New York City at venues such as City Center, Danspace Project, Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Theater Workshop, P.S. 122, La Mama, and internationally in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2005 he received a New York Dance & Performance “Bessie” Award for his work Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, and he has since collaborated with members of the acclaimed vocal ensembles, Anonymous 4 and Lionheart. He is the recipient of fellowships from The New York Foundation for the Arts and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He has been commissioned by The Dream Music Puppetry Program, Tisch School of the Arts, and Princeton University, among others, and has held creative residencies at Movement Research, Dance New Amsterdam, Joyce SoHo, Djerassi, White Oak Plantation, Yaddo, The Yard, and The Liguria Study Center for Arts & Humanities in Bogliasco, Italy.
During his time on Governors Island Williams will be developing Mumbo-jumbo. Inspired by masked ritual practices of the Mandingo people of Western Africa, controversial 19th century juvenile literature such as Tar-Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris, The Adventure of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg by Florence Kate Upton, and Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman, Mumbo-jumbo is a duet for dancers Raja Kelly and Paul Singh incorporating imagery from the ancient mythological trope of the exposed or feral child and exploring “sticky” situations that occur as a result of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and abandonment. The work is set to snippets of found music, and the costumes are by Carol Binion.
