BY ELIZABETH ZIMMER | Acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones took over the former Dance Theater Workshop space 10 years ago, and transformed it into New York Live Arts (NYLA). This month he’s celebrating that anniversary as well as the 40th year of his Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. The troupe is headquartered in NYLA’s West 19th Street building, but will be performing its much larger work, Deep Blue Sea, September 28-October 9 at the Park Avenue Armory (643 Park Ave. btw. E. 66th/67th Sts.), where Jones himself takes the stage for the first time in 15 years, in addition to choreographing and directing an ensemble of 100. For “Deep Blue Sea” tickets ($40 and up) and info, click here, where you can also purchase tickets ($15) to September 30’s 6pm Artist Talk, at which Bill T. Jones and architect Elizabeth Diller, the work’s designer, discuss the creative process behind their collaboration.

Onsite in Chelsea, NYLA’s season opens September 9 with an installation, in the Ford Foundation Gallery (the theater’s lobby, whose windows open onto the street), of paintings on French hemp sheets by Jones’s husband and NYLA’s creative director, Bjorn Amelan. The opening reception is September 9, 5:30pm. Click here to RSVP.

The first live performances of the new season begin September 15 with Light and Desire, a long-awaited project conceived and directed by dancemaker and professor Colleen Thomas. Made collaboratively with dancer/filmmaker Carla Forte (Venezuela), dancer/choreographer Ermira Goro (Albania/Greece), professor/dancer/filmmaker Rosalynde LeBlanc (USA), dance curator, dramaturg/choreographer Joanna Leśnierowska (Poland), and dancer/choreographer Ildiko Toth (Hungary/Germany), the piece embodies and articulates the ways women hold and express power during fascist times. Wed.-Sat., Sept. 15-18, 7:30pm on the third floor of New York Live Arts (219 W. 19th St. btw. 7th & 8th Aves). For tickets ($25 and up), click here to visit newyorklivearts.org.

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