Ishmael Houston-Jones

“The dancers performing at Danspace Project this weekend are too young to have known John Bernd, the choreographer whose work they’re interpreting. Yet in “Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and Other Works by John Bernd,” ... they seem to be communing with the spirit of an old friend, coaxing him into the room, so that everyone there can know him. Mr. Bernd, the inspiration for Platform 2016: Lost and Found, a six-week series exploring the impact of the AIDS epidemic on generations of artists, died from AIDS-related complications in 1988, at 35 ... With the choreographer Miguel Gutierrez and the composer Nick Hallett, (Ishmael) Houston-Jones, who danced with Mr. Bernd in the ’80s, has woven material from seven of his pieces, created during the last six years of his life, into a fresh, funny and profoundly poignant new work for seven dancers.
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