The Book of Daniel
THE BOOK OF DANIEL is an ongoing seriate cycle of autobiographical performances. Rooted in the core principle that the personal is political, and the Black American cultural premise that there is an umbilical relationship between the “I” in autobiography, and the “we” of a broader cultural reality. Each chapter explores a core social or political question through the lens of personal experience. The majority have been long-form improvisations, although two, Chapters 5 and 7 were scripted. Chapter 5 included texts or performance instructions by the writers/artists Robbie McCauley, Erik Ehn, Grisha Coleman, and Rachel M. Harper. The series began with Chapter 1 in 2001. Its most recent chapter was performed in 2012.
BOD Chapter 7. UT Austin. 2007.
“Given that Jones conceived, directed, designed, and performed The Book of Daniel, it is not surprising that this production is the most full expression of his union of a jazz verbal text with a jazz visual text. Here, his painter’s eye is given full sway. The Book of Daniel presently exists as a series of seven installments that examine specific moments in his self evolution. Each installment lived as performance installations visually packed with carefully careless artifacts giving this work a kinship to a Bearden collage in which details are layered upon more details.”
-Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Theatrical Jazz
Sonja Perryman and DAJ in Book of Daniel excerpt at FlipFest
BOD Chapter 5. allgo, Austin.
