Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company is currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary season. The Company was founded after 11 years of collaboration during which Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane (1948–1988) redefined the duet form and foreshadowed issues of identity, form and social commentary that would change the face of American dance. It emerged onto the international scene in 1983 with the world premiere of Intuitive Momentum with legendary drummer Max Roach, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Since then, the 10 member company has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 30 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and the UK. Today, the Harlem based Company is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the modern dance world.
The Company has distinguished itself through its teaching and performing in various universities, festivals and under the aegis of government agencies such as the US Information Agency (in Eastern Europe, Asia and South East Asia). Audiences of approximately 50,000 to 100,000 annually see the Company across the country and around the world.
The work of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company freely explores both musically driven works and works using a wide variety of texts (such as Reading, Mercy and the Artificial Nigger based on Flannery O'Connor's 1955 short story, The Artificial Nigger). The repertoire is widely varied in its subject matter, visual imagery and stylistic approach to movement, voice and stagecraft. The company has been acknowledged for its intensely collaborative method of creation that has included artists as diverse as Keith Haring, The Orion String Quartet, the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center, Cassandra Wilson, Fado singer Misia, Jazz pianist Fred Hersch, Ross Bleckner, Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo, Julius Hemphill, and Peteris Vasks, among others. The collaborations of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company with visual artists were the subject of Art Performs Life (1998), a groundbreaking exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.
Some of its most celebrated creations are evening length works including Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land (1990 - premiered as part of the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music); Still/Here (1994 - premiered at the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, France); We Set Out Early, Visibility Was Poor (1996 - premiered at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, IA, nominated for London's Laurence Olivier Award); You Walk? (2000 - premiered at Bologna, Italy, European Capital of Culture 2000) and Blind Date (2006 - premiered at Montclair State University's Alexander Kasser Theater in Montclair, NJ). The ongoing, site- specific, Another Evening is now in its sixth incarnation as Another Evening: I Bow Down.
The Company has also produced two evenings centered around Bill T. Jones' solo performance: The Breathing Show (1999 - Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City) and As I Was Saying… (2005 - premiered at the Walker Art Center's William and Nadine McGuire Theater).
The Company has been featured in many publications. Perhaps one of the most in depth examinations of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane's collaborations can be found in Body Against Body: The Dance and other Collaborations of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane (1989 - Station Hill Press) edited by Elizabeth Zimmer.
The Company has received numerous awards, including New York Dance and Performance Awards ("Bessie") for Chapel/Chapter at Harlem Stage (2006), The Table Project (2001), D-Man in the Waters (2001 and 1989), musical scoring and costume design for Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land (1990), and for the 1986 Joyce Theater Season.
The Company was nominated for the 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for "outstanding achievement in dance and Best New Dance Production" for We Set Out Early... Visibility was Poor.
The Company celebrated its landmark 20th anniversary at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with 37 guest artists including Susan Sarandon, Cassandra Wilson and Vernon Reid. The Phantom Project: The 20th Season presented a diverse repertoire of over 15 revivals and new works.
Mission
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company nurtures the art of dance, educates the public, and promotes collaboration among members of the allied arts of music, theater, new media, visual arts, etc. and the communities in which they work
BILL T. JONES (Artistic Director/Co-Founder/Choreographer/Dancer) is the recipient of a 2007 Tony Award, 2007 Obie Award, and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation CALLAWAY Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening; the 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship; the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven; the 2005 Wexner Prize; the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; the Harlem Renaissance Award; the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; and the 1994 MacArthur "Genius" Award. In 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones "An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure." Mr. Jones began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY), studying classical ballet and modern dance. He choreographed and performed worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982.
Creating more than 100 works for his own company, Mr. Jones has also choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Axis Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Diversions Dance Company, among others. In 1995, Mr. Jones directed and performed in a collaborative work with Toni Morrison and Max Roach, Degga, at Alice Tully Hall, commissioned by Lincoln Center's Serious Fun Festival. His collaboration with Jessye Norman, How! Do! We! Do! premiered at New York's City Center in 1999.
In 1990, Mr. Jones choreographed Sir Michael Tippet's New Year under the direction of Sir Peter Hall for the Houston Grand Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He conceived, co-directed and choreographed Mother of Three Sons, which was performed at the Munich Biennale, New York City Opera, and the Houston Grande Opera. He also directed Lost in the Stars for the Boston Lyric Opera. Mr. Jones' theater involvement includes co-directing Perfect Courage with Rhodessa Jones for Festival 2000, in 1990. In 1994, he directed Derek Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain for The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN. In June 2006 Mr. Jones choreographed Spring Awakening, A New Musical with music by Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik, directed by Michael Mayer. In 2008 he co-conceived, directed and choreographed Fela!, a new musical with a book by Jim Lewis, which explores Fela Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician.
Television credits include PBS's Great Performances Series (Fever Swamp and Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land) and Alive from Off Center (Untitled). Still/Here was co-directed for television by Bill T. Jones and Gretchen Bender. A PBS documentary on the making of Still/Here, by Bill Moyers and David Grubin, Bill T. Jones: Still/Here with Bill Moyers, premiered in 1997. The 1999 Blackside documentary I'll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts, profiled Mr. Jones' work. D-Man in the Waters is included in Free to Dance, a 2001 Emmy winning documentary that chronicles modern dance's African-American roots. In 2004, ARTE France and Bel Air Media produced Bill T. Jones'—Solos, directed by Don Kent.
In 1994, Mr. Jones received a MacArthur "Genius" Award. In 1979, Mr. Jones was granted the Creative Artists Public Service Award in Choreography, and in 1980, 1981, and 1982, he was the recipient of Choreographic Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Bill T. Jones has been awarded several New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Awards; 1986 Joyce Theater Season (along with Arnie Zane), D-Man in the Waters (1989 and 2001), The Table Project (2001) and The Breathing Show (2001). Mr. Jones, along with his collaborators Rhodessa Jones and Idris Ackamoor received an "Izzy" Award for Perfect Courage in 1990. In 2001, Mr. Jones received another "Izzy" for his work, Fantasy in C-Major, with Axis Dance Company. Mr. Jones was honored with the Dorothy B. Chandler Performing Arts Award for his innovative contributions to performing arts in 1991. In 1993, Mr. Jones was presented with the Dance Magazine Award. In 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones "An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure." Mr. Jones has received honorary doctorates from the Art Institute of Chicago, Bard College, Columbia College, the Juilliard School, Swarthmore College, and the SUNY Binghamton Distinguished Alumni Award.
In 1995, Pantheon Books published Mr. Jones' memoirs, Last Night on Earth. In 1989, Station Hill Press published an in-depth look at the work of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, Body Against Body: The Dance and Other Collaborations of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. Hyperion Books published Dance, a children's book written by Bill T. Jones and photographer Susan Kuklin, in 1998. Mr. Jones is proud to have contributed to Continuous Replay: The Photographs of Arnie Zane, published by MIT Press in 1999.
Bill T. Jones's interest in new media and digital technology has resulted in two collaborations with the team of Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar and Mark Downey. The first, Ghostcatching - A Virtual Dance Installation, (1999) was produced by and premiered at the Cooper Union in NY. The second, 22 (2004) was the result of a three year development under the auspices of Arizona State University's Institute for Studies In The Arts and Technology in Tempe, AZ, where it premiered.
Arnie Zane (Founder, 1948-1988) was a native New Yorker born in the Bronx and educated at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton. In 1971, Arnie Zane and Bill T. Jones began their long collaboration in choreography and in 1973 formed the American Dance Asylum in Binghamton with Lois Welk. Mr. Zane’s first recognition in the arts came as a photographer when he received a Creative Artists Public Service (CAPS) Fellowship in 1973. Mr. Zane was the recipient of a second CAPS Fellowship in 1981 for choreography, as well as two Choreographic Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1983 and 1984). In 1980, Mr. Zane was co-recipient, with Bill T. Jones, of the German Critics Award for his work, Blauvelt Mountain. Rotary Action, a duet with Mr. Jones, was filmed for television, co-produced by WGBH-TV Boston and Channel 4 in London.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater commissioned a new work from Mr. Zane and Bill T. Jones, How to Walk an Elephant, which premiered at Wolftrap in August 1985. Mr. Zane (along with Mr. Jones) received a 1985-86 New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Award for Choreographer/Creator. Continuous Replay: The Photography of Arnie Zane was published by MIT Press in April 1999.
JANET WONG (Associate Artistic Director/Video Designer) was born in Hong Kong and trained in Hong Kong and London. Upon graduation she joined the Berlin Ballet where she first met Bill when he was invited to choreograph on the company. In 1993, she moved to New York to pursue other interests. Ms. Wong became Rehearsal Director of the company in 1996 and Associate Artistic Director in August.
JEROME BEGIN (Composer) studied music composition at Ohio University with Dr. Mark Phillips and studied piano and music for dance, both accompaniment and composition, with André Gribou. He has been commissioned by The Juilliard School, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Sacramento Ballet, Alabama Ballet, Richmond Ballet, and many other dance companies throughout the United States. His works have been performed in the United States, Korea, and Japan. Mr. Begin is on staff at The Juilliard School (Dance Division) and also works as a composer, performer, teacher, and dance accompanist in Brooklyn, New York, where he currently resides.
CHRISTOPHER ANTONIO WILLIAM LANCASTER (Composer/Cello) is a composer and performing artist living in New York. His live and recorded music is created by the processing acoustic cello sounds through real-time samplers, audio effects and filtering. He composes predominately for theater, dance and his band “The Black Sounds.” His compositions have been performed at U.C., Irvine; U.C.L.A.; U.C. Berkeley; the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; the Biennale De La Danse, in Lyon; Bellevue Teatret; Kanon Hallen in Copenhagen; the Kaleidoscope festival and Sergio Porto in Rio de Janeiro; Dance Theater Workshop; Symphony Space; the 42nd Street Duke; the New Victory Theater; Tisch School of the Arts at NYU; the Joyce and Joyce Soho, in New York; and the American Dance Festival at Duke University. Currently Mr. Lancaster is working on commissions from Staccato Movimento, Palindrome Inter.media, Colleen Thomas, Sean Curran, and making videos for YouTube. He can be contacted at ChrisLancaster@mac.com.
GEORGE LEWIS, JR., (Composer/Guitar/Vocals) is a Dominican born songwriter and performer. In addition to his composing credits with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Isabel Lewis (The Labor Union), and theater companies in Copenhagen, Denmark, he plays rock & roll music with his friends under George Lewis, Jr., and a band called DRUG RUG. His music can be heard at www.myspace.com/georgelewisjunior.
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