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Abby Weber

Robin McKercher

Fundamentals of Directing

November 13th, 2018

Bill T. Jones

Art at its heart, is a political act. It is a statement from the artist that says I am here and

you’re going to listen. Some artist try to shy away from this, afraid to ‘rock the boat’. Bill T.

Jones is not that type of artist. For nearly 5 decades, Jones, has remained one of the most

relevant, honored, and controversial figures in the dance world.

Jones is a dancer, choreographer, director, and writer, known for creating and being a

collaborated on over a hundred projects. He is a visually striking man in his beauty and presence,

he uses his body, which he refers to as his instrument, to start a conversation with the audience

that often leads to the uncomfortable (Rockwell). Through his own projects, he typically tells

different aspects of his own story, with each movement having a purpose. Bill T. Jones, is a, gay,

HIV positive black man, and he is angry, and through his personal works, the audience listens to

his conversation (Mason).

Bill T. Jones was born February 15th, 1952 in Bunnell, Florida. He was 10th out of 12th

siblings to fruit pickers who would migrate to New York during potato season. His parents were

political people, having photos of president Lincoln and Kennedy, along with Martin Luther

King Jr.. They brought Jones to the March on Washington in 1963. Jones was twelve years old at

that time, and knew he wanted to be part of something like that, beginning the political fire

within him that would later influence many of his works (Mason).
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Jones attended State University of New York (SUNY) on scholarship a track scholarship.

He had originally had the intent of becoming a commercial actor (‘​Jones’​).Through his years at

SUNY, Jones discovered himself as a performer and as a gay man. At SUNY, Jones study

different styles of dance, and met his partner in business and in life, Arnie Zane. Zane was

studying photography and the physical opposite of Jones, yet the two were fascinated with each

other, so much the Zane started taking dance classes (Mason). Jones felt that the title of jock no

longer fit him and would often skip track practice to dance. He also felt no comfort in the theatre

department as they were too conservative for him and Zane, thus, dance became their home

(​Jones​).

The two went abroad to Amsterdam for a year and returned to the states and formed the

American Dance Asylum with fellow SUNY graduate Lois Wells in 1974. The Asylum would

pair same-sex dancers together, exploited the dancer’s sexuaility. They also put Jones and Zane

together to examine and exaggerate their physical differences. Zane dealt with the concepts of

their pieces, adding his photography, while Jones would read poetry, sing, and talk to the

audience, creating multimedia pieces (Mason). The audience that saw their performances were

most to all white people. Most audiences found each performance intimidating due to them being

forced to watch a unfiltered, half naked, openly gay, black man.

By 1977, Jones had landed his first big solo performance at the Delacorte theater in

Central Park. The piece was called Everybody Works/All Beast Count. It adapted their

multimedia style to the minimalistisch styles of the 70s to achieve political gains. One part of the

show, was Jones telling a story about his aunts, but censoring the word ‘white’ as if it was
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unspeakable to say, all while re-creating the numbers of his social security with his hands. The

point examining what is a person and what creates their identity(Rockwell).

Two years later, the couple moved to New York, where they would start their own

company in 82’, called Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, though the name has changed

to just Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Company (Kourlas). Then a year later, they would begin the

still going relationship with Brooklyn Academy of Music. The company like Jones, would blend

the styles of Afro-American folk with popular, modern, and postmodern dance, along with ballet

and improvised contact. The company is also known for being absolute diverse in race, style, and

body types of their performers. The two were revolutionizing the dance world, receiving multiple

grants and funding (Mason). In 83, famous artist Keith Haring painted Jones completely naked,

making his penis into a sock (Rockwell). Yet, a year later, Zane became ill and was diagnosed

with AIDS (Mason). There was at first reluctance to go public with Zane’s diagnosis in fear that

it would impact funding for their company. Zane insisted, wanting to educate the public on AIDS

and living with it through performance. Later in 1985, Jones would be diagnosed with HIV

(‘​Jones’​). Then in 1988, Zaned passed away (Mason).

Filled with grief and pain, Jones took those feelings and turned it into a peice called

Absence, premiering in 1989. It was in memory of Zane, as it showed Jones dancing by himself,

waiting for his partner to return (​‘Jones’​). This was met with critical acclaim and showed that

without Zane, Jones could be a concept man ( Mason). Absence was even performed at the

Grand Opera.

His next notable project came in 1991, with Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The

piece is divided into four parts. The first part deals with slavery and the pure absurdity of it. The
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second is the struggles of four woman, a slave, one that is abused, a lesbian, and a prostitute. The

third is Jones himself, as the biblical figure of Job and his struggles with faith. The final is the

whole company staging a sixties ‘love-in’. Jones himself describing the piece as beginning with

a fight and ending in pure song (‘​Jones​’).

One of Jones’ next big piece was called Still/Here in 1994. Jones had held open dance

clinics to people with AIDS, HIV, or both. The movements the participants would do in these

workshops would become apart of final piece. They would become joint collaborators

(Rockwell). Then in 1999, he would take the same piece but added clips and interviews of the

people that participated, calling it Stili Here. Some critics did not appreciate it, calling it victim

art (​ ‘Jones’​). Another critic refuse to see it, saying that it was impossible to critique. Even

suggesting that Jones had turned himself into a martyrs and the ill people incorporated as

victims. Yet, on its ten year anniversary in 2004, Still/Here was performed again with new and

original participants (Rockwell).

Jones has also had big success in mainstream theatre. He was asked to choreograph

Spring Awakening ​on Broadway in 2006. ​Spring Awakening​​ rough nature mixed with the

intensity and anger of Jones mixed well, winning him a tony for best choreography. Jones

co-wrote, directed, and choreographed the broadway musical​ Fela! ​about the late Nigerian singer

Fela Kuti. It premiered off broadway in 2008 and then on it in 2009 and ran til 2011. Jones, also,

received another Tony for best choreography (Mason).

One of Jones’ latest projects is his first that isn’t one the directly links to his own

personal story, called Analogy Trilogy (Rockwell). It focuses on the oral telling of three stories-

the story of his husband Bjorn Amelan’s mother as a Jewish nurse and social worker during
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WW2, his nephew Lance T. Biggs who was a talented singer and dancer but fell into drugs and

the sex trade, and the third being part of the novel, ​Emigrant ​by W.G, about the author’s great

uncle becoming a travel companion to a wealthy American. The main focuses of this piece

being how does trauma affect people and their telling of stories and how can it be successfully

told through human bodies working as a ensemble. The piece ran for two days, September 22nd

and the 23rd ( Kourlas).

As one can clearly see, Jones is an extremely accomplished artist. He is currently the

director of New York Live Arts (Kourlas). He was, again, won countless awards such as an

Emmy, National Medal of Arts, Dorothy and Lillian Gish prize, Kennedy Center Honor, two

Tonys, and a MacArthur Fellowship to just name a few (Rockwell). Jone’s has managed to stay

relevant and accomplished all these years because of his need to express the complicated

moments in life, politics, and history. As he has said, “ Life is about putting it together and

seeing what happens,” (Kourlas). He wants to start conversations. Jones wants you see to him

and and every topic he digs into as what it truly is and how does that make you feel. He is a man

who has worked hard and is constantly evaluating himself through his art because every piece he

does has some part of him in it. To put a quote of his that summarizes him best, “ Everything is

do or die for me”.

.
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Bibliography
"Jones, Bill T. 1952–.". “Jones, Bill T. 1952–.” ​The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed​,
Encyclopedia.com, 2018,
www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/dance-biographies/bill-t-jones.

Kourlas, Gia. “Bill T. Jones Is Making Room in Dance for More Than Dance.” ​The New York
Times​, The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/arts/dance/bill-t-jones-analogy-trilogy-skirball.html.

Mason, Wyatt. “The Transcendent Artistry of a Legendary Dancer, Four Decades In.” ​The New
York Times​, The New York Times, 6 June 2016,
www.nytimes.com/2016/06/06/t-magazine/bill-t-jones-dance-choreography.html.

Rockwell, John. “Bill T. Jones: A Good Man.” ​PBS​, Public Broadcasting Service, 28 Aug. 2015,
www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/bill-t-jones-a-good-man-biographical-essay-and-tribute/189
5/.