Thursday, May 7, 1998
Keeping up
DANCE: Choreographer Bill T. Jones has explored social issues
through often controversial styles of staging and, with his latest
work, ‘We Set Out Early … Visibility Was Poor,’ attempts to add a
new angle to perceptions of dance
By Nerissa Pacio
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Bill T. Jones couldn’t be found for an interview Sunday at 8
a.m. He wasn’t sleeping in, lazily sipping a cup of joe or
attending religious services that morning. The modernist dancer,
choreographer and artistic director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane
Dance Company had already begun religiously working out at the
gym.
But then again, Jones has never been known to do, create or look
the expected.
Radiating a fountain of youth-like appearance in most photos,
the middle-aged Jones has the glowing countenance of a fresh
twenty-something also reflected by the pronounced intonations of
his voice. Acclaimed and at times harshly critiqued in some circles
for his dissection of current politics through art, Jones’ 1993
creation "Still/Here," incorporated a video montage of terminally
ill patients from "survival workshops" Jones established as the
backdrop for his dancers’ movements.
Diagnosed as HIV-positive years ago and having survived the loss
of his partner both in life and in dance – Arnie Zane – in 1988,
Jones communicates his personal experiences in his quest to explore
such issues. The 17-year relationship with the photography student
Zane, whom Jones met at the State University of New York in
Binghamton, changed not only the face of the dance company they
created in 1982 but also Jones’ life disposition.
"Life – has changed," Jones slowly emphasizes. "Do you
understand what I’m saying? You might just pick any person who has
lived in their middle age as a result of any of the people he’s
known and loved … That’s what (‘We Set Out Early’) is trying to
talk about."
In his latest piece, "We Set Out Early … Visibility Was Poor,"
which opens at Royce Hall Friday and Saturday through UCLA’s Center
for the Performing Arts, Jones’ followers might also expect a
theme-based work similar to the pieces danced by his own company or
the many works he has created for others (such as the Lyon Opera
Ballet, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the Berlin Ballet and the
Boston Ballet.)
However, like the genre of works including Phillip Glass’
digital opera "Monsters of Grace," which recently played on the
UCLA campus, Jones’ latest work cannot be so easily defined.
"(‘We Set Out Early’) sounds like the beginning of an epic
journey when in fact the piece is non-linear," Jones says. "I’m not
thinking so much about themes. The piece is more about form and the
way of moving and accumulation of theatrical imagery."
Though Jones presents neither the fear of death expressed by
AIDS and breast cancer patients in "Still/Here" nor the troupe of
nude bodies from his piece "The Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s
Cabin/The Promised Land" – both of which were not accepted at some
urban venues due to their explicit content – this piece remains far
from what has already been traversed.
"He’s very controversial in some circles, there’s no question,"
says Michael Blachly, artistic director for UCLA’s Center for the
Performing Arts. "When we commissioned ‘The Last Supper from Uncle
Tom’s Cabin,’ we had 100 or so naked men and women on stage. The
entire last scene was performed nude with every shape of body you
can imagine.
"It was like looking through one of those really extensive
science texts. And it was basically a message that underneath the
clothes, we are all the same. Bill has that sort of approach to his
work … It’s such a vibrant part of his mind and his body and his
vocabulary of work," Blachly reflects.
While the revitalized company has evolved toward more
movement-oriented work throughout the last three years, as opposed
to a concentration on dramatics, Jones still crosses genres in "We
Set Out Early."
Set designer Bjorn Amelan created the decor for the piece,
melding visual art with Jones’ performance art.
"I had the idea of a mysterious cocoon," Amelan says of the
steel sculpture which the dancers manipulate in the piece. "An
object that flies and radiates light, that travels throughout the
background of the stage and you don’t really know what it is … I
can’t say rationally how it connects, but it’s an idea that seemed
to work and could enhance the theatricalities Bill was striving
for."
Like a journey through time, "We Set Out Early" divides into
three sections using three strikingly different pieces of music
from various time periods. Igor Stravinsky’s 1917 musical suite
"L’Histoire Du Soldat" (The Soldier’s Tale) propels the first
section titled "TSII" which stands for "Travel Study," and suggests
the name of a cruise ship. Jones decided to use the suite version
without lyrics, something unusual for a piece widely performed with
its famed libretto.
"It’s quite crazy and whimsical, as if you’re watching people on
board a cruise … having a holiday," Jones says.
Dancers perform the second section titled "Cape Bardo" to John
Cage’s prepared piano pieces, moving as if in what Jones would call
a "mirage." The third section, "Voiceland," also suggests such
confused imagery as performers move their mouths incoherently.
"There is this strange talking, and you can never understand
what is being said. Most of the time you can’t even hear a sound,"
Jones says. "You see lips moving. It reminds me of what it’s like
when I’m traveling in airports and taxicabs and I’m looking at my
fellow human beings in the street or in an airport lounge.
Everybody is engaged in their life, everything is urgent. And I’m
only watching what is going on. I can only assume by judging it by
my own life."
"We Set Out Early’s" series of dance vignettes may be the
perfect metaphor for Jones’ own life. Working with one dance
company to the next in addition to his own and from one dance genre
to the next, Jones continues to move.
"Let’s face it," Jones says. "I want to be in this for a very
long time. And I don’t now, and I never have made one type of
dance."
DANCE: The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. shows at UCLA’s
Royce Hall May 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40, $37, $33 and $16
with UCLA ID. For more information, call (310) 825-2101.
Photos courtesy of Center for the Performing Arts
(Left to right) Bill T. Jones dances with Mark Davis and Germaul
Barnes in "Ballad." (Above) Dancer Lelani Barrett performs in
Jones’ "Love Redefined." (Top right) Bill T. Jones brings the Bill
T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance company to Royce Hall this weekend.
Center for the Performing Arts
Bill T. Jones brings the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance company
to Royce Hall this weekend.
Center for the Performing Arts
Dancer Lelani Barrett performs in Jones’ "Love Redefined."