Born to migrant farm workers in Bunnell, Florida, Bill T. Jones (b. February 15, 1952) was the tenth of twelve children. When he was three, his family moved to upstate New York. In high school he distinguished himself both as a track athlete and as an actor. As an undergraduate at Binghamton University, he began studying African-Caribbean and modern dance, and during his freshman year he met student interested in photography, Arnie Zane. They began a personal and artistic partnership that lasted until Zane’s death from AIDS-related lymphoma in 1988. With Lois Welk, Jones and Zane founded the American Dance Asylum, whose work drew on emerging postmodern dance practices associated with Judson Dance Theater, the Grand Union, and Steve Paxton’s contact improvisation. As a duo they performed at major New York venues, including Dance Theater Workshop and The Kitchen.
After establishing the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982, they gained wide recognition through appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival and through extensive international touring. Their choreography, which integrated autobiography, spoken text, and urgent social themes, provoked strong critical and public response, particularly in works such as Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin/The Promised Land and Still/Here. The company’s collaborators included visual artist Keith Haring, fashion designer Willi Smith, and composer Peter Gordon, among many others. Over the course of his career, Jones has created more than 120 works, including choreography for Broadway. He received Tony Awards for his work on Spring Awakening and Fela!.
About The Downtown Performance Series
NYU Skirball and Artifacts have teamed up to produce NYU Skirball Presents Downtown Performance. This series spotlights the directors, performers, and artists who shaped the movements loosely defined as “Downtown.”
Inspired by the cultural history rooted in NYU Skirball’s neighboring blocks, the Downtown Performance series captures in-depth interviews with living legends of performance. The Downtown Performance Series also features original interviews with Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, JoAnne Akalaitis and Richard Schechner. For more on NYU Skirball, please visit their website.
