THE RELEVANT QUEER: Bill T. Jones, Choreographer at the Edge

“Living and dying is not the big issue. The big issue is what you’re going to do with your time while you are here.”

TRQ: Bill T. Jones, Born Feb. 15, 1952

Choreographer, performer, director and author Bill T. Jones was born on February 15, 1952. His style is extroverted and charismatic. His work is often controversial and political, and blends spoken text, film projections and video. Jones has received honors from the MacArthur Foundation, the Kennedy Center, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He has also received multiple Tony Awards. 

Jones was born in Bunnell, Florida. He was one of twelve children in a migrant farm family. When Jones was three, his family moved to Wayland, New York. In high school, he took part in track, drama and debate. 

He attended Binghamton University in 1970 and started studying dance. On St. Patrick’s Day in 1971, during his freshman year, he met photography major Arnie Zane. They fell in love and left school to travel through Europe. For nearly twenty years they were partners in love and work, making them the most widely known gay dance couple in the 1980s. 

After returning from Amsterdam, Jones attended SUNY-Brockport until the couple followed performer Lois Welk to San Francisco, where she established the American Dance Asylum. A year later, Welk, Jones and Zane brought the American Dance Asylum back to Binghamton. 

Jones and Zane attracted positive attention from the press for their dynamic performances. In 1982, Jones and Zane formed the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Company. Its dancers from the start were diverse. They performed to classical music, gospel, and Dada poetry., often in the nude. Anger and joy clashed in their performances. Jones once explained, “My eroticism, my sensuality onstage is always coupled with a wild anger and belligerence.” 

In 1984, the company premiered Secret Pastures at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Artist Keith Haring designed the sets, while Willi Smith produced the costumes. 

That year, Jones and Zane were diagnosed with HIV. Jones responded by creating Still/Here (1994), a tribute to life that is his best known work. For two years, he had toured eleven cities interviewing people living with life-threatening conditions. This controversial work has been both celebrated for taking on terminal illness and criticised as “victim art.” 

In 1988, Zane died of AIDS-related lymphoma. He was 39. Jones continued running the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company as a memorial to his partner. 

“When I am in pain, I must know that beauty always has been and always will be. This is as close to eternity as I need to be.” 

— Bill T. Jones 

In 1991, Jones conceived and directed The Mother of Three Sons at the New York City Opera. Leroy Jenkins composed the music and the lyrics are by Ann T. Greene. In 1993, Jones began a relationship with Bjorn Amelan. 

In 1994, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Jones a “genius” fellowship. The following year, he collaborated with author Toni Morrison and drummer Max Roach on Dega. He followed that with How! Do! You! Do!, a collaboration with opera singer Jessye Norman. Jones served as a resident choreographer of the Lyons Opera Ballet in France from 1994 to 1997. In 2000, the Dance Heritage Coalition named him “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.” 

In 2006, Jones choreographed the rock musical Spring Awakening, based on the 1891 German work. The play won eight Tony Awards in 2007. Jones won for Best Choreography. 

“I used to say you’re not an artist until you turn your life into something beautiful. Now I would drop the ‘beautiful’ part.” 

— Bill T. Jones 

In 2009, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences inducted Jones. In 2010, the Kennedy Center honoured Jones, along with Oprah Winfrey, composer Jerry Herman, songwriter. Merle Haggard and musician Paul McCartney. Edward Albee gave the introduction and Claire Danes gave a speech. 

In 2010, his critically acclaimed musical, FELA!, earned a Tony Award for Best Choreography. In 2019, Queerty named Jones one of the Pride50 for his role in moving society towards “equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people.” 

Today Jones and Amelan live Rockland County, New York. Rhodessa Jones, one of his sisters, is a performance artist and Co-Artistic Director of Cultural Odyssey performance ensemble. Jones has produced over 120 choreographed works. 

About the Authors

Troy Wise is currently a PhD student at UAL Central St Martins and teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts. His background is in marketing and is founder and co-editor of Image Amplified. He lives in, and is continually fascinated by, the city of London.

Rick Guzman earned his most recent MA at UAL Central St Martins in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. He currently holds two MA’s and an MBA in the New Media, Journalism and International Business fields. Co-editor at Image Amplified since its start, he lives in London, is fascinated by history and is motivated by continuing to learn and explore.

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Sources:

NY Times

GLBTQ Archive

Queerty

New York Live Arts

Jones, Bill T., with Peggy Gillespie (1995). Last Night on Earth. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 9780679439264.