Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Bill T. Jones’s seminal full length piece STILL/HERE returns to BAM more universal but no less heartrending

• By drediman
• November 1, 2024
• No Comments

This week, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company revives the seminal Still/Here at the Howard Gilman Opera House, returning for the first time three decades later — thanks in part to the generous support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels — as one of the headliners of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2024 edition of its storied Next Wave Festival. Bill T. Jones’s evening length piece is one of the most controversial pieces of dance to come out of the 1990s, namely for its use of primary material from “survivor workshops” — footage and audio recordings of workshop participants suffering from terminal illnesses — conducted specifically for the piece. In a sense, it’s variation on the approach Michael Bennett used to garner the same kind of publicity for the musical A Chorus Line.

The dance was also created in direct response to the AIDS crisis, and it’s interesting to experience the piece — which is solemnly spread across two acts over two hours — well past the boiling point of that sad era of our history and the contentiousness that accompanied its premiere. In my view, Still/Here emerges in 2024 as a universal piece of art, but no less heartrending and vital as when it originally premiered in 1994. Even if its political urgency has softened, Jones’ work continues to boldly stare down human mortality — a paramount reality that often gets brushed under the rug — albeit in a less specific and pointed manner. It’s a good example of the the ability of art to flex its purposefulness. As far as its alleged exploitativeness, I feel quite the opposite. From this vantage point, Still/Here tastefully honors the workshop participants’ struggles and legacy (I believe all but one of them is still with us), potently pointing to the beauty of their survival stories. So in a literal sense, the piece lives up to its title’s implied intent.

In many respects, the work fits well within the parameters of your typical Bill T. Jones creation — the hybrid score (a combination of spoken word and mostly recorded music), the episodic multimedia staging, the gestural movements are all present in the work. The first act is largely composed of Jones’s choreographic response to individual reactions to news of their life threatening illnesses. These are artful, sometimes quirky snippets of dance that invariably evoke a deep sense of confusion. The second act finds the piece growing in affirmation, community, and strength, culminating in a kinetic final tableau that suggests an inspiring and relentless determination for more life. The current crop of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company dancers are an engaging bunch — Still/Here‘s relatively young company of ten are beautifully individualistic yet meld seamlessly as an ensemble, as needed.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

STILL/HERE
Dance
Brooklyn Academy of Music
2 hours (including one intermission)
Through November 2