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Famed Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane Dance Company to present lecture-demonstratio

mjc
February 22, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? The innovative Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane Dance Company will present a lecture-demonstration at St. Olaf College on Thursday, March 8.

The event, free and open to the public, will be from 11:45 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. in Room 140 of Christiansen Hall of Music. The event is sponsored by the St. Olaf Artist Series, in collaboration with the Walker Art Center Performing Arts Division.

Internationally renowned choreographer-director Bill T. Jones, a leading figure in contemporary dance, has received high acclaim for his exploration of the realities of society. Jones is completing a four-year residency with the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

The 10-member company?s work often has been described as a fusion of dance and theater ?most apparent in its evening-length works, among them "The Animal Trilogy," "Last Supper at Uncle Tom?s Cabin/The Promised Land" and "You Walk?" "Last Supper" was awarded two New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) awards.

"Spellbinding magic" is how a New York Times reviewer described a Jones performance, while The Village Voice declared of the troupe, "They?re ... wonderful." LeMonde added that everything that the troupe does "is of an angelic subtlety," and The Washington Post stated that "The journey doesn?t end once the dancers leave the stage ? it continues in the mind and memory."

The company has performed its repertory (currently more than 50 works) in 30 countries and more than 120 cities since its inception 20 years ago.

Founded as a multicultural dance company in 1982, the troupe became internationally known with the world premiere of "Intuitive Momentum" (with legendary drummer Max Roach) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. About 100,000 people attend its performances annually around the world.

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Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane Dance Company ? 2

Jones, born in 1952, began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he studied classical ballet and modern dance. In 1974 he co-founded the American Dance Asylum. Before forming Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Jones choreographed and performed nationally and internationally as a soloist and with Zane. Jones has served as choreographer-in-residence at the Lyon Opera Ballet and directed Derek Walcott?s Dream on Monkey Mountain at the Guthrie Theater in 1994.

Jones received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1994, as well as a number of other awards, including the Bessies, choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, an "Izzy" Award, and the Dorothy B. Chandler Performing Arts Award.

Jones? memoirs, Last Night on Earth, were published in 1995 by Pantheon Books. An in-depth look at the company?s work can be found in Body Against Body: The Dance and Other Collaborations of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, published in 1989 by Station Hill Press.

The late Arnie Zane, co-founder of the company, first began to explore the human form through photography. Zane conveys a kaleidoscope of humanity in his portraits, studying a range of non-traditional subjects, reflecting a powerful interest in the movement and postures of the human body.

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), St. Olaf has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty complement of approximately 300. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentage of students who study abroad.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.