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Creator
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 477
Physical description
82.15 linear feet (183 boxes, 22 tubes, 13 oversize folders)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company records, (S) *MGZMD 477. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, established in 1982 by American dancer/choreographers Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 40 countries. The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company records document the work of the Company and its creators from 1970 to 2016. The collection contains dance and sound cue sheets, lighting and stage plots, photographs, programs, correspondence, posters, sheet music and lyrics, financial and legal documents, and audio and video recordings.

Biographical/historical information

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (henceforth referred to as the Company) was established in 1982 in New York City by dancer/choreographers Bill T. Jones (1952-) and Arnie Zane (1948–1988). Prior to founding the Company, Jones and Zane collaborated for eleven years, often addressing social issues and identity through dance. The Company they created has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 40 countries, and is recognized as an innovative and powerful force in the dance-theater world.

The repertory of the Company is widely varied in its subject matter, visual imagery, and stylistic approach to movement, voice, and stagecraft. The Company is noted for its collaborative method of creation with such artists as Keith Haring, Cassandra Wilson, The Orion String Quartet, the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center, Fred Hersch, Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo, Julius Hemphill, and Daniel Bernard Roumain. Collaborations between the Company and visual artists are the subject of "Art Performs Life," a 1998 exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. Prominent dancers who performed with the Company include Arthur Aviles, Janet Lilly, and Lawrence Goldhuber.

One of the Company's most famous productions is Still/Here, which premiered in September 1994 at Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, France. The evening-length multimedia piece explores survival through dance and music, with a visual score edited from interviews with people facing life-threatening illnesses, including AIDS. The interviews are drawn from Survival Workshops Jones conducted in several American cities to prepare for the piece. The making of Still/Here is the subject of a 1997 PBS documentary by journalist Bill Moyers and filmmaker David Grubin. As part of the Company's 20th anniversary season, the piece was revived with the title, Still/Here Looking On.

Other notable evening-length works by the Company include Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land (1990, Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music); We Set Out Early… Visibility Was Poor (1996, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, IA); You Walk? (2000, European Capital of Culture 2000, Bologna, Italy); Blind Date (2006, Peak Performances at Montclair State University); and Chapel/Chapter (2006, Harlem Stage Gatehouse). The ongoing, site-specific piece, Another Evening, was last performed in its seventh incarnation as Another Evening: Venice/Arsenale (2010, La Biennale di Venezia). Two evenings of Bill T. Jones's solo performances have also been produced by the Company: The Breathing Show (1999, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, IA) and As I Was Saying… (2005, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN).

The Company has received numerous awards, including New York Dance and Performance Awards for Chapel/Chapter at Harlem Stage (2006), The Table Project (2001), D-Man in the Waters (1989 and 2001), Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land, (1990) and for its 1986 Joyce Theater season. The Company was nominated for the 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Dance and Best New Dance Production" for We Set Out Early… Visibility was Poor.

During its 25th anniversary season, the Company was comissioned by Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, IL to stage a work honoring the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Three new productions were created for the project: 100 Migrations (2008), a site-specific community performance piece; Serenade/The Proposition (2008), which examines the nature of history; and Fondly Do We Hope… Fervently Do We Pray (2009), about Lincoln's legacy. The latter is the subject of A Good Man, a feature-length documentary by Kartemquin Films broadcast on PBS American Masters in 2011.

The Company has distinguished itself through extensive community outreach and educational programs, including partnerships with Bard College, where members teach an innovative curriculum rooted in the Company's creative model and highly collaborative methods; and with Lincoln Center, which uses Company works in its educator-training and in-school repertory programs. University and college dance programs throughout the United States collaborate with the Company to reconstruct significant works for their students. The Company also conducts intensive workshops for professional and pre-professional dancers, and produces a broad range of discussion events at home and on the road.

In February 2011, the Company's parent organization, Foundation for Dance Promotion, merged with Dance Theatre Workshop to create New York Live Arts. As of 2022, the Company operates out of New York Live Arts located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.

Scope and arrangement

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company records date from 1970 to 2016 and chronicle the work of the Company and its creators, dancer/choreographers Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. The strengths of the collection, created by Jones, Zane, and the staff of the Company, are its comprehensive documentation of technical aspects of productions, and the logistics of running and financing a large performing arts organization. All major productions by the Company are documented, along with numerous collaborative and community projects. There are more than 2,500 video recordings that depict rehearsals, performances, and workshops from throughout the Company's history, with particular emphasis on the production, Still/Here (1994). The collection does not provide insight into the personal lives of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane.

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company records are arranged in eleven series:

  • Series I: Production Files
    1979-2013
    15.69 linear feet (42 containers)

    The Production Files series documents the logistics of creating dance performances for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, covering all major productions from 1979 to 2013. The most extensively represented aspects of production are technical. Included here are lighting plots and designs, stage manager cue sheets, prop lists, sheet music, lyrics, sound cue sheets, and costume designs and inventories. There are occasionally choreography notes, budget lists, contracts, agreements, headshots, resumes, and correspondence with dancers, composers, and other collaborators. Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin, Still/Here, We Set Out Early... Visibility Was Poor, and You Walk? are among the most documented productions. There are also some costume inventories that predate the Company's founding by a few years.

  • Series II: Photographs
    1974-2013
    6.92 linear feet (19 containers)

    The Photographs series includes extensive photographs of the Company's productions, as well as individuals such as Bill T. Jones, Lar Lubovich, Meredith Monk, and Arnie Zane. Photographs of productions depict both performances and rehearsals, and are the most represented photographs in the series. Of special interest are photographs of productions from the Company's first year, such as Continuous Replay, Fever Swamp, Intuitive Momentum, and Shared Distance. Other widely documented productions include Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin and Still/Here.

    Photographs of places and events attended by the Company, or in some cases Bill T. Jones alone, are contained here as well.

    Photograph formats include negatives, contacts sheets, slides, and full-sized prints.

  • Series III: Programs
    1980-2016
    12.0 linear feet (30 containers)

    The programs included in Series III comprehensively document the Company's domestic and international productions from 1980 to 2016. Programs for single performances, repertory tours, and special projects are contained here. Most programs date from the 1990s and 2000s.

  • Series IV: Publicity Materials
    1984-2011
    3.58 linear feet (9 containers)

    The Publicity Materials series consists of news articles about Jones, the Company, and its productions, as well as press releases and press kits. Emphasis is given to the 1990s and 2000s, particualrly Still/Here and the Company's 20th anniversary season.

  • Series V: Technical Tour Files
    1985-2013
    4.79 linear feet (12 containers)

    The Technical Tour Files series consists of working files on cities the Company visited for domestic and international tours. These files contain technical information on venues where the Company performed, as well as general tourist information about the cities, budgets, receipts, publicity materials, programs, and correspondence with Jones and other Company staff members regarding venues and performances. Files mostly cover cities in the United States and Europe.

  • Series VI: Special Projects
    1976-2007
    5.88 linear feet (15 containers)

    The Special Projects series covers benefits, galas, charitable initiatives, community programs, and performances or events that are not clearly associated with a specific production or touring season. These files provide a broader picture of Jones' and the Company's activities between 1976 and 2007, specifically their collaborations with individuals and organizations. The files include correspondence, event schedules, budgets, programs, menus, guest lists, inventories, and invitations. The Company's collaborations with the Walker Art Center and The Kitchen are well-documented here, as are projects with colleges and universities.

  • Series VII: General Company Records
    1978-2011
    17.71 linear feet (43 containers)

    General Company Records consists mainly of operational files dating from the 1980s through the 2000s. These files, which include financial and legal documents, demonstrate the complexity of operating a large international dance company.

    Included here are files from Arnie Zane's office, which document his professional interests and work during the 1980s; as well as files on the many awards and tributes received by the Company and Bill T. Jones.

    There are also files maintained by administrative assistants and other Company employees, such as meeting minutes, schedules, notes, reports, inventories, and business correspondence.

    The series contains subject files that cover topics such as collaboration with other companies and performing artists, board member recruitment, the challenges of attracting young supporters, marketing strategies, the Company's search for a permanent dance space in Upper Manhattan, and the Dance Theatre Workshop merger.

    Additionally, there are grant proposals for numerous foundations and organizations, illustrating the financial challenges of running a performing arts company. Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts are particulalry well-represented.

    Financial files contain audit materials and year-end financial summaries, which give an overall picture of the Company's finances. Legal documents comprise contracts and insurance papers. Also included are tax documents (mostly reports and returns) for the Company, Dance Theatre Workshop, and Foundation for Dance Promotion.

  • Series VIII: Posters
    1973-2013
    7.58 linear feet (21 containers)

    Posters are for productions by the Company, special projects, and repertory tours. Of special note are posters for 1994-1995 Still/Here performances and 2013 New York Live Arts performances.

  • Series IX: Lighting and Set Designs and Plots
    1970-2009
    6.71 linear feet (16 containers)

    Series IX contains lighting and set designs, and plots, for performances by the Company. Most designs and plots are for performances from the 2000s, and include Blind Date, The Breathing Show, and You Walk? There are also some designs and plots for repertory shows featuring multiple productions. The majority of designs and plots identify the performance space, designer, and date (or dates) of performance.

  • Series X: Audio Recordings
    1982-2007

    Series X contains audio recordings of music used in Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company productions and Bill T. Jones' solo shows, as well as interviews with Jones. There are some recordings of music which may have been written for or used in Company productions, but they are not identified as such. Music for Another Evening, Blind Date, Freedom of Information, and Secret Pastures is well-documented in this series.

  • Series XI: Video Recordings
    1974-2013

    The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company records include more than 2,500 video recordings, which provide a comprehensive history of the Company and Bill T. Jones' career from 1974 to 2013. These recordings document all major Company productions with rehearsal and performance footage in New York and other cities where productions premiered, as well as on domestic and international tours.

    The most extensively documented production is Still/Here. Nearly every day of activity by the Company from the years 1993 and 1994, when Still/Here was first rehearsed and performed, is represented through video recordings. There are videos of rehearsals, performances, and all of the Survival Workshops Jones conducted in preparation for the piece.

    There are also video recordings of interviews, lectures, classes, and solo performances by Jones.

    The Company used a code to identify the category and date of the majority of video recordings, which is documented in this inventory. A single letter prefix designates genre (B (Broadcast), I (Interview), L (Lecture), P (Performance), R (Rehearsal), SP (Special Project), and W (Workshop)). Dates follow, represented by the last two digits of the year and a single digit or digits for both the month and day. In cases where there are multiple recordings from the same day, an additional number is added. For example, R921142 indicates the second rehearsal recording from November 4, 1992.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Purchased from New York Live Arts in 2017. Additional materials were donated by Bill T. Jones in 2020.

Revision History

12 boxes and 10 oversize folders processed by Nathan Evans. (2021-2022)

Processing information

Processed by Diana Bertolini and Valerie Wingfield in 2018.

As far as possible, the organizational structure in which the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company maintained its own records has been retained. Folder titles and classifications assigned by the Company staff have also been maintained, which has created some inconsistency in naming conventions.

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access restrictions

Inquiries regarding audio and moving image materials in the collection may be directed to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (dance@nypl.org). Audio and moving image materials will be subject to preservation assessment and migration prior to access. Electronic records for the collection will be available at a later date.