Bill T. Jones

(born in 1952), cofounder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Considered one of the most influential choreographers in modern dance, he is known for creating works that make explicit references to social and political issues.

Born William Tass Jones in Bunnell, Florida, he was the 10th of 12 children. He was a successful athlete in high school, and in 1970 he entered the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he joined the school's track team. He also began taking dance classes. In 1971 Jones met Arnie Zane, a recent graduate of the university. The pair began dancing together professionally and in 1974 helped found the American Dance Asylum in Binghamton.

In 1982 Jones and Zane formed the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and together they choreographed such works as Secret Pastures (1984) and Animal Trilogy (1986). In 1985 both Jones and Zane tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Zane died of an AIDS-related illness in 1988. Through dance, Jones expressed his grief at the loss of his partner. In 1990 he premiered one of his best-known works, Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land, a three-hour multimedia work that combines dance, music, spoken texts, and audience discussions in an exploration of slavery, suffering, and AIDS. In 1992 and 1993 Jones conducted workshops with groups of people suffering from life-threatening illnesses, recording the encounters on videotape. Combining movement and videotape from the workshops with an original score, he created Still/Here (1994), a highly controversial work. Newsweek magazine called it "a work so original and profound that its place among the landmarks of 20th century dance seems ensured," but in The New Yorker magazine, dance critic Arlene Croce called the work "victim art" and refused to review it or see it. Jones's next major work, We Set Out Early. . . Visibility Was Poor (1997), explored cultural change throughout the 20th century.

In addition to his work with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Jones has created dances for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Boston Ballet, and the Berlin Opera Ballet. He received a so-called genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 1994. In 1995 Jones published his autobiography, Last Night on Earth.

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