September 10, 2002
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu

Dancer/Choreographer Bill T. Jones,
one of the major creative forces in modern dance,
in residence at UCSB as Regents’ Lecturer

Summary Facts:

• Bill T. Jones
• A MacArthur “Genius” Fellow in 1994
• Co-founder of the prestigious Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
• Regents’ Lecturer in the UCSB Department of Dance
• One free public lecture
• “An Evening with Bill T. Jones”
• Wednesday, October 2 / UCSB MultiCultural Center / 8 pm
• For information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

Choreographer and MacArthur Fellow Bill T. Jones, a Regents’ Lecturer in the UCSB Department of Dance, will present the free public talk “An Evening with Bill T. Jones” on Wednesday, October 2 at 8 pm in the UCSB MultiCultural Center.

Jones co-founded the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. The Company’s landmark works, such as Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin/The Promised Land and Still/Here, have often been described as a fusion of dance and theater. Jones has been particularly interested in collaborating with musicians, ranging from jazz drummer Max Roach to opera diva Jessye Norman, and dancing to live music. His latest work is an evening of dance set to music played live by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Jones’ lecture will discuss the exhilarating potential inherent in the partnership between dance and music.

Jones has said the following about live music-dance collaborations: “As dancers we know that every performance is different. And as a result, that is what is exciting for connoisseurs of dance—to see how a step is performed night after night or how a series of movements work. The same is true of live music. When a dance work is made, the relationship between the dancers and musicians is unpredictable. With live music it is alive and dramatic. And the dancers can never grow blasé. Every time we meet as a group of artists who inhabit the same time and I dare say space, as we are with musicians, there are more reasons to be alert. The event becomes more charged, more resonant and dramatic.”

In addition to creating more than 50 works for his own company, Mr. Jones has received many commissions to create dances for modern and ballet companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lyon Opera Ballet, Berkshire Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet, among others. The making of Still/Here was the subject of a documentary by Bill Moyers and David Grubin entitled Bill T. Jones: Still/Here with Bill Moyers which premiered on PBS in 1997. Pantheon Books published Mr. Jones’ memoirs, Last Night on Earth, in 1995.

Jones’ residency is held in conjunction with three evenings of a visionary fusion of dance and music. Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company & The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will perform on Thursday–Saturday, October 3–5 at 8 pm in the Lobero Theatre. Tickets are $45 for the general public and $25 for UCSB students (in limited availability). This is an ArtAbounds event, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and The Lobero, in association with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. For tickets and information call the Arts & Lectures Ticket Office at 893-3535 or The Lobero Box Office at 963-0761.

Jones’ public talk is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. His residency at UCSB is made possible by the Regents’ Lectureship program of the University of California. Instituted in 1962 to encourage rare and invaluable interaction between gifted non-academics and the university community, the program has continued to provide campus residencies in sponsoring departments for people with distinguished achievement in the arts, sciences, humanities, business, politics and international affairs.

Jones is the first UCSB Regents’ Lecturer for 2002-2003. Filmmaker Raoul Peck will be a Regents’ Lecturer in the Departments of Film Studies and Sociology from October 29–November 1. In the spring of 2003 two Regents’ Lecturers will visit UCSB: science writer Laurie Garrett will be hosted by the Writing Program and journalist Gustav Niebuhr will be hosted by the Department of Religious Studies.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.