Press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Joyce Linehan (617) 282-2510, joyce@ashmontmedia.com
 

ICA PRESENTS WORLD PREMIERE OF BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE DANCE COMPANY'S BODY AGAINST BODY, FEB. 4-6, 2011

RELATED PROGRAMMING AND NEW DANCE EDUCATION INITIATIVE ALSO ANNOUNCED

(BOSTON—Jan. 6, 2011) The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents the WORLD PREMIERE of Body Against Body by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Performances take place Feb. 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $45 reserved, $40 for members and students, and can be purchased at www.icaboston.org or by calling (617) 478- 3103. Please note, this program does include nudity.

One of the most innovative voices in contemporary dance and theater, Bill T. Jones returns to the ICA fresh off the Kennedy Center Honors and a Tony Award for Best Choreography for the Broadway musical FELA!. With Body Against Body, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company returns to Jones’s roots in the avant-garde with a program that revives and reconsiders the groundbreaking works that launched Jones and his late partner and collaborator of 17 years, Arnie Zane, on the downtown New York dance scene of the 1980s. These works are now considered among the most significant examples of the postmodern aesthetic, challenging both performers and viewers with athletic, task-based movement and non-narrative structure. With these works, Jones and Zane redefined the duet form and changed the face of American dance. Body Against Body reveals the roots of a modern dance master and offers a rare look at the core of the Jones/Zane style.

This world premiere reconstruction, commissioned by the ICA, includes Continuous Replay (1978), Blauvelt Mountain (1980), and Monkey Run Road (1979), a Jones/Zane duet not seen since its original performances over two decades ago. These seminal pieces take on new life and raise new questions when performed by the diverse, highly-skilled dancers of Jones’s company.

“Body Against Body offers a unique opportunity to experience the questions that concerned Bill T. Jones at the beginning of his career and has led to 30 years of extraordinary creativity and achievement. As the performance unfolds, we experience the evolution of his vision—and find our own expectations changing along with it,” said David Henry, ICA Director of Programming. “The ICA has been working with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company since they first performed here in 2008, but Body Against Body takes this collaboration in a new direction. The development of this world premiere performance has inspired MAKE DANCE SEE, a major dance
education initiative that will bring audiences, dancers and choreographers together in a series of
workshops and conversations.”

This project has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American
Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.

Announcing MAKE DANCE SEE
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announces a groundbreaking series of programs exploring dance education for choreographers (MAKE), dancers (DANCE) and audience members (SEE). MAKE DANCE SEE (MDS) was inspired by conversations with members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, choreographer Elizabeth Streb, and dancer/educators Richard Colton and Amy Spencer of Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy. Further inspiration came from the development of Bill T. Jones’s new work Body Against Body (commissioned by the ICA) which reconsiders Mr. Jones and the late Arnie Zane’s early choreographic works. Based on the observation that technique dominates today’s dance education, MDS will initiate a conversation regarding the different education models for choreographers and dance audiences. Consisting of classes, workshops, discussions and public performances, MDS programs kick off with the premiere of Body Against Body and continue into Summer 2011. The innovative program series
will be documented in an accompanying publication, due out in Fall 2011, which will include a critical essay by dance writer Marcia Siegel as well as interviews with MAKE DANCE SEE participants.

Listing of MDS Programs in Winter 2011

Feb. 4, 6:45 p.m. and Feb. 6, 1:15 pm: Audience Workshop.
Preceding the performance of Body Against Body, audience members without extensive dance training are invited to participate in a half-hour movement workshop. Conducted by members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance
Company, the workshop introduces audience members to some of the movements they will see during the performance. Free to performance ticket holders. Limited availability. Contact ICA box office for reservations.

Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m.: World Premiere of ICA-commissioned Body Against Body (Ticketed)

Feb. 5, 2 p.m.: “The Education of a Choreographer.”
A panel discussion between mid-career choreographers Bill T. Jones, Karole Armitage and Elizabeth Streb. Moderated by Richard Colton. Panel tickets only: $15 nonmembers, $12 members, $10 students with valid I.D. For Body Against Body ticket-holders: $5 with online discount code or by phone.

Feb. 5, 6:45 – 7:15 p.m.: Pre-show conversation between Bill T. Jones and dance scholar Marcia Siegel. Jones and Siegel discuss the works in Body Against Body, contextualizing the original performances with the recreations. Available to those with tickets for Feb. 5 performance of Body Against Body.

Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m.: Performance of Body Against Body (Ticketed)

Feb. 6, 2 p.m.: Performance of Body Against Body (Ticketed)

Jan. 23 – Feb. 6: Screening of archival footage of the duets of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane in the ICA Mediatheque. FREE with museum admission.

Jan. 30 – Feb. 4: Dancers from Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in residence at Boston Arts Academy.

Feb. 4: Special open rehearsal for high school students followed by conversation with director and choreographer, Bill T. Jones.

MAKE DANCE SEE is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

BILL T. JONES (Artistic Director/Co-Founder/Choreographer), a multi-talented artist, choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer, has received major honors ranging from a 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award to Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009 and named “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure” by the Dance Heritage Coalition in 2000. His ventures into Broadway theater resulted in a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography in the critically acclaimed FELA!, the new musical co-conceived, co-written, directed and choreographed by Mr. Jones. He also earned a 2007 Tony Award for Best Choreography in Spring Awakening as well as an Obie Award for the show’s 2006 off-Broadway run. His choreography for the off-Broadway production of The Seven earned him a 2006 Lucille Lortel Award.

About Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Over the past 28 years the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company has shaped the evolution of contemporary dance through the creation and performance of over 140 works. Founded as a multicultural dance company in 1982, the company was born of an 11-year artistic collaboration between Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. Today, the company is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the modern dance world. The company has performed its ever-enlarging repertoire worldwide in over 200 cities in 30 countries on every major continent.

About the ICA
An influential forum for multi-disciplinary arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art has been at the leading edge of art in Boston for more than 70 years. Like its iconic building on Boston's waterfront, the ICA offers new ways of engaging with the world around us. Its exhibitions and programs provide access to contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA, located at 100 Northern Avenue, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. —5 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. —9 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. —5 p.m. Admission is $15 adults, $13 seniors and $10 students, and free for members and children 17 and under. ICA Free Admission for Youth is sponsored by State Street Foundation. Free admission on Target Free Thursday Nights, 5—9 p.m. Free admission for families at ICA Play Dates (2 adults + children 12 and under) on the last Saturday of the month. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our Web site at www.icaboston.org.