The Beautifully Tragic Bill T. Jones

I have always loved artistic pieces that beautifully portray the darkness of humanity. I know that sounds really depressing, but that type of art brings more awareness to the things that lie underneath all the bubblegum happiness that surrounds the arts. People need to face that there are issues such as corruption and disease in the world. The arts completes the task of bringing awareness to the public.

Music festivals are often used to spread awareness, like the Global Citizen Festival in NYC's Central Park — Music festivals are often used to spread awareness, like the Global Citizen Festival in NYC’s Central Park

Bill T. Jones’s “Still/Here” dance piece does this effortlessly. His piece is a visual representation of quotes of people living with terminal and life-threatening disease. As 10 dancers of all races and shapes dance across the stage, quotes corresponding with the performers’ movements are amplified throughout the dance hall. It is a provocative and literal depiction of very sensitive subjects such as breast cancer and AIDS.

I love dance. I envy people that have formal dance training and can accomplish such feats with their full bodies. In combination with music and acting, dance is one of the most profound art forms. The use of human bodies to paint visuals and sometimes soundscapes is astounding. Bill T. Jones definitely breaks ground in the modern dance world by creating this amazing collage of pain, distress, and even a glimmer of hope. I personally loved the part of the video clip when the man is rocked back and forth on his heels by the dancers. It gave me an image of a baby in the womb, like it was saying “life goes full circle, no matter how old you become.”

“Still/Here” reminded me of another dance that I saw that represented the deaths that happened at the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. In the upstage area, 26 people stood in silhouette, as three dancers (1 girl and 2 adults) performed a modern dance over a song by musical theatre composer Jason Robert Brown, titled “26 Names.” The dancers depicted a mourning family, dropping a bouquet of 26 roses across the stage after JRB sang each of the names. It was truly touching and beautiful. Sure, it was saddening, but it was so beautifully done that it did more than make me depressed. It made me feel strangely uplifted, as if there was hope that we could prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.

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Sydney Marino says:

November 5, 2014 at 2:06 pm

I totally agree that this piece was showing people the issues of terminally ill people and that this is a real thing. It is very beautiful, sad, and a grateful piece of work I was happy to watch. All I could think of was Carpe Diem. I loved how he incorporated so many people of all shapes and sizes into his work. It shows everyone can get disease, not just one type of person can get it.