| Ten years after stunning a worldwide audience with its penetrating exploration of mortality, the controversial multimedia dance work Still/Here is being revisited as part of the 20th anniversary of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. The New York premiere was on Feb. 5, 2004 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A fourteen-month tour takes the piece to Los Angeles, Dallas, London, Lisbon, and Mexico City as well as to other locations in England, France and the U.S. |
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Music for “Still,” the first half of the original work, was composed by Kenneth Frazelle. It was originally performed by the Lark String Quartet, folksinger Odetta and percussionist Bill Finizio. In the new, shortened version, music from “Still” is sung by jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson. Frazelle’s music received widespread acclaim during the two years that the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. performed Still/Here all over the world. Alan M. Kriegsman, a Washington Post reviewer, wrote that the music for “Still” “makes one think of the late Beethoven string quartets and their otherworldly perfection.” New York Times critic Anna Kisselgoff wrote that Frazelle’s score had a “spiritual resonance” and “lyric beauty.” Incorporating choreography by Bill T. Jones and video by Gretchen Bender, Still/Here is based on interviews and movement workshops conducted with people living with terminal illness. Frazelle went through hundreds of hours of videotapes from the workshops to shape lyrics from people of every age, color and gender. The eight songs of “Still” explore introspection, denial, fear and panic, yet ultimately are defiant and life-affirming. In the frenetic and pulsing “Eyes I,” a person learns of his diagnosis merely by looking into the eyes of his physician. “Eyes II,” for solo cello and voice, depicts a quiet moment of introspection following a diagnosis. Writing in Newsweek, Laura Shapiro hailed Still/Here as “a work so original and profound that its place among the landmarks of 20th-century dance seems ensured.” The work was filmed for television here and abroad and was the subject of a documentary by Bill Moyers. The piece became a lightning rod of critical controversy when New Yorker dance critic Arlene Croce wrote an article condemning it as “victim art” without having ever seen it. Today Still/Here is included in countless histories of dance and continues to be debated among critical studies scholars. In The Phantom Project: Still/Here Looking On, Jones has added narration exploring his own response to the controversy surrounding Still/Here. |
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| “Because of the emotional content of the material, I originally chose Odetta for the vernacular feel she would bring to the music, and Cassandra Wilson continues that tradition,” says Frazelle, who has composed works for such vocal luminaries as Dawn Upshaw and Jan DeGaetani. “Although I am a classical composer, I decided early on that I wanted the piece to be open to multiple stylistic interpretations, so I chose not to make it tightly notated.” The songs can be sung by any type of singer. |  |
| For More on Still/Here Bill
T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. Last
Night on Earth, by Bill T. Jones |
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