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Book Review: STORY/TIME: The Life of an Idea by Bill T. Jones

October 7, 2014 by Katie Sopoci Drake

by Katie C. Sopoci Drake

STORY/TIME: The Life of an IdeaSTORY/TIME is a three-part book that also serves as a companion piece to the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s live production of Story/Time that will appear at New York Live Arts on November 4-8, 11-15 at 7:30pm. More information: http:www.newyorklivearts.org

After the lengthy acknowledgements to many honored academics, distinguished artists, and an impressive list of foundations and trusts, the first thing to strike the reader soundly across the brain is a preface that warns you that what you are about to experience is really a structured event, “a performance yearning to be a document, a book” that serves as a “record of a needy, angry, and confused man” with a need “for a tradition, an intellectual home”.  After a description of the book’s layout, a hint at how you might best take in the information (an “invitation to play” or “reorder if you will”), and properly braced with what contradictions may present themselves, you delve into the first of three sections of the book.  

This first section, titled “Past Time” plunges you into Jones’ experience within the 1970‘s dance scene. You witness him meeting with the ideas of John Cage, the growing importance of his ideas on Jones’ own artistic inquiries, and are confronted with random stories and images that evoke place and history. Jones’ feelings of exclusion from the intellectual community of scholars and artists of the time surfaces within the narrative providing fire behind Jones’ evidently voracious appetite for inquiry and the contradiction within himself between “comfort” and “provocation” within his own methods of creating live performance that “reveal the most personal aspects” of himself.  

The second section, “Story/Time”, “a response to John Cage’s 1958 Indeterminacy,” is laid out like a score with dashes and brackets marking the time and random order (with the help of www.random.org) of 60 one-minute stories. These nuggets of prose, with words that are nudged and pulled apart on the paper to mark the passage of time, span the range of Jones’ own history and memories. Some having to do with art, some with family, some with characters from his life, certain stories swim back to the surface after their initial appearance in the first section of the book “Past Time”. Here they are washed clean of their previous context, and elevated to the status of art.STORY/TIME: The Life of an Idea 

“Story/Time” begs to be read out loud. At the end of the previous section, “Past Time”, Jones gives us hints at his approach in performance which certainly invites the reader to try one or all stories in their own tongue. 17 unsentimental performance images accompany this leg of the journey giving the viewer a setting for the stories and reminds us of Jones’ questioning of his own interpretation of Cage’s theories assigning “a higher priority to the author’s intent or choices of presentation than to the audience’s capacity to interpret that intent.”

In “With Time”, the final section of the book, you read Jones’ thoughts on the direction of dance as an art-form with the benefit of having read about both his own journey towards this end and experiencing a sample of what his deep artistic inquiry has rendered. In it, he offers yet another twist in his journey in the form of praise he received from his niece in 1999 after a performance of We Set Out Early… Visibility Was Poor. Jones reveals that at that moment, she had represented another “community I had — justifiably or not — felt estranged from.”  This revelation brackets a series of “provocations” that keep circling back around within the book: detachment from emotion in art, exclusion from intellectual society, estrangement from community, the class context of searching for identity versus the search for meaning, the role of history and personal experience in experimental art. 

STORY/TIME: The Life of an Idea

In a final interview with Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust, John Cage, Jones’ “icon of modernism”, is partially laid bare. Kuhn relates a story of Cage being so detached from society that he didn’t realize Jesse Jackson was black. The story doesn’t seek to embarrass the man, but to reveal a consequence of a philosophy that separates the artist from society. Directly after the interview, Jones identifies his desire to reconcile the community he grew up in with the artistic community he is immersed in and the contradiction of “choosing to engage seriously with such a socially ‘unengaged’ artist who seems to hard back to an era when the only artists who mattered where male and white. And yet engage with John Cage I must.”

As a written document, this book is clearly organized, quickly read, and dense with musings that can be dissected by dancers and non-dancers alike. As a piece of art, it is both process and product in one. The engagement and participation of audience member might be enhanced if the book is read and discussed in a group setting which makes me curious to see how it will fit with the live performance and how many people will pair the two. The experiment in creation, design and performance certainly poses many questions that, identifying as a dance artist, I found myself musing in the context of own work. Likewise, as an academic, I found I was concurrently dissecting the book for use in a future class. I found the “provocation” of personal context and its link to the audience’s experience of art particularly poignant when my thoughts swung back around to a quotation of Michel Auder which was, perhaps, not so randomly selected to end “Story/Time”: “’You motherfucker! You were thinking about yourself while watching my work!’”.

STORY/TIME: The Life of an Idea 

By Bill T. Jones

Performing Arts, Dance, Memoir

108 pp. Princeton University Press. $24.95


Katie Sopoci Drake Photo by Scott Pakudaitis
Katie Sopoci Drake
Photo by Scott Pakudaitis

Contributor Katie C. Sopoci Drake, MFA, GL-CMA, is a Washington D.C. based professional dancer, choreographer and teacher specializing in Laban-based contemporary dance. Holding an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Graduate Certification in Laban Movement Analysis from Columbia College – Chicago, and a BA in Theatre/Dance with a minor in Vocal Performance from Luther College, Sopoci Drake continues to take classes in as many techniques and practices as she can handle to inform her work and life as a curious mover.

Katie has been on faculty at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Nova Southeastern University, Miami Dade College-Wolfson, Miami Dade College-Kendall, Carthage College, and Lawrence University.  She currently guest teaches and gives masterclasses around the D.C. area and wherever her travels take her.

As a performer, Sopoci is described as a “sinuous, animal presence of great power; watching her dance is a visceral experience.” (Third Coast Digest).  Company credits include Mordine and Company Dance Theater of Chicago, Momentum Dance Company of Miami, Wild Space Dance Company of Milwaukee, and Rosy Simas Danse of Minneapolis.  Katie has also made appearances an an independent artist with many companies including Brazz Dance, Your Mother Dances, The Florentine Opera, and The Minnesota Opera.

Katie’s choreography, described as “a beautiful marriage between choreography, music and poetry” (On Milwaukee), arises from her fascination with the idiosyncrasies of daily life, and the flights of fancy that arise from ordinary inspirations.  Her work has been performed by numerous companies, colleges and studios across the country and her latest collaboration, Telephone Dance Project, will take her to states up and down the East Coast while investigating long-distance creation and connecting far-flung dance communities.

Filed Under: Books & Magazines, Reviews Tagged With: bill t. jones, book review, dance, dance book, John Cage, New York Live Arts, Princeton University Press, review, Story/Time

Never Stand Still – A Jacob’s Pillow Documentary

August 14, 2012 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

Never Stand Still is a documentary about Jacob’s Pillow, home of the longest-running international dance festival in the United States. Affectionately dubbed “The Pillow,” this national historic landmark has a complex and fascinating history which is illuminated quite well by Director Ron Honsa through a combination of historical photographs, videos and narrative. Interviews with dance luminaries such as Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris, Judith Jamison and Paul Taylor punctuate the documentary with interesting anecdotes and observations from their own work, adding to the breadth and depth of the film.

Viewers are expertly guided through the history of the venue through rich narration provided by a well-known figure in the dance world–Bill T. Jones. Highlights include dancer Frederic Franklin remembering his early days on the property with Ted Shawn (modern dance pioneer and founder of Jacob’s Pillow) and Suzanne Farrell reminiscing about her time there.

The footage does a wonderful job of showcasing the natural surroundings at The Pillow–163 acres of green space in the Berkshires, dotted with rustic farmhouse buildings and an outdoor stage. The property really has a “vacation getaway” feel to it, and indeed it is known as an intimate venue that some in the dance world even refer to as a “sanctuary”.

The release of this film coincides with the 80th anniversary of the Festival, and it does much to convey the diverse heritage of the annual event. Inspiration and collaboration are highlighted through interviews with Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin and dancer Rasta Thomas, and a multitude of dance clips give viewers a sampling of the range of movement styles represented throughout the Festival each year.

Never Stand Still is a tribute to Jacob’s Pillow–a testament to our tradition and roots in movement. It succeeds in its attempt to convey the mood and emotion that can exist in a physical place where so much passion, talent and excitement have come together throughout the years. There is a reverence for this piece of land in the dance world; both for its history and for what it has become today–a place for dance that really has no equal.

Here’s an extended preview for those of you who are interested in getting a glimpse of what this film looks like:

Filed Under: 4dancers, DVDs Tagged With: bill t. jones, dance movie, frederic franklin, jacob's pillow, judith jamison, mark morris, merce cunningham, never stand still, paul taylor, rasta thomas, suzanne farrell, ted shawn

National Museum Of Dance: Art In The Foyer 2012

May 31, 2012 by 4dancers

by Christopher Duggan

Photo by Christopher Duggan

Last night was the opening of my year-long exhibition at the National Museum of Dance, and it was a really exciting moment in my artistic career–not just because any curation of my work is incredibly flattering, but because the photographs I chose to display all showcase a space that is very dear to me, a place I’d love to share with everyone I meet.

When the museum contacted me and expressed interest in my photographs of performances at Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out, I couldn’t have been happier. The Inside/Out series features a diverse group of outdoor dance performances that are free and open to the public. These performances take place on a large outdoor stage on the festival grounds, and the backdrop offers a panoramic view of the Berkshires Hills—it’s a stunning visual.

Shooting at Inside/Out is very personal for several reasons. It’s my favorite place to shoot dance, it’s the most challenging space I shoot dance, and it’s the place that in a single image encapsulates the feeling you get when you’re on campus at Jacob’s Pillow.

It’s wonderful that my exhibition coincides with Jacob’s Pillow’s 80th anniversary season. The Pillow’s longevity as a vital presenting and educational institution in the dance world is nothing short of extraordinary, and Inside/Out is one of the Pillow’s most celebrated performance series. The dance concerts take place four nights per week during the festival season and a wide range of family-friendly styles are represented. Outdoor dance scenes have been iconic of Jacob’s Pillow since its founding by modern dancer and choreographer Ted Shawn (not surprisingly, a C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame member at the National Museum of Dance), and I’ve always hoped to pay homage to this tradition in my photographs of Inside/Out shows.

Capturing dance at an Inside/Out show is challenging, not only because the light is ever-changing, but also because I’m always looking to showcase the incredible feeling you get when you’re watching dance in that space. I knew I had to find a way to print my photos on a grand scale to get that feeling right. I wanted museum-goers to feel a little part of what it’s like to watch dance underneath huge trees, which are in turn dwarfed by a spectacular sky. In the end, I went with images that were 28×40 or larger, with the biggest photo at 50 inches tall. I hope my exhibition showcases a bit of that live-performance magic.

Some of my dance photography idols have presented work at the National Museum of Dance’s past exhibitions. Examples include Paul Kolnik, who has been shooting New York City Ballet forever, Lois Greenfield, who has photographed everyone (and everyone recognizes her images) and Rose Eichenbaum, who has made such an impact with her photographs and books, not to mention the fact that she has worked with so many important people in the dance world.

I’d love for you to visit my exhibit this year if you get a chance. Better yet, plan a weekend getaway to the Berkshires to see part of Jacob’s Pillow’s 80th anniversary season. The roster includes favorite programs and companies from past festivals–Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot in Dark Matters, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company’s latest work and Doug Elkins and Friends’ Fraulein Maria–as well as companies new to Jacob’s Pillow theaters.

While you’re there, be sure to look for the bald guy with the camera and say hi.

Christopher Duggan, Photo by Julia Newman

Contributor Christopher Duggan is the founder and principal photographer of Christopher Duggan Photography, a New York City-based wedding and dance photography studio. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.

He has created studio shots of Gallim Dance, Skybetter +  Associates and Zvidance, among others, and in 2011 alone, he has photographed WestFest at Cunningham Studios, Dance From the Heart for Dancers Responding to Aids, The Gotham Dance Festival at The Joyce Theater, and assisted Nel Shelby Productions in filming Vail International Dance Festival.

Duggan often teams up with his talented wife and Pillow videographer Nel Shelby (http://nelshelby.com). A New York City-based husband and wife dance documentation team, they are equipped to document performances, create and edit marketing videos and choreography reels, and much more.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers Manhattan’s finest wedding venues, the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, and frequently travels to destination weddings.  The company’s mission is straightforward and heartfelt – create timeless, memorable images of brides, grooms, their families and friends, and capture special moments of shared love, laughter and joy.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, Munaluchi Bridal, and Bride & Bloom, among other esteemed publications and popular wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s celebrated photography collection in 2010. His company has been selected for inclusion in “The Listings” in New York Weddings magazine.

 

Filed Under: Editorial, Finis Tagged With: arnie zane, bill t. jones, christopher duggan, crystal pite, dance photography, doug elkins, inside/out, jacob's pillow, lois greenfield, national museum of dance, paul kolink, rose eichenbaum, ted shawn

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