Loyola Marymount University and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company are launching a four-year partnership that will bring the works and philosophy of the renowned dancer and choreographer to a West Coast university for the first time.
“This partnership represents an incredible opportunity for the students in our Dance Program, and is a testament to the quality and character of the education we offer,” said Bryant Keith Alexander, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts at LMU. “We are honored and humbled to be joining the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in this endeavor.”
The partnership will include a wide range of cross-pollination between the two organizations, with a strong emphasis on educating young dancers at LMU. Planned events include:
- A one-week intensive session in technique, repertory, or composition, led each year at LMU by a current Company dancer;
- Two weeklong summer workshops led by Company members at LMU;
- The right for LMU to license and perform two Company works over the next four years;
- Professor Rosalynde Leblanc Loo will be given access to Company archives and the rights to teach portions of Company repertory within courses that study Bill T. Jones, Arnie Zane and their works;
- Scholarships and discounted rates for LMU students attending Company workshops and classes in New York;
- Access to Company members and artistic directors when the Company is in town, such as post-performance discussions, talks, rehearsal coaching and master classes.
“I’m thrilled, honored and moved to start this partnership with LMU, and couldn’t be more pleased to have Rosalynde Leblanc Loo at the helm. Throughout the Company’s life, it has been important to stay connected with Company alumni, and I am certain that Rosalynde will thoughtfully impart the Company’s philosophy to LMU’s students,” said Jones. “Exciting things are happening in the dance world on the West Coast, and I’m pleased that this partnership will allow us to be involved in that movement in an ongoing fashion.”
Leblanc was a member of the Company in the 1990s. She recently received the Graves Award in the Humanities and is in the midst of completing research on Jones’ 1989 work “D-Man in the Waters,” including a documentary film about the 25-year legacy of the dance and its connection to the late dancer Demian “D-Man” Acquavella.
“We’re very excited about LMU’s role in this educational partnership,” LeBlanc Loo said. “It will provide our students with a level of access and engagement with leading dancers, a legendary choreographer, and his seminal works of art that is almost incomparable among universities today.”
Over the past 33 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 Jones and 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 more than 200 cities in 30 countries. In 2011, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company merged with Dance Theater Workshop to form New York Live Arts, of which Jones is the artistic director.
