William Tass Jones, better known as Bill T. Jones was born on February 15th, 1952. He was raised in Wayland, New York and attended State University of New York. This is where he became interested in dance. This is also where he met Arnie Zane who later became his parter and the co-founder of their dance company.
Jones and Zane started by co founding the American Dance Asylum in 1973, with Lois Welk and Jill Becker. They choreographed dances that touched with topics like racism and AIDS, which bothered some audiences. This company is when he began working with technology, multimedia, and spoken word in dance.
Then, in 1982 the two men founded the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. They continued to create dances about controversial topics. Jone’s partner Zane died from AIDS in 1988. Jones continued to be the artist director of the company, and created powerful pieces about Zane’s death as well as the death of another member of the company.
His use of technology in dance, is what interested me the most in his work. It has also led him to collaborate with the OpenEnded Group to create amazing works. But, not only has he choreographed modern dance, he also has been involved with broadway and opera. He has received many awards for every aspect of what he has done and is truly an all around amazing artist.
Bill T. Jones has also written a memoir titled, Last Night on Earth. In it, he states, “Because art does for me what religion does– it organizes a seemingly chaotic world. Because it is my way of making sense of the world and its changes.” As an artist myself, that really resonated with me. He had an understanding about the importance of what he was doing. Not only was he creating work that meant something on so many levels, he was adding to the art world in a positive way.
The link to his company’s page is: https://newyorklivearts.org/btj-az-company/ . On it you can see more information about what his company is currently up to, as well as you can watch videos of some of the works he has created.
Bill T. Jones Blog 
Thank you for sharing this info on Bill T Jones. I know of him, but I do not know much about him. You mentioned how Bill T Jones incorporates technology in his work, what types of technology is that and how does he include that in his dances? Is his company still around? If so, where are they located and is Bill T Jones still apart of it? Where does he live currently and what is he doing?
I look forward to reading and learning more about Bill T Jones.
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