In a recent blog post about the creation of Serenade/The Proposition drawn from a lecture delivered at at the NY Historical Society, Bill T. Jones remarks, “a dance theater work about Mr. Lincoln as I conceive it comes with some obstacles. They might be roughly delineated by these two familiar categories: form and content. Formally, I remain suspicious of the biopic narrative and yet, if there was ever an individual and an era, which cried out for a narrative it is this man and that time. Over the last 25 years of creation I have often used elements of narrative that have - because of my bias - resulted in what I call quasi-narrative. An important notion I have relied on in the past and will certainly rely on again is that each piece and its various parts “suggests” rather than illustrates. In other words I set out to suggest a personality, to suggest a story, to suggest a world.”

Read the complete blog entry on the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company website.

Purchase tickets to the company’s upcoming engagement at The Joyce.