ADF: Bill T. Jones’ TRILOGY, part 1 (again)

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company performing Jones’ Analogy/Dora: Tramontane in the ADF presentation in the DPAC, July 27, 2017. Photo: Ben McKeown.

Two years ago, Bill T. Jones brought the first segment of a planned trilogy to the American Dance Festival; last year he brought part two, and this year, the full trilogy is having its debut as a completed whole, on three successive nights. On July 27th, the DPAC saw the return of Analogy/Dora: Tramontane.

Since 2015, Dora has tightened up a lot, and this performance was very good. Some of the baffling textual repetitions have been removed, and some of the trickier microphone hand-offs, but more importantly, the elocution and vocal expressiveness of the dancers has  improved immeasurably, rendering the stories much more powerful and making it easier to see the dancing and understand its language. What hasn’t changed is the work’s cool tone. It’s not about feelings or emotional response, it is about the facts and mysteries, about self-generated action and fate (all that we cannot control or order). For a fuller description of Dora, please see my previous review.

Tonight, July 28, will see the much anticipated return of last year’s second trilogy section, Analogy/Lance: Pretty AKA the Escape Artist. This was one of the best dances in last year’s festival, and I’ve been thinking about it all year. High recommended. See my review of last year’s show here.

Saturday night (7 pm), the final puzzle piece will hit the stage–the ADF commissioned Analogy/Ambros: The Emigrant. Lance certainly modified understanding of Dora; I would guess Ambros will further clarify Jones’ ideas. This will be the final performance of the 2017 ADF season.