The dance world had never seen anything like them. In the 1970s and ’80s, Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane were a study in contrast: Jones tall, sinuously powerful and African-American; Zane shorter, smaller, white but also wiry and passionate.Their 17-year partnership, which ended with Zane’s death in 1988, was arguably the most productive in contemporary dance. The multicultural troupe they founded remains innovative and influential.
On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16-17, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company will return to St. Louis with Body Against Body, a retrospective of sorts. Presented by the Edison Ovations Series at WUSTL, the evening will showcase three of the early, groundbreaking duets that first brought Jones and Zane to international attention.
