Review: STILL/HERE at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Bill T. Jones's "Still/Here" is widely considered one of the most significant and influential dance creations of the 20th century, often cited alongside other landmark works that redefined the artform: Nijinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps," Graham's "Appalachian Spring," and Ailey's "Revelations."

On February 5 at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, audiences witnessed the groundbreaking work with its creator, Bill T. Jones, in the audience. Jones also participated in a pre-show discussion.

Jones created "Still/Here" shortly after his life and artistic partner, Arnie Zane, died of AIDS in 1988. Around this Time Jones himself discovered he was HIV-positive. The piece debuted in 1994, a meditation on mortality, grief, and survival and drew from workshops Jones conducted with people living with terminal illnesses in the years following Zane's death.

There is an added resonance to the title "Still/Here", in this 30th-anniversary remount by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company — the artwork itself, the artist who created it, and the company that bears his name are still here, still relevant, still vibrant, still thought-provoking. Or, as Jones said in the pre-show discussion, "the conversations are alive now." The art retains its potency.

The multimedia work draws on the stories, fears and gestures of workshop participants who were facing their mortality. The piece is divided into two parts: "Still" (exploring the trauma and fear of death) and "Here" (focusing on community, resilience, and the joy of life).

The work generated a cultural firestorm after its premiere when New Yorker critic Arlene Croce refused to review it, labeling it "victim art" and arguing that she could not criticize works designed to evoke empathy for suffering.

But the work summons far more than empathy: it channels anger, humor, grace, strength and weakness, power and fragility, beauty and ugliness. The movement harkens to art in other media — a dancer cradled in the arms of another evokes Michelangelo’s "Pieta."

It opens with a roll call of names and hopes and gestures — at once personal and universal.

Recorded voices of workshop participants are woven throughout, producing some of the work's most memorable moments: "Slash, poison or burn, these are your choices"; "It's almost like burying a child, a part of me has died"; "Tell me how to fight this disease because I am going to win."

The design incorporates visual images — video of workshop members, overlaid photography assembled as a quilt, and graphics of a beating heart.

The work moves from individuals standing alone dressed in white and muted colors in Act 1 ("Still") to progressively more interwoven and cooperative movements in Act 2, where the dancers, dressed in vibrant reds and oranges, support each other in "Here."

Thirty years on, "Still/Here" refuses easy categorization or comfortable distance. It demands that we bear witness — not to victimhood, but to the full spectrum of human resilience in the face of mortality. In an era still grappling with loss, illness, and the fragility of community, Jones's masterwork remains urgently, defiantly alive.

Run Time: 2 hours with a 15-minute intermission

Dance Company: Barrington Hinds, Jada Jenai, Shane Larson, Danielle Marshall, Jacoby Pruitt, Babou Sanneh, Hannah Seiden, Mak Thornquest, Wyeth Walker, Rosa Allegra Wolff

Creative Team: Bill T. Jones (Conceived, Choreographed and Directed), Shayla-Vie Jenkins (Rehearsal Director), Gretchen Bender (Visual Concept and Media Environment), Kenneth Frazelle ("Still" Music Composer and Lyrical Arranger), Odetta, Lark String Quartet and Bill Finizio (“Still” Music Recording and Performance), Vernon Reid (“Here” Music Composition, Arrangement and Recording, Bradshaw Leigh (“Here” Music Recoding and Mix), Lawrence Goldhuber ("Denial" Monologue), Liz Prince (Costume Designer), Vernon Reid ("Here" Music Composer and Arranger), Robert Wierzel (Lighting Designer)

Still/Here by Bill T. Jones and directed by Bill T. Jones, was presented by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and Clarice Presents. It was performed at Kay Theatre, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, 8270 Alumni Drive, College Park, MD 20742 on Thursday, February 5. For tickets and schedule information for other artistic programming at the Clarice visit the company's website.

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