"Bill T. Jones: Still/Here with Bill Moyers"
A David Grubin and Bill Moyers Production
© 1997 Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Log onto www.billtjones.org or call 1-800-257-5126 for information on ordering this program or others

In the late 1980's, Bill T. Jones began holding "Survival Seminars," a small-group therapy conference which helps those with a life-threatening illness to express themselves with their bodies and movements rather than with words. He eventually adapted the movements and ideas from those in the workshops into a highly acclaimed, world-renowned dance, "Still/Here." The dance premiered in Iowa City, Iowa, on September 29, 1994. Critics have called this his "most important work" and have said that it is a "highlight in 20th century dance"

"Bill T. Jones: Still/Here with Bill Moyers" features an in-depth interview with Bill T. Jones and exploration of the "Survival Seminars" as well as what lead Jones to the creation of "Still/Here." As this video is only one hour in length, it could be used in a one-session format, or it could serve as a transition into a multi-week discussion concerning the themes addressed. These themes would include, but are not limited to spiritual dance and movement, mortality and death, gaining a better understanding of LGBT issues, and the AIDS crisis.

For over a year, Jones traveled the country, reaching out to men and women who have never danced before, let alone expressed themselves through movement. These individuals may have cancer, AIDS, or a variety of illnesses. Jones asks them to tell him what they love, what they fear, and what they want. He asks them to define themselves, as well as their current situations, without words, but with a gesture or movement.

This movie is incredibly challenging spiritually because it confronts some of the beliefs and ideas we are traditionally taught to have regarding death. It leads us to a new understanding of our own mortality and challenges viewers to question other long-held ideas they have about a variety of issues, including how we as a people should respond to those with life-threatening illnesses and the challenges of identifying one’s sexual orientation in today’s society. Jones explains that he certainly isn’t looking forward to the prospect of an early death. However, that’s no reason not to be prepared. "I have a little time bomb supposedly ticking in my body," Jones says. "I want to find out what this point in my life means. Arnie [his life partner, who died of AIDS] is gone. Many friends are gone. I may be gone. You know that old song, ‘Lord, I Want to Be Ready.’ I see this as getting ready."

"For me as a person who has to deal with his own possible early death," Jones explains, "these are the people who are dealing with exactly the same thing. I said, ‘Let’s go out and deal with the people who know, asking them ‘What do you know? What do you know that I don’t know, what the average person does not?’‘ Then, we are gonna take it and we are going to make it into songs and we are going to make it into movement. And we’ll call it Still/Here."

Caroline, a participant in the workshops, has this to say about her illness and state-of-mind, after interpreting her thoughts and feelings for the group through dance: "I have this opportunity to create something and to be free as I’m doing it. I just shouldn’t have to worry about morality and knowledge... I can just be free. Why is there all this suffering? Maybe I’m blessed. Maybe if I could just help someone, that would be the compensation for all this suffering."

Bill Moyers asks Jones, "Throughout your travels, have you figured out where ‘Here’ is?" Jones explains Here as being "...a place where I can stand and not be distracted by pain, not be in the future, in the past. I can be loving. I can be responsive. Here is the New York City subway, when I have to be there. I’m rushing from one appointment to another, and I am worried, thinking, ‘Am I failing? Did I get a bad review yesterday? What is going to happen?’ But, suddenly at that moment, I realize...my flesh, I’m upright, I’m doing. I’m not in bed, hooked up to a ventilator. I’m not connected to an IV. I say, ‘Hey, look. You’re here. You are on your two feet.’ And if that’s what Still/Here is about, I think that’s been well worthwhile.

"Suddenly you are working out what you feel, coping with it. And the feelings change. And now, you are engaging the world through your work," Jones says. "You are now a full citizen again. You aren’t shut down anymore. Your problems, your fears, suddenly are manageable because you have abstracted them. Maybe it’s a trick. I call it a survival technique. My work is that dialogue that I have."

Upon first coming to the workshops, the participants were often fearful and timid. Jones gave them a renewed sense of life. He gave them joy. He gave them the courage to look inside themselves and each other and see all they still had. He taught them to stop being afraid - afraid of dying, afraid of losing control. He taught them see their own death as an opportunity. He taught them to use what they had, and to take this opportunity to be all they could, do all they can, extend a hand and help another. He taught them to stop worrying and be thankful about what they still had here, today. He taught them to be joyful that they are Still/Here.

"My job," Jones tells Moyers, "is to evoke the spirit of survival."