Partnership

Bill T. Jones Dance Company

Beginning in Fall 2009, the Bard Dance Program embarked on a partnership with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to offer new classes in technique, creative structure, and critical analysis. Since BTJ/AZ’s merger with Dance Theater Workshop, renamed New York Live Arts, the partnership has expanded considerably. Regular offerings include technique (two levels, offered four days a week), repertory, composition, junior seminar in professional practice, and senior project oversight and advising. Each dance major is guaranteed contact with the partnership's teaching artists through the junior compression plan, a yearlong experience that encourages students to immerse themselves in the coursework led by Live Arts. The curricula for Live Arts courses are designed to complement one another, creating a cohesive dialogue between courses. An institution-wide partnership that encompasses all that New York Live Arts and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company has to offer, this innovative partnership gives Bard Dance students the unique opportunity to work closely with a world-renowned professional dance company during their undergraduate course of study.  Students also have the exclusive privilege of accessing Company archives, New York Live Arts institutional resources, and the artists and performances presented each season. Extending the partnership to the entire student body, New York Live Arts conducts events and performances targeted for the wider community each semester and insures contact with the Company through a weeklong residency each spring.

Video of Residency in May 2010