Exclusive: Co-director Rosalynde LeBlanc talks Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man
Now playing in theaters and in virtual cinemas is the acclaimed documentary Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man, co-directed by Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz. It’s showing at Film Forum in New York and on Friday, July 23rd at Laemmle's Royal in Los Angeles, with national rollout to follow.
CAN YOU BRING IT: BILL T. JONES AND D-MAN IN THE WATERS brings to life the creative process that culminated in choreographer-dancer-director Bill T. Jones’s tour de force ballet D-Man in the Waters, one of the most important works of art to come out of the AIDS crisis. In 1989, D-Man in the Waters gave physical manifestation to the fear, anger, grief, and hope for salvation that the emerging Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (both partners at the time) felt as they were embattled by the AIDS epidemic. As a group of young dancers in the present re-interpret the work, they deepen their understanding of its power – exploring what is at stake in their own personal lives in order to commit and perform it successfully. Through an extraordinary collage of interviews, archival material, and uniquely powerful cinematography, this lyrical documentary uses the story of this iconic dance to illustrate the power of art and the triumph of the human spirit.
For co-director and producer LeBlanc, she gets to let the world know how much Bill T. Jones has brought to the dance community. She first danced with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (1993 - 1999) before moving on the Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project (1999 - 2002). She has also worked onscreen with film directors Burt Barr, John Turturro, Gretchen Bender, and Matthew Rolston. She can be seen in the short film, Roz, the PBS Specials, Still/Here, Free to Dance, Dancing in the Light, A Good Man, and in the feature film, Romance and Cigarettes. Ms. LeBlanc Loo is a leading figure in the legacy and pedagogy of Bill T. Jones. She re-stages his work around the country and runs the Jones/Zane Educational Partnership at Loyola Marymount University, where she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dance. In 2020, her work in dance research and pedagogy was recognized with an honorary induction into the Jesuit Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Nu.
BlackFilmandTV..com’s Wilson Morales spoke with LeBlanc about not only keeping Jones’ legendary piece of work vibrant and alive but co-directing the story of his journey in the dance world.