Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Arthur Avilés. May 23 and 24 2016.

Author

Aviles, Arthur

Publication

2016.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Rivera-Servera, Ramón H., 1973-

Description

2 streaming files (approximately approximately 3 hours and 47 minutes) : digital +

Summary

• Streaming audio file 1, May 23, 2016 (approximately one hour and 53 minutes). Arthur Avilés speaks with Ramón H. Rivera-Servera about his family and childhood in New York City and Long Island; the terms "Nuyorico" and his term "New York-Rican"; dance and his cultural heritage as a Puerto Rican; more on his childhood, in particular his participation in sports and other physical activities; his time at Bard College including his dance teachers and the curricula; ways in which his experiences at Bard influenced him as a dancer and dance-maker; his relationship with his teachers, in particular his feelings of affinity with Aileen Passloff and with Jean Churchill; recent collaborations with Churchill and Passloff; the professional help he received from Churchill; moving to New York City after graduation and how he supported himself; his body type as a barrier to dancing with certain companies; auditioning for and joining Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company [Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company] including an anecdote about why he was accepted; his increased awareness of his ethnic and sexual identities after joining the company; taking class at Alvin Ailey [Alvin Ailey American Dance Center] to improve his technique; the AIDS crisis and its effect on the company including Arnie Zane's death; his time with the company including his financial situation; touring; Arnie Zane including works he created on Avilés; Bill T. Jones' work as compared to that of Arnie Zane; Jones' and Zane's last, unfinished, collaborative piece; Jones' work D-man in the waters; the company and Bill T. Jones after Zane's death.
• Streaming file audio 2, May 24, 2016 (approximately one hour and 50 minutes). Arthur Avilés speaks with Ramón H. Rivera-Servera about his time at the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company including the trauma of Arnie Zane's sickness and death; Bill T. Jones' first work after Zane's death, D-man in the waters; his relationship with Jones; touring Jones' work Last supper at Uncle Tom's cabin/The promised land including its elements of nudity and community participation; Jones' Still/Here and Arlene Croce's criticism of the work as "victim art;" the development of Still/Here including workshops and rehearsals; other dancers in the company when Avilés was a member; his satisfaction with the recognition he has received from the dance world; his reasons for leaving the company including his separation from Jones; his continuing friendship with Jones and Bjorn Amelan; meeting Stéphane Vambre on tour and living with him for six months in Lyon, France; enlisting his cousin (Elizabeth "Macha" Marrero) as a collaborator; various influences on and vantage points of his early works including A typical New York-Rican's ensalada; his version of appropriation art including Untitled number one after Martha Graham, Untitled number two after José Limón, and Maéva de Oz; naming his dance company Arthur Avilés Typical Theatre including its play on the meaning of the Spanish word tipico; how he supported himself during this transitional period; teaching at the Point Community Development Corporation and creating the work Arturella; Charles Rice-Gonzáles and his first work with him, This pleasant and grateful asylum; leaving the Point Community Development Corporation (in the Bronx, New York) to devote his time to his own company; relocating his company to the nearby American Bank Note Building and developing the building as an arts venue, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance); achieving institutional financial stability about five years ago; his advocacy of the arts in the Bronx; being priced out of the building and relocating to St. Peter's Episcopal Church.

Alternative Title

• Dance oral history project
• Dance audio archive

Subject

• Aviles, Arthur > Interviews
• Churchill, Jean
• Passloff, Aileen
• Zane, Arnie, 1948-1988
• Jones, Bill T
• Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company
• BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance)
• D-man in the waters (Choreographic work : Jones)
• Last supper at Uncle Tom's cabin/The promised land (Choreographic work : Jones)
• Still/Here (Choreographic work : Jones)
• AIDS (Disease) and the arts
• Dance > Economic aspects
• Dance > New York (State) > Bronx County
• Dance > Social aspects

Genre/Form

• Sound recordings.
• Oral histories.

Note

• Interview with Arthur Avilés conducted by Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, on May 24 and 25, 2016, at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division Oral History Project.
• For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3333.
• As of March 2023, the audio recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The audio files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming on site only at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
• Sound quality is excellent.
• Title supplied by cataloger.

Access (note)

• Acess only on-site at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
• Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

• The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3333

OCLC

1052620360

Author

Aviles, Arthur, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Arthur Avilés. May 23 and 24 2016.

Imprint

2016.

Type of Content

spoken word

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

audio

Type of Carrier

online resource

volume

Digital File Characteristics

audio file

Restricted Access

Acess only on-site at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Event

Recorded for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts May 23 and 24, 2016 New York (N.Y.)

Funding

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Connect to:

Local Subject

Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (Company)

Added Author

Rivera-Servera, Ramón H., 1973- interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3333