The Jerome Robbins Dance Division Annual Symposium 2026 [IN PERSON]

Looking to attend virtually? Please register here.

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division’s annual symposium at the Library for the Performing Arts is the culmination of work undertaken during a six-month fellowship where dance scholars and artists are invited to research a specific area of dance.

This year, Dance Research Fellows have researched Bill T. Jones and his work in the archive, which is preserved by the Dance Division. Robert Coe, McClain Groff, Raja Feather Kelly, Alicia "Jubilee" Moore, Carlo Antonio Villanueva, and uwazi zamani present their research on Jones and his archive.

Dance Symposium: Bill T. Jones: Artist for a Revolution

10:00 AM - McClain Groff, "Collaborative/Collisions: Bill T. Jones in 1980s New York"

11:00 AM - Alicia “Jubilee” Moore, "Analogy/Dolly: The Aristocrat"

12:00 PM - Carlo Antonio Villanueva, "Live Dancing and the Archive: Locating Improvisation in Bill T. Jones’ Choreographies"

break

2:00 PM - uwazi zamani, "Studies on a Fractured Hymn: Sonic Dramaturgy, Text, and Spiritual Rupture after Bill T. Jones"

3:00 PM - Robert Coe, "Early Bill Jones"

4:00 PM - Raja Feather Kelly, "A Body of Dangerous Ideas"

If you plan on attending all six fellow presentations, please select the All Day Pass ticket type.

If you plan on attending only one or a select few presentations, please choose those specific session(s) at checkout. Note that your ticket is only valid for the session(s) you choose at checkout.

Photo Credit: Bill T. Jones against wall in Jones' Social Intercourse, 1981. Photo by Arnie Zane.

SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.

STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org.

BRUNO WALTER POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at alexteplitzky@nypl.org. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.