D-Man in the Waters, created against a background of loss. Zane, Jones’s partner in life and work, had died of AIDS complications the previous year, and a member of the company, Demian “D-Man” Acquavella, was suffering from the disease, which would take his life in 1990.
The number, set to Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings, was unveiled at the Joyce Theater in New York City to widespread acclaim and is now considered one of the signature responses to the AIDS crisis.Now a new documentary, Can You Bring It: Bill T.
Jones and D-Man in the Waters, tells the story of the dance’s creation and re-creation, and how it can still speak powerfully about social issues in general.“I became a dancer because I saw D-Man in the Waters when I was 16.