IDENTIFICATION AND BIO:
Demian Acquavella danced in the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1985 until 1988. According to an obituary published in Dance Magazine, he also assisted in choreographing Killing Angels, which was conceived and directed by the artist Robert Longo. In addition to designing costumes for two of Arnie Zane’s last dances, The Gift/No God Logic and Like in Egypt, Acquavella is widely regarded as the inspiration for Bill T. Jones’s D-Man in the Waters, "D-Man" as short for "Demian." (See Marcia Siegel’s review of Acquavella’s cameo appearance in the work as part of the Jones/Zane company’s 1989 season at New York’s Joyce Theater.) In his oral history Acquavella also claims to have contributed choreographically to that work. "[Jones] uses a little bit of choreography that I made up," Acquavella told the interviewer Maya Wallach. In addition, Seán Curran, a friend and fellow member of the Jones/Zane company, created a solo titled Am I Dead Yet? (1992), which quotes from Acquavella’s movements in his hospital bed shortly before his death.
A Brooklyn native, Acquavella began dancing at the age of twenty at Santa Monica Community College in Santa Monica, California. Upon moving to New York, he studied dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the Nat Horne Musical Theater, and with Marjorie Mussman, Cindi Green, Ernie Pagnano, and Phil Black. Prior to joining the Jones/Zane company, he danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Elisa Monte Dance Company, Rush Dance Company, and for Mussman and Lillo Way. Acquavella died of AIDS-related causes.
KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
Per Seán Curran, Acquavella died without a will; however, his sister Rosemarie was in charge of the estate. To date, we have not been able to locate Rosemarie, who was last listed as living in Brooklyn. Acquavella's mother, Fanny, died 7 January 1994.
Robert Altman, companion
(not trackable; per Curran, he had been ill as of the late 1980s)
Seán Curran, friend and fellow dancer
21 First Avenue, #18
New York, NY 10003
212-254-5018
c/o Elsie Management, Laura Colby
132 Prospect Place, #2R
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-638-9862 (office)
718-638-0241 (fax)
laurac@elsieman.org
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
c/o Alison Schwartz, operations manager
853 Broadway, #1706
New York, NY 10003
212-477-1850
aschwartz@billtjones.org
HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
(name and contact info, relationship to the artist and the work, assessment):
The Jones/Zane company continues to perform D-Man in the Waters. Their rehearsal director is Janet Wong.
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
(location, format, condition, assessment):
Videotape of D-Man in the Waters is not available in the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library; however, it is documented in several versions in the archives of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, including videotape of the 1989 Joyce Theater performances in which Acquavella appeared.
PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
(location, format, condition, assessment):
Photographs of D-Man in the Waters are held in the archives of the Jones/Zane company, organized by title of work and held at the company’s office. According to Alison Schwartz, operations manager, there are no photos of the Joyce Theater performance in which Acquavella danced.
MOVEMENT NOTATION
(location, type [including notes taken by dancers], assessment):
None identified.
PRODUCTION MATERIALS
(scores, sound recordings, set/costume designs):
The Jones/Zane company maintains all materials necessary for restaging D-Man in the Waters.
ORAL HISTORY:
Maya Wallach, an interviewer with significant knowledge of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, conducted an oral history interview with Acquavella in September 1989. It is available at the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library:
Acquavella, Demian, interviewee. 1989. Interview with Demian Acquavella. Transcript of interview by Maya Wallach recorded September 1989 in New York City; twenty typescript pages; topics covered include: the reception in the dance community of the news of Acquavella’s AIDS illness; the creation and naming of D-Man in the Waters; dancing in the piece at the Joyce Theater; Louise Hay as inspiration; future plans; call number MGZMT 3-1124; soundtape call number MGZTC 3-1124.
PERSONAL PAPERS
(location of newspaper clippings, printed programs, press releases, notes, files, diaries; assessment):
None identified. The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library holds a clippings file for "D-Man in the Waters (Jones)," call number MGZR.
IMMEDIATE NEEDS
(archival assistance? storage? other?):
Search for family members and executor.
OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
According to Robert Longo (in a phone message dated 1 September 2000), Acquavella did not choreograph Killing Angels but rather was a performer in the piece, taking Arnie Zane’s place in a small section that Zane had choreographed. Longo’s collaborator on the piece was Bill T. Jones. In a retrospective catalog on Longo’s work, published by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, there is a script for Killing Angels, and Acquavella was one of the sentinels in the section titled "Marble Fog." Longo also shot photographs of him, "because he had a great body," as a model for a painting of monsters titled "Zombies." This image also appears in the LACMA catalog.
Some obituaries indicated that Acquavella had won a Bessie or New York Performance Award. According to Dance Theater Workshop, the sponsor of the awards, this is not true, though Jones and Zane were awarded a Bessie for their Joyce Theater season in 1986 and, in 1989, Jones received a Bessie for D-Man in the Waters.
LIST OR OVERVIEW OF WORKS
(title, premiere date, music, production notes, performers):
No specific works identified.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Dance Magazine. 1990. "Obituaries: Demian Acquavella" (December): 30.
- New York Times. 1990. "Demian Acquavella, Dancer, Is Dead at 32" (8 June): D16.
- Siegel, Marcia. 1989. "Survival by Drowning." New York Press (April 7): 13-14.
- Wallach, Maya. 1989. Interview with Demian Acquavella, Oral History Project, Dance Collection, New York Public Library (September). Soundtape and typed transcript.
