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IDENTIFICATION AND BIO: Paul Timothy Diaz is a choreographer who has made over twenty works in response to the AIDS epidemic. Diagnosed with HIV in 1986, Diaz has made work in both concert settings as well as presenting his work in open-air performances throughout the city of San Francisco. In such unconventional settings, his work has stood as evidence of political activism intersecting with artistic practice in the age of AIDS. His One AIDS Death Every 10 Minutes (later re-named One AIDS Death Every 8 Minutes) was often performed illegally at San Francisco's City Hall or in front of the Macy's department store on Stockton Street. In at least one case Diaz's performance was stopped by security guards. In the face of such confrontation, Diaz would not protest but rather go limp inside the pink body bag that was his costume. In the words of dance scholar David Gere, "transforming himself into a dead body constitute[d] the quintessential act of gay choreographic disobedience." According to his oral history (see below) Diaz was brought up in three Bay Area suburbs: Castro Valley, Union City, and Hayward. He ran away to Los Angeles as a young teenager, because his father, a member of the Assemblies of God, was "too strict" during the period when he was becoming sexually active. Eventually Diaz found his way back to the East Bay where he studied at the Shawl-Anderson studio and with Priscilla Regalado. He directs an organization called Movement Coalition for AIDS Awareness (m. c. FAA) in San Francisco.
KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
Ian Alexander Nies, partner
HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION:
PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
MOVEMENT NOTATION
PRODUCTION MATERIALS
ORAL HISTORY:
PERSONAL PAPERS
Additionally the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts holds a file that includes announcements for performances and information on the Movement Coalition for AIDS Awareness. Call number: MGZR (Diaz, Paul Timothy).
IMMEDIATE NEEDS
OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
PARTIAL LIST OF WORKS
Taken from the online catalog of the New York Public Library—year, location, and performer credits indicate earliest credits from (in most instances) multiple recordings held by the library and may or may not reflect premiere date, location, and performer credits. Back Inside (1983)—music: George Winston Synchro System (1984)—music: King Sunny Adé (Synchro System) Mi Papa (1985)—music: Perez Prado (Caballo Negro) Let's Go Crazy (1986)—music: Prince (Let's Go Crazy) Reverence (Pie Jesu) (1986)—music: Webber ("Pie Jesu" from Requiem), dancers: Beth Bland and Diaz Please Don't do this to Me on the Telephone (1987)—music: Yaz (Winter Kills, In My Room) Cure AIDS Now (1988)—music: Dead Can Dance, performed by Diaz One AIDS Death Every 10 Minutes (1990)—Open Air Performance (Union Square and Macy's in front of Stockton Street) San Francisco
AIDS Warrior (1991)—three solos danced by Diaz [in order listed], 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco:
Gayselle (1991)—music: Mactown Strip (Waiting, Bontempi and Piano, Living, Bottles/All Outdoors), performed by Virgil Angulo and Diaz, [parody of the ballet Giselle], 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco Homo Bashing (1991)—music: Webber ("Pie Jesu" from Requiem), performed by Diaz and Allison Lincoln, 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco Invitation to War (1991)—music: Public Enemy (excepts from By the Time I Get to Arizona), Kode IV (Possessed), Peter Gabriel (Last Temptation of Christ), performed by Diaz and Ian Alexander Nies, 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco L'aprčs-midi un Telefon (1991)—original music: Mactown Strip (Miss Rosemary), performed by Diaz, 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco Princess Pretty Feet [duet version] (1991)—original music: Mactown Strip (Oh! Listen to the Pretty Music), performed by Diaz and Allison Lincoln, 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco Princess Pretty Feet [trio version] (1991)—original music: Mactown Strip (Oh! Listen to the Pretty Music), performed by Virgil Angulo, Diaz, and Allison Lincoln, 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco Sonny Boy (1991)—sound: excerpts from the soundtrack of Jacob's Ladder, music: Maurice Jarre, performed by Virgil Angulo, Diaz, and Alexander Nies, San Francisco Spirit (1991)—music: James Tobin Nies (Spirit), performed by Diaz, San Francisco One AIDS Death— (1992)—music: Dead Can Dance (Persephone), 1800 Square Feet, San Francisco Spider (1992)—music: Diamánda Galás (Let My People Go), construction by Ian Alexander Nies, performed by Samantha Blanchard, Steven Dell, Douglas Everson, Monique Jenkinson, and Jamie O'Halloran The Cure (1994)—music: Fugazi (Give Me the Cure), San Francisco Sadly (work-in progress) (1994)—music: Diamánda Galás (Gloomy Sunday), San Francisco Slashbacks (parts one and two) (1994)—music: Fugazi (Suggestion, Glue Man), SOMAR Theater, San Francisco Skeleton (1994)—music: Fugazi (Burning), San Francisco Highest Plateau (Tears of Joy) (1995)—music: Chi-Lites (The Coldest Days of My Life) i am one with the Human One (1995)—music: Johann Sebastian Bach (Et Misericordia), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Sanctus), Bach (Gloria) Prelude (1995)—music: Kode IV (Electrotatich), St. Paulus [Pauls?] Lutheran Church, San Francisco Dia de los vivos (1996)—San Francisco
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