‘Can You Bring It’ wins Peabody Award
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, a documentary in Black Public Media and WORLD’s AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange series, has won a 2024 Peabody Award.
Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s documentary about Jones’ powerful and healing ballet, sprung out of the heartbreaking AIDS crisis, opened season 15 of the popular documentary series AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange.
AfroPoP is co-produced by Black Public Media (BPM) and WORLD, and the film was co-presented and distributed to public television stations by American Public Television (APT).
WORLD shares the best of public media in news, documentaries and programming. WORLD’s original series examines the issues and amplifies the voices of those often ignored by mainstream media. The multiplatform channel helps audiences understand conflicts, movements and cultures from around the globe.
WORLD is carried by 194 member stations in markets representing 77 percent of US TV households.
APT is the leading syndicator of high-quality, top-rated programming to the nation’s public television stations
The award will be presented at the 84th Annual Peabody Awards on Sunday, June 9, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.
In honor of the win, Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters has been rereleased on WORLD’s YouTube channel. Viewers may watch the documentary for free there, on the BPM website and on WORLDchannel.org through Jul. 9, 2024.
The film takes viewers to LeBlanc’s dance studio at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where her students grapple with learning Bill T. Jones’ tour de force ballet “D-Man in the Waters,” one of the most important works of art to come out of the age of AIDS.
It also transports the audience back to 1989, when the dance was created by Jones, one of America’s most renowned choreographers, as members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company were themselves besieged by the AIDS pandemic.
Dancers in the company reflect on the devastating losses of their beloved members, including co-founder Zane and Demian Acquavella, a star dancer whose nickname was “D-Man.”
Back in the studio, LeBlanc’s current-day students work to master the intense physicality of the piece and to understand a period in America before they were alive.
Soon, they face the formidable Jones himself as he drops in to observe rehearsals and offer feedback.
“We are profoundly honored to have our work recognized by this award that speaks to excellence in storytelling, and we sincerely thank everyone involved with us in funding, making and distributing Can You Bring It…,” said LeBlanc and Hurwitz.
The prestigious Peabody Awards honors excellence in storytelling that reflects the social issues and the emerging voices of our day.
According to the organization, Can You Bring It is one of 34 projects to receive the distinction this year out of 1,100 entries.
Audiences can visit the Black Public Media YouTube channel to watch an AfroPoP Artist Chat, featuring Jones and LeBlanc on the power of dance and other art.
Since its premiere in 2008, AfroPoP has presented 91 feature and short films spotlighting stories from across the African Diaspora.
The series is executive produced by BPM Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz and WORLD (at GBH) Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Chris Hastings. Denise A. Greene is series director/producer, Carol Bash is series associate producer and Ashton Pina is the series writer.
Follow the film on Instagram at @dman_documentary or Facebook at @DManMovie.
For more information on AfroPoP, now in Season 16, visit https://blackpublicmedia.org/afropop/.
