LeBlanc Loo’s Dance Documentary “Can You Bring It” Wins 2024 Peabody Award

Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, a documentary produced by dance professor and chair Rosalynde LeBlanc Loo, and featuring performances by LMU Dance students, has won a 2024 Peabody Award in the Arts Category. LeBlanc Loo co-directed the film with the celebrated documentarian Tom Hurwitz, ASC. Peabody Awards honor excellence in storytelling that reflects the social issues and the emerging voices of our day. The ceremony will take place on June 9 in Los Angeles.

Can You Bring It brings to life the creative process that culminated in choreographer-dancer-director Bill T. Jones's tour de force ballet D-Man in the Waters, one of the most important works of art to come out of the AIDS crisis. In 1989, D-Man in the Waters gave physical manifestation to the fear, anger, grief, and hope for salvation that the emerging Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company felt as they were embattled by the AIDS epidemic.

"This film took me nine years to make. It was a true labor of love," said LeBlanc Loo. "At times, the process of producing this film brought me to my knees. I was full of doubt and fear, wondering if it would ever get finished. So, for the film to now be recognized with this prestigious Peabody Award is further confirmation to never give up on your dreams."

In the film, a group of young LMU dancers in the present re-interpret the work, and in the process, they deepen their understanding of its power - exploring what is at stake in their own personal lives in order to commit and perform it successfully. Through an extraordinary collage of interviews, archival material, and uniquely powerful cinematography, this lyrical documentary uses the story of this iconic dance to illustrate the power of art and the triumph of the human spirit.

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