About Me
DANCEMAKER PAUL TAYLOR &
THE PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY
Visit Us at www.paultaylor.org. (click here)
About me:
You're listening to a movement from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, which Paul Taylor used in his delightful "Brandenburgs" -- one of several dances for which the Dancemaker used the music of baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company is celebrated around the world for the astonishing athleticism and breathtaking brilliance of its 16 dancers... and the sparkling wit and shattering impact of Mr. Taylor's masterworks, a collection that now numbers 126. The San Francisco Chronicle says "The American spirit soars whenever Taylor's dancers dance," and in the dance capital of the world, The Observer says "The Taylor Company is now the best New York has to offer in dance."
Since its inception in 1954, the Paul Taylor Dance Company has performed in more than 520 cities in 62 countries. It is, quite simply, a National Treasure, and Mr. Taylor is an American Icon who ranks among history's greatest artists.
The dancers of the Paul Taylor Dance Company are: Lisa Viola, Richard Chen See, Michael Trusnovec, Annmaria Mazzini, Orion Duckstein, Amy Young, Robert Kleinendorst, Julie Tice, James Samson, Michelle Fleet, Parisa Khobdeh, Sean Mahoney, Jeffrey Smith, Eran Bugge, Francisco Graciano and Laura Halzack. The members of Taylor 2 are Alison Cook, Jamie Rae Walker, Latra Wilson, Justin Kahan, John Eirich and Nic Ceynowa.
Here's the Company's schedule for the 2008-09 Season; please remember that this is subject to change.
2008
July 3-5: Durham, NC -- American Dance Festival, Page Auditorium
July 8: Vienna, VA -- Wolf Trap
July 19: Cleveland Heights, OH -- Cain Park
July 27-28: Vail, CO -- Vilar Center for the Arts
September 20: Geneva, NY -- Opera House, Geneva Concerts
October 3-4: Bangkok, Thailand -- Thailand Cultural Centre
October 9-11: Hong Kong, China -- Hong Kong Performing Arts Center
October 17-19: Taipei, Taiwan
October 24: Northridge, CA -- California State University, Northridge
October 26: Escondido, CA -- California Center for the Arts
October 31-November 1: Birmingham, AL -- Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center
November 7: Rockford, IL -- Coronado Performing Arts Center
November 15: Atlanta, GA -- Rialto Theater
November 21-22: St. Louis, MO -- Dance St. Louis
December 13-14: Miami, FL -- Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
December 20-21: Flushing, NY -- Queens Theatre in the Park
2009
February 26-March 15: New York -- New York City Center
March 21: Richardson, TX -- Eismann Center for the Performing Arts
March 27-28: Washington, DC -- Kennedy Center Eisenhower Auditorium
April 3: New London, CT -- Palmer Auditorium at Connecticut College
April 7-9: Hanover, NH -- Spaulding Auditorium
April 16: Austin, TX -- Bass Theater
April 27-May 3: San Francisco, CA -- San Francisco Performances at Yerba Buena Center
May 9: Purchase, NY -- Performing Arts Center
June 12: Saratoga Springs, NY -- Skidmore College
Time for a little background. Few artists of our time, in any discipline, have had the profound impact on their art form that Paul Taylor has had on dance. People in cities and towns throughout the world have seen and enjoyed live modern dance performances due largely to the far-reaching tours he pioneered as a virtuoso dancer in the 1950s, and that his two companies -- the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2 -- have continued to this day. He is revered by many people as the world’s greatest choreographer, and his dances are performed not only by his two companies but by many of the world's great ballet and modern dance companies as well. For legions of Taylor fans it is impossible to hear certain orchestral works and popular songs and not think of his dances. He has influenced dozens of men and women who have gone on to create their own dances and/or establish their own troupes. As the subject of the widely seen documentary, "Dancemaker," and author of a critically acclaimed autobiography, "Private Domain," he has shed light on his creative process as few artists ever have. Paul Taylor may be the most sought-after choreographer working today, commissioned by leading companies, theaters and presenting organizations the world over.
Mr. Taylor was a swimmer and a student of art at Syracuse University in the late 1940s until he discovered dance, which he began studying at Juilliard. By 1954 he had assembled a small company of dancers. Having created the slyly funny 3 Epitaphs in 1956, he captivated dancegoers in 1962 with his virile grace in the landmark Aureole. After retiring as a performer in 1975, Mr. Taylor devoted himself fully to choreography, and spectacular dances poured forth: Esplanade… Cloven Kingdom… Airs… Arden Court… Lost, Found and Lost… Last Look… Roses… Musical Offering… Company B… Piazzolla Caldera… Promethean Fire… and dozens more. He has set dances to Ragtime and reggae, tango and Tin Pan Alley, telephone time announcements and loon calls; turned supermarket music and novelty tunes into high art; and enjoyed rich "collaborations" with Bach, Handel, Boyce other baroque composers.
In 1993 Mr. Taylor established Taylor 2, a Company of six dancers modeled after his original troupe in 1954. Described by the Berkshire Eagle as "Taylor too," Taylor 2 performs in smaller venues and offers masterclasses and lecture/demonstrations to fulfill its educational mission. Here are the Taylor 2 2008-09 performances for which the public can purchase tickets:
2008
July 19: Baltimore, MD -- Baltimore Festival of the Arts
July 20: Martha’s Vineyard, MA -- The Yard
September 4–5: Holland, MI -- Hope College
October 2: Derry, NH -- Pinkerton Academy
October 4–5: Ottawa, ON -- Centrepointe Theatre
2009
February 7: Huntsville, TX -- Sam Houston State University
March 26: Orcas, WA -- Orcas Center for the Performing Arts
March 27: Langley, WA -- Whidbey Island Center for the Arts
March 28: Kirkland, WA -- Kirkland Performing Arts Center
May 2, May 9: Bethlehem, PA -- Bach Festival
Check our website (paultaylor.org) to see which current or former Company member is teaching daily class at The Taylor School at 552 Broadway in Soho. And you can download free wallpaper images for your computer desktop. So come visit!
Here's some of what the Washington Times said about the Paul Taylor Dance Company's December 2006 engagement:
"No other choreographer has created such a probing portrait of the American psyche as Paul Taylor, who brought his brilliant company to the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater for a too-short three-performance engagement over the weekend. His towering talent has captured our joys, tenderness, fears and absurdities in fresh, imaginative movement that makes his group one of the most appealing dance companies in the country. His extraordinary dancers move like angels -- swift, graceful, daring -- and, when the occasion calls, with demonic fierceness, which leads to the cliche often applied to Mr. Taylor that he is master of good and evil. But his vision is vaster than that simple dichotomy. At the heart of the program was a Washington premiere, Banquet of Vultures that conjured up a nightmare world of unremitting horror...
"New to Washington was the over-the-top, hilarious Troilus and Cressida (reduced), a decidedly offbeat version of the Shakespeare play set to suitably bouncy music -- Amilcare Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours. No one can do funny better than Mr. Taylor and his dancers' split-second timing and goofy moves, led by the remarkable Lisa Viola and Mr. Kleinendorst, who had the audience roaring with laughter."
And here's what Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times said in her 2006 year-end review: "More daredevil performing by dancers with strong individual presences and more lyrical, magisterial and slyly comical choreography by Mr. Taylor. Suddenly his airy, sweet-natured new Spring Rounds made me glad he is such an unassuming humanist. And the simple wordless majesty of the dance and dancers in his 1988 Brandenburgs reminded me of my childhood wonder at the enveloping power of the art."
