A view by Anita Amirrezvani of the SF performances:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Paul Taylor's trademark inventiveness in full force</B><P>Anita Amirrezvani, San Jose Mercury News<P>A strong year for modern dance has been made even stronger by the arrival of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, which is in San Francisco through Sunday with three different programs of dance.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>[This message has been edited to remove dead link.]<p>[This message has been edited by Admin (edited April 05, 2002).]

An opinion from Rita Felciano:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Taylor made</B><BR>Paul Taylor Company's new works go for baroque. <P>By Rita Felciano, SF Bay Guardian<P>A CONFESSION: last fall in Philadelphia, when I first saw Dandelion Wine – one of the three Bay Area premieres performed by the Paul Taylor Company in its current run (through next Sunday) – I thought it a minor work. I remember dismissing it as "Taylor in his sunny mood to pretty baroque music." That's the problem with snap judgments: sometimes you wind up eating your words.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/35/26/dance.html" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

A dark essay (thanks, Michael, for this one):<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>The Dark Side of Paul Taylor</B><P>BackStage.com<P>If the first performance we saw by the Paul Taylor Dance Company on March 3 seemed mainly a presentation of light and hope, the following day's matinee program featured the mysterious "Arabesque" and "Musical Offering," two works representing the dark side of Paul Taylor. These were, however, countered by his hilarious "Funny Papers."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>[This message has been edited to remove dead link.]<p>[This message has been edited by Admin (edited April 05, 2002).]

I'm curious what people here think of Paul Taylor's work themselves? I saw the company years ago (and I mean years ago - don't remember anything, other then it was my first taste of modern dance). But I think I will be getting an opportunity to see the company this fall.

Hello Elaine - the company is coming in mid-april to Costa Mesa California and I am going to try and get tickets if I can. I am not generally a enthusiast about modern dancing but I would like to see this company.

Oh, boy, Elaine... who wants to tackle this one?

Hmm, the critics must be right. I just came back from Program B in SF, that included "Arabesque," "Funny Papers," and "Musical Offering." I gasped when my friend thought it was the best program of all three. Oh dear me. I'll be going to another program tomorrow and seeing for myself how it really is.<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited March 30, 2001).]

Azlan...can you clarify. You liked the program you saw , or........?<BR>Elaine---that's a tough question. Paul Taylor was the first modern company I saw. We're talking back in mid 70's. I was just blown away..I thought they were fantastic. And was always "blown away" in all subsequent performances through the years. The combination of dancers who were great interpretive artists in their own right (David Parsons, Lila York, Nicholas Gunn, Chris Gillis)and work which was alternately bizarre,lyrical, funny, athletic, scary, probing and unpredicatble made Taylor an American genuis. I must say, that in recent years Taylor company has been a disappointment. "Speaking in Tongues" was the last work to really blow me away. This opinion, however, in no way diminishes Taylor in my eyes. Anyone who sees the film "Dancemaker" (documentary about Taylor and his company;nominated for an Oscar; you can probably get it on video) will know what I mean.<p>[This message has been edited by trina (edited March 31, 2001).]

Trina, the program had its moments and the dancers had their moments. The company has built such a high standard for Paul Taylor's choreography and the quality of dancing through recent publicity and the movie that I suppose people expect the very best of this company. Unfortunately they are not getting that in SF.<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited March 31, 2001).]

Azlan--did you see the company do "Last Look", "Sunset" or "Big Bertha"? Again, so much in these dances is dependent on the depth and interpretation of the dancers. <p>[This message has been edited by trina (edited March 31, 2001).]

Trina, I did not see the company do any of these works during this SF run (I have seen them before however). Saturday night, we took in a program that consisted of "Dandelion Wine," "Fiends Angelical," and "Company B." My partner, a friend of PTDC's senior company members, was surprised to see so many new faces in the company (when we dropped a bottle of wine off for one of the senior dancers and ran into a dancer backstage, she asked, "Who's that?" "One of Paul's new dancers," I responded, "and I don't even know which one"). We both felt Dandelion and Fiends looked dated and somewhat amateurish (maybe we're jaded). We enjoyed "Company B" however, but compared it unfavorably with Houston Ballet's more lithe version.<P>And dare I say this? Has the quality of the dancing declined? No one was willing to speak on the record but more than a few professionals, current and former, commented to me how they thought the dancers looked off the mark. One thought the new dancers looked green and unsure. Another thought it was the new dancers, promoted from Taylor 2, who were giving everything they had while the older dancers looked lazy. Yet another thought the tardiness was due to an extensive touring schedule.<P>Did other cities see this problem? Or is it only an SF phenomenon?<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited April 01, 2001).]

Azlan...I think you're right about newcomers. In reviews I have noticed many new names which were unfamiliar to me. Typically, dancers sometimes tend to quit in "groups". As I said earlier, it's difficult for me to watch older works, because I identify so many of the original dancers I remember from "the old days" in those works. And honestly speaking, I havent' liked the newer works as much. I guess I consider myself lucky to have been of a generation to have seen David Parsons, Lila York, Chris Gillis who were such individuals, with earthy stage personalities. Footnote: (no pun intended-lolol-)Remeber that someone like Taylor HAS to crank out 2 (at least) new pieces per year, whether he feels inspired or not. In reference to a thread in another forum, he's got to experience "burnout" as well!! <p>[This message has been edited by trina (edited April 01, 2001).]

From the Los Angeles Times:<P><B>Taylor dancers relate many moods through dance <BR> Senior dancer performs one of two pieces getting L.A. premiere at Alex.</B> <P><BR>By JOYCE RUDOLPH, ENJOY!<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>GLENDALE -- Creating a variety of moods through movement, the Paul Taylor Dance Company will present the Los Angeles premiere of two works Friday at The Alex Theatre. <BR> "The great thing about a Taylor program is the audience sees something light, dark and perhaps funny," said Lisa Viola, the senior female dancer in the company.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <BR> <P>[This message has been edited to remove dead link.]<p>[This message has been edited by Admin (edited April 05, 2002).]

From the Los Angeles Times:<P><B>Paul Taylor Company: Of Ancient Myths and Passionate Moves</B><P><BR>By LEWIS SEGAL, Times Dance Critic<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Steeped in Jennifer Tipton's honey-colored lighting and further idealized by Santo Loquasto's revealing costumes, the members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company spent much of a memorable weekend at the Alex Theatre looking like effigies from an antique sculpture garden or figures in an ancient frieze.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>[This message has been edited to remove dead link.]<p>[This message has been edited by Admin (edited April 05, 2002).]

<B>Taylor's domain </B> <P>by Laura Jacobs in The New Criterion<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>A dancer in Paul Taylor’s company is not a bona fide “Paul Taylor dancer” until he or she develops a particular curve within a phrase. You see it most readily when the dancer runs in a circle in those little scuffing-slipper steps of which Taylor is so fond —the way the entire body is magnetically flexed to the center, the spine answering that empty space, the chin and shoulder listening, as if the dancer had been turned on a potter’s wheel. Except the dancer is not clay but muscle, and the space is not empty at all, but a volume or vacuum with its own agenda. Taylor dancers run and jump, walk and crawl, jerk and twitch. But they are never more Taylor dancers than when they move in circles, even if they are circling themselves in one spot on the stage. It is in circles and rings and centrifugal swings that we see them for what they are: forces of nature.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/19/may01/jacobs.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>More...</B></A> <BR>