CriticalDance Forum

A review of Taylor II:

Dance Troupe Dazzles Packed Crowd
By KIMBERLY A. KICENUIK for The Harvard Crimson


A popular dance troupe attracted overflow crowds to the Rieman Center in Radcliffe Yard yesterday for a demonstration and informal lecture on the ground-breaking choreography of dance legend Paul Taylor.
Taylor II, a six member modern dance company that has toured and taught dance internationally for the past ten years, performed several excerpts from Taylor’s diverse repertory.

“This is the first time Taylor II has performed at Harvard. Their informal demonstration is a great opportunity for students to get a sense of the creative process, the life of a dancer, and the development of new dance styles,” said Susan Larson, a coordinator in the Office for the Arts Dance Program.

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<small>[ 22 January 2003, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

We have an astonishing amount of material from the past three years about the Paul Taylor Dance Company as they toured the US and the World.

I have been through and done some tidying up and here are the earlier topics about this fine Company:

Paul Taylor Dance Company - Nov. 1999/Aug. 2000

Paul Taylor film - "Dancemaker"

Paul Taylor in London 2000

Paul Taylor Dance Company - Nov.2000/Oct.2002

<small>[ 22 January 2003, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

A short blurb by Anna Kisselgoff in the NY Times about the company's performance at City Center tomorrow:

A pleasant interview with Paul Taylor:

Taylor is just a hoot and delightful to read about. Almost as much fun as watching his dances!!! :p

TAYLOR MADE CLASSIC
By CLIVE BARNES for The NY Post

WALT Disney has inspired comparatively few ballets - yet his movie "Fantasia," in association with the great conductor Leopold Stokowski, helped a whole generation appreciate classical music.

Even now I can never encounter Bach's great Toccata and Fugue in D Minor without hearing Stokowski's grandiose orchestration, and Disney's inspired squiggles and strokes - like a Kandinsky abstract painting come to life - that accompanied it.

Paul Taylor probably has the same reaction, only Taylor has transported that reaction to genius. His new ballet, "Promethean Fire," which had its first public New York performance at the City Center on Tuesday night, precisely catches the ornate grandeur of Bach/Stokowski.

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A review of opening night:

TAYLOR'S SILLY SEASON
By CLIVE BARNES for the NY post

March 8, 2003 -- THERE are two Paul Taylors out there - probably more than that, but let's concentrate on two: Paul Taylor the Good, and Paul Taylor the Silly.
Of course, Paul Taylor the Good often has a touch of divine silliness woven in, while Paul Taylor the Silly is more often than not very, very good.

For Tuesday's opening City Center Gala of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Taylor the Good gave us the New York premiere of his magnificent "Promethean Fire."

On Wednesday night, Taylor the Silly demanded equal time.

So after the sublimity of Bach in "Promethean Fire" came barbershop quartet music, recorded by the Buffalo Bills, for the season's other new work, "Dream Girls," a hilarious spoof of Western guys and the gals they left home for, conjuring up a goofy, cartoonish sense of nutty fun.

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I think it's a positive review:

In the NY Times:

Another review:

Hits, Misses, Surprises Add Up: Taylor Emerges a Clear Winner
by Robert Gottlieb for The New York Observer

Audiences love Paul Taylor, and so do I. Not everything, and not always, but year in, year out, he gives me more concentrated pleasure than I get from any other dance company. This is by no means a universal view—some people find him old-fashioned (just as some people find Balanchine and Ashton old-fashioned). Others find his dancers (and some of his dances) too cute, too smiley. Others say he repeats himself. I say that these criticisms may sometimes apply, but so what? He has given us a generous array of masterpieces, and he can still surprise—what more can you ask for?

This season brought back two of his most striking works. The company’s signature piece, Esplanade(1975), never fails to thrill, with its slam-bang finale in which the dancers fling themselves across the stage in churning runs and reckless slides. You’d have to be comatose not to respond. And Last Look (1985) terrifies with its vision of despair.

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Another great review:

A preview of their time in the Bay Area.

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And good news on future engagements.

[quote]A promising partnership
S.F. PERFORMANCES, TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY REACH 5-YEAR DEAL
By Anita Amirrezvani
Mercury News

If you love film, you can rent videos by favorite directors and follow their careers from start to finish. But if you love dance, that kind of devotion can be awfully frustrating: Even the best choreographers and dance companies don't always perform in the Bay Area.

It's a testimony to the persistence of Ruth Felt, president of San Francisco Performances, that the Paul Taylor Dance Company, one of the country's most celebrated modern dance organizations, is joining the select group of Bay Area regulars.

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<small>[ 20 March 2003, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: LMCtech ]</small>

The Paul Taylor Dance Company tour the UK from the end of April. Here is the link to our coverage.