Choreographer brings idealistic truths to bear on the stage

By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Paul Taylor is no Rush Limbaugh.

Politically and otherwise, they're as unalike as two Americans can be. But the legendary dancemaker could teach the inflammatory radio host a thing or two about expressing -- and not expressing -- his opinions.

Taylor's company returns to Houston next week after a five-year absence, bringing 2002's Promethean Fire and Dream Girls and the revival of 1978's Airs to Jones Hall. The choreographer discussed his methods and work by phone recently from his home on Long Island.

The 72-year-old Taylor often speaks in a tone of genteel innocence. But as an observer suggested in Dancemaker, the 1999 documentary film about Taylor, "He can sound very sweet, then you have to worry about where the wheels are turning. What is he thinking?"

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Taylor company lights stage with 'Promethean Fire'
By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Promethean Fire is the choreographic equivalent of a back draft. Its sweeping patterns, shifting lines and nonstop movement are such a kinesthetic thrill they suck the breath out of you. I wasn't the only one who felt that way when the Paul Taylor Dance Company performed its founder's 2002 masterwork at Jones Hall Oct. 17; the standing ovation was immediate.

When Promethean Fire premiered, a lot of critics swept up by the dance's emotional resonance assumed it was Taylor's response to 9/11. Such is the power of abstract dance -- every viewer can get what he or she needs from it. Today, in Houston, it has a more timeless and universal sensibility. Taylor has said he was thinking about death and rebirth when he made the dance. The Greeks and Shakespeare also were an influence. The title comes from a line the jealous Othello utters just before he kills his beloved wife; there's a direct visual reference to that when a man kills his partner and staggers as he holds her aloft.

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