Dance Review: A Great Night with Paul Taylor Dance Company at City Center, Thursday March 5

There is no doubt how world-famous the Paul Taylor Dance Company is; thus, I was very much looking forward to seeing them in person.  As the performance began, I noticed right away that the audience was full of the company’s returning fans, a mostly older audience, that could relate to various memories of seeing Paul Taylor’s company throughout the years as well as understand what each work says about the times they were created in.

…Byzantium

"Of what’s past, passing, or to come." – W.B. Yeats, Sailing to Bzyantium

The music by Edgard Varese really set the mood for this piece.  Because of the costuming, music, and interesting movement vocabulary used, I could imagine this piece being visually shocking when it was first performed back in1984.   Wishing I had a copy of Yeats’ poem, I felt that I would have better understood what this piece was about if I had actually read "Sailing to Byzantium."  So, I decided to research this online and found that the poem by W.B. Yeats " . . . depicts a portion of an old man’s journey to Constantinople.  Through this journey, Yeats explores his thoughts and musings on how immortality, art, and the human spirit may converge.  Through the use of various poetic techniques, Yeats’ ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ describes the metaphorical journey of a man pursuing his own vision of eternal life as well as his conception of paradise."  Ahhhh, the clarity . . .   Thus, the dance was divided into three sections: Passing, Past, and Or to Come.

Robert Klein’s solo was fantastic.  He has a great presence.  His solo reminded me of Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring solo of the female virgin to be sacrificed (which is interesting considering that the next piece in the show was Le Sacre Du Printemps).  The men did these cool tricks of backward rolls into one-armed forearm stands and backward hops with a one-armed crab walk position retreating backwards. 

The Past section, performed by four dancers in gold sequined skull caps, actually looked very futuristic with the choreography in which the dancers focused their attention on putting an invisible small object into each other’s hands.  Yeats’ poem mentioned gold a lot in the last stanza, perhaps this was where Taylor got his inspiration for this section.  In addition, the intricacy and tempo of these four dancers reminded me of "the Russian Girls" section of Balanchine’s "Serenade". 

As far as the dancers, all the dancers were very in shape, especially Julie Tice, who has amazing upper-body musculature for a woman.  Coming from a one-hour Pilates reformer workout, I can tell you that clearly these dancers work very hard to maintain their physical appearance and prevent injury in order to meet the physical demands of Paul Taylor’s movement style.

Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rehearsal)

This piece was an interesting twist and tribute to Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring to the same music by Stravinsky.  The plot included a full cast, “A Dance Company,” “Rehearsal Mistress,” “The Girl,” “The Private Eye,” “The Crook,” “His Mistress,” “His Stooge,” “Henchmen and Policemen,” and “Bar Dancers,” in the style of a black and white film.  The movements were a mix of Nijinsky’s original choreography and rhythms with Paul Taylor’s own style.  The story revolved around "The Girl," Annmaria Mazzini, who was trying to get back her baby that was stolen by “The Mistress” and “The Crook” and “His Stooge” who were trying to kill “The Mistress.”  One of the male dancers stole a female dancer’s paycheck and towards the end everyone killed each other leaving “The Girl” to grieve for her lost baby.  Elements of subtle humor were thrown in at good points particularly with the way they handled the prop baby, or the “Private Eye” breaking free from his cell, or when “The Crook” and “His Stooge” were planning to kill “The Mistress.” 

I really enjoyed this piece.  The costumes were simple and did a nice job of showing who was what character in each scene.  The set was comprised of simple white wooden structures that outlined just enough to imagine the scene as a whole.  Moreover, Michael Trusnovec gave an excellent performance as “The Private Eye.”  In addition, kudos to Paul Taylor for creating a piece that successfully cajoled the audience to laugh along at all the right parts, like when Trusnovec found the baby, and in the process of fleeing to return it to “The Girl,” he slammed it down to do a cartwheel on it.  HA!  Mazzini’s performance was also universally appreciated in the theater. 

All in all, dancers, who know or have performed the original Rite of Spring, know how hard those repetitive jumps with flexed feet kicking up to your butt each time can be.   One of the male dancers next to me was talking with an experienced dance critic (also sitting next me) about his experience with dancing Nijinsky’s choreography.  Needless to say that the running joke was, ‘as the dance went on, the size of the dancers’ quads increased!’

Beloved Renegade

"I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." – Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass.
Beloved Renegade, a New York premiere, was a very beautiful, spiritual piece comprised of six sections.  Each of the six sections were distinguished in the program with a quote from Leaves of Grass:  “I am the poet of the body and I am the poet of the soul…I sing the body electric…I bend to the dying lad, his eyes open, a half-smile gives he me…Come children, come my boys and girls…for love – sweet love – put praise!  And for the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding death…I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, if you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.”  The dance painted an arc of growth from the liveliness of youth to death.  I could see how this was an especially beautiful piece since it was created by commission in dedication and loving memory of James Harper Marshall by his wife Donna and daughter Lee.  There was an angelic character distinguished by the costume and more ballet-like movement, played by Laura Halzack.

As the concert concluded, Paul Taylor appeared for the bows, and I stood up to applaud as did most of the audience. That man deserves a standing ovation for his life’s work, and the many contributions he has given to the world of dance!
 

On a side note . . . Dancers in this company are very well-educated both physically in modern dance training and intellectually as college graduates.  The dancers that perform in this company stay with Paul Taylor for a long time.   It shows on stage how loyal and body-aware these dancers are since they are equally holding their own with Paul Taylor’s technique and have confidence in the repertoire.  Their bodies are highly tuned and their performance quality is full of sincere passion.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company is fundraising for their new 12,600-square-foot home at 551 Grand Street. To find out more information about this project and the company in general, go to http://www.ptdc.org/.

“…Byzantium” –Photography by Tom Caravaglia
“Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rehearsal)”  –Photography by Tom Caravaglia
“Beloved Renegade” -Photography by Wiley Price 
Paul Taylor with Sean Mahoney:  Photography by Wiley Price

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Jessica R. Shahinian
Editorial Contributions by Candice Michelle Franklin
Performance:  Paul Taylor Dance Company
Choreography:  Paul Taylor
Venue: City Center, New York City
Date:  Thursday, March 5, 2009, 7pm
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