Paul Taylor and the Legacy of American Modern Dance
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Paul Taylor and the Legacy of American Modern Dance Susan Yung PAUL TAYLOR AMERICAN MODERN DANCE— 2018 KOCH THEATRE SEASON he recent passing of Paul Taylor at age eight-eight marks the end of an era of male modern dance pioneers. Taylor had been making work for T the better part of six decades, along the way fostering a huge, enthusiastic following and creating a large, memorable corps of company alumni. With the instrumental work of Bettie de Jong as rehearsal director (and in recent years, longest-tenured dancer and Taylor standard-bearer Michael Trusnovec as associ- ate rehearsal director), even the earliest repertory has looked crisp and vibrant generations later. Taylor’s death also renders the Paul Taylor Foundation’s newish performance model for its primary New York season practical and visionary. It is already three years into commissioning other choreographers to make work on the Taylor Company, and inviting other companies to perform modern dance icons. Thus, even as the Paul Taylor Dance Company has grown older, it has become more modern. It now moves forward without its founder, but under the leadership of Michael Novak, thirty-five, who was only recently appointed as artistic director designate. I will discuss the topic of legacy in modern dance later, but will first look back at the Taylor enterprise’s final Lincoln Center season (2018) during Taylor’s lifetime. Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, a three-week annual New York season, comprises Taylor repertory, new commissions by other choreographers, and revivals by modern icons. (The name Paul Taylor Dance Company refers to the group, founded in 1954.) Until the establishment of PTAMD in 2015, the company’s repertory season was slightly more predictable. Taylor typically created two new dances a year (for 2018, one), performed with sixteen-to-eighteen reper- tory works. Each performance was a different line-up (that is unchanged), and 76 PAJ 121 (2019), pp. 76–84. © 2019 Susan Yung doi:10.1162/PAJJ_a_00453 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/pajj_a_00453 by guest on 30 September 2021 each slate a balance of a lively opener, a dramatic or thought-provoking middle, and an exciting closing work, often a “classic” such as Esplanade. With the advent of PTAMD, the mix changed with the incorporation of modern dance classics by other creators—Martha Graham danced by PTDC; Jose Limón and Trisha Brown danced by their respective troupes; and Donald McKayle by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company—plus two or so new commissions by other select choreographers. While many 2018 programs comprised works solely by Taylor, more often than not other artists’ work could be seen on a slate. 2018 PREMIERES AND GUEST PERFORMANCES The juxtaposition of Taylor’s work with other choreography can serve to magnify the strengths of Taylor’s classic repertory. When viewed after Bryan Arias’s mel- lifluous if amorphous commission, The Beauty in the Gray, a canonic work such as Esplanade reads like a master class in structure, dynamics, and pacing. Still, comparisons can be drawn between the dances. In Beauty (with music by Nico Muhly and Olafur Arnalds), Arias employs silhouettes of dancers as background textures, echoing a favored Taylor device; pairs and trios imply relationships. But it pales in comparison to the incisive middle “family” scene in Esplanade in which the dancers interact but never touch, a cushion of air between hands and bodies implying unbridgeable distance. Arias’s choreography at moments evokes the geometric modernity of Jiri Kylian (he danced with Nederlands Dance Theater), but myriad hand gestures accrue to superfluity. Half Life, a commission by Doug Varone, opens with a recurring motif of two dancers “skating” side to side. Varone’s lush, organic style suits the Taylor danc- ers. Santo Loquasto designed the daring set—rows of hue-changing light tubes positioned like a ceiling that gradually descends. Julia Wolfe’s music sets the tone—spiky strings and tetchy notes that quaver and skitter, and costumes (by Liz Prince) are mute-toned separates. An omnipresent tension exists between the dancers, who interact by pulling, pushing, and exploding apart. Even stasis is fraught; frozen poses seem to store energy to be released. The prime dynamic is a coursing restlessness, but there are sections of contained movements by a group that appears to spin cyclonically as one organism. The dancers form columns and burst out of them; hands shoot up, out. They form a human chain; the last person is whipped about. The harsh lighting turns yellow, and the dancers col- lapse as the descending ceiling threatens to crush them. They barely eke offstage before the lights flicker off. Concertiana, Taylor’s 2018 premiere, turned out to be a parting gift to his newer dancers, on whom he simply had less time on which to set roles. Newer is relative: YUNG / Paul Taylor and the Legacy of American Modern Dance 77 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/pajj_a_00453 by guest on 30 September 2021 Heather McGinley joined PTDC in 2011 and is still under-seen. In Concertiana, she has long solo passages to display her serene, unmannered bearing and elegant line. Novak (she joined in 2010), a doppelganger for a young Taylor, has a powerful solo filled with stamping, chest slaps, and a drawn-bow gesture. The ensemble floods on and off to facilitate cast entrances, and in a nod to the aforementioned motif, they cross upstage in dim light, silhouettes creating a backdrop. The dance feels suffused with the idea of mortality and being earth-bound: the men pull themselves along on their stomachs, and there’s more full-body floor work than usual by Taylor, as well as moments of stillness. Unceasing kineticism gives way to pensiveness, light fades to dark, analogous to a career—a life—coming to an end. Taylor usually choreographed in part by demonstrating things; his mobil- ity was compromised when he created this, which is reflected in the weightier vocabulary. Season guest performances included New York City Ballet star Sara Mearns in Dances of Isadora, a suite of solos to Chopin that ranged from simply standing to exuberant jumps and sautés with extended legs. Duncan’s bounteous freedom has found a kindred spirit in Mearns, one of today’s most expressive ballerinas whose abundant ability transcends technique. The Trisha Brown Dance Company brought Set and Reset (1983), a slice of downtown cool with contributions by Robert Rauschenberg (set, costumes) and Laurie Anderson (score), and Brown’s inexorably flowing phrasing performed by seemingly boneless bodies. TAYLOR REPERTORY Taylor’s classic dances in this year’s line-up include Aureole, Arden Court, Esplanade, Promethean Fire, Cloven Kingdom, Runes, and Mercuric Tidings. The latter two, which haven’t been performed in a few seasons, were gratifying to revisit. Runes, in which the men wear small fur backpacks and time is marked by the moon’s arc, is a hypnotic meditation on ritual and mortality. Mercuric Tidings remains one of Taylor’s fastest and most challenging formal exercises in which the tempo is breakneck and the mood elated. Sean Mahoney danced the featured solo in the poetic Aureole, showing a tree-like balance and gracious humility. In a change, leads alternated in some of the more demanding roles. I saw both Michael Trus- novec and Novak in Promethean Fire, and while the first Michael, paired with the lush Parisa Khobdeh, remains sublime, the second—with Eran Bugge, silky and radiant—emitted striking magnetism. The season’s strongly romantic dances included Roses and Eventide. The com- pany reads as a tight-knit community in these works, in which dancers pair off and relate with intense familiarity and tenderness. Piazzolla Caldera, taking its aggressive emotional temperature from the passionate tango music, brings bodies 78 PAJ 121 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/pajj_a_00453 by guest on 30 September 2021 together out of romance or for pure animal release. Trusnovec sparks and flashes through his brief opening solo, slicing through space with controlled passion. Newer dancers who impressed throughout the season include the radiant Mad- elyn Ho; Alex Clayton, a plush and powerful mover; and Lee Duveneck, who substituted in a number of featured roles. LEGACY Time passes; what was once a revolution can become an institution. And so it is with modern dance. In the mid-twentieth century, Paul Taylor made radical statements against the establishment, famously setting a pair of still performers in 4:33, the duration of the silent “score” by John Cage. He went on to create a body of diverse work that can be divided into subgenres of formal/musical, dramatic, social commentary, joyous, dark, and just plain sui generis. Even after decades, some works still shock—Big Bertha (1970), with incest and murder, and cause consternation—Oh You Kid! (1999), the costumes for which include KKK hoods. In the recent past, Taylor has represented American Modern Dance; it’s no coincidence that he chose this moniker for a living archive of the genre. Current dancer and artistic director designate Michael Novak of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, which oversees the company and PTAMD. Novak said: Over sixty-four years, Mr. Taylor built an incredible legacy and we are determined to continue this legacy with utmost pride and devotion. I stand firmly behind Mr. Taylor’s plan for our future: to preserve the important historical works of our past; to commission the next generation of modern dance choreographers; and to bring the vast Taylor repertory to audiences all around the globe. These three components allow us to celebrate our past and simultaneously support the dancemakers who will expand the power and poignancy of our art form.