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Choreographer enjoys challenge of new works
By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Sep 27, 2009
Paul Taylor's mind thinks differently from most people's.
That's what makes him what many call the world's greatest living choreographer — a title fueled by his keen observations of human nature, brilliantly outlandish humor and virtuosic dancing background.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company's brand of genius will grace the E.J. Thomas Hall stage Saturday, preceded by a weeklong student residency with Taylor 2 (Taylor's secondary company) at the University of Akron.
Taylor, 79, who has been dancing or choreographing for 57 years, is at the younger end of a generation that created American modern dance.
''I think with the [July 26] death of Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor is now the last of the great single-choreographer modern dance companies,'' said dance historian Suzanne Carbonneau, who's writing Taylor's updated biography.
''He's developed his own vocabulary and style. I think his greatness resides not only in the craft of his work — which is glorious — but in the range of subject matter that he tackles.''
In a recent phone interview from his Manhattan studio, Taylor was polite and gracious, perking up when asked to describe any interesting movement he'd seen lately on the street. He has long been known for incorporating pedestrians' movements into his dances.
He described a man and a woman at a parking area off the highway, with the man walking quickly ahead and not looking at the woman as she ran to try to catch up. She finally held her hands up and dropped them in exasperation.
''That gesture was very telling that she'd given up on trying to tell him what she wanted to tell him,'' Taylor said. ''It's the gestures themselves that are so usable in dance.''
He continued: ''It's a habit. I love to watch people moving. I do it all the time, especially when they don't know I'm watching.''
In Akron, the newest work on Paul Taylor Dance Company's three-piece program is the 2008 Changes, set to the music of the Mamas and the Papas.
''I thought it was about time there was a pop piece within the repertoire,'' Taylor said.
His message in the hippie-garbed piece is that although the '60s were a time of radical social and political change during an unpopular war, those things aren't singular to that era.
''It hasn't really changed much, but you gotta hope,'' he said.
Taylor's dances have been making political statements in recent years. Since the millennium, he has skewered American imperialism with the dance Banquet of Vultures and lampooned feminism with Dream Girls.
''I try not to preach but I think a dance should be like a poem: It's open to interpretation,'' Taylor said. ''I have to respect audiences — they're not dummies.''
Also next week in Akron, Taylor's company will perform the 1987 Syzygy and the courtly Brandenburgs, set to portions of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. The term ''syzygy'' refers to something like a solar eclipse, when three or more celestial bodies form a straight line.
''I got interested in 'squiggling' movement — it's not about shape or line,'' the choreographer said of the piece's movement vocabulary. ''It's done so fast, it looks like squiggles.''
Taylor, who got a late start dancing at age 22, danced with icons Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham before forming the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954. A huge man at 6 feet, 3 inches tall, the young Taylor was known for dancing with great fluidity and clarity.
In his early days, Taylor was a rebel in the modern dance world, shocking his contemporaries by setting his 1962 work Aureole to baroque, instead of modern music. You never knew what to expect from a new Taylor work: Back in 1956, Graham called him a ''naughty boy'' when he covered his dancers' heads with hoods in 3 Epitaphs.
Taylor had a strong tie to Akron's former Ohio Ballet, considering the ballet's co-founder, Tom Skelton, was Taylor's longtime lighting designer and stage manager. In the 1970s, he set Aureole on the Ohio Ballet. Then-dancer Jane Startzman remembers Taylor teaching his own solo from Aureole to a male Ohio Ballet dancer. Things weren't going quite how Taylor wanted, so he stripped down to his underwear and danced the whole solo to demonstrate.
''It was a historic moment. You would never see this again in life, ever,'' Startzman said.
She also recalls one of Taylor's quirky anecdotes: At one of the many fancy receptions after a performance, Taylor had nothing but jeans and a T-shirt to wear to the party, which was in a tropical locale. He grabbed a gecko from outside, tied it to a pin and wore it on his shirt to resemble an Izod.
Taylor, who seems to have a steel-trap memory, recalls the gecko in question. He said he brought it home from St. Barts as a pet, since his crummy Manhattan apartment had plenty of bugs for it to eat.
Light and dark sides
Through his dances, Taylor often explores both the light and dark sides of human nature.
''He has pieces that really make human beings look like gods, that are just glorifying the human experience,'' Carbonneau said. ''He shows us the depravity that they're capable of too.''
Today, Taylor spends much of his time at his home on Long Island. He hasn't toured with his company since he retired from dancing in the 1970s. The dancemaker relies heavily on rehearsal director Bettie de Jong, a former company dancer who's in charge of his revivals and tours with the company.
In New York, Taylor works with his dancers for two six-week rehearsal periods each year. He choreographs about two new pieces annually but says he would do more if his company didn't tour so much.
In mid-September, he had just finished creating his newest work, Brief Encounters, which is set to music by Debussy. The dance took only a short 21 rehearsal hours to set.
''We finished it the day before yesterday,'' Taylor said Sept. 14. ''Oh yeah, I went home and had a beer.''
''The dancers these days are so quick to catch on and so easy to work with.''
Taylor's early dancers have said he molded them like clay while creating a new dance in the studio. Does Taylor still choreograph that way?
''In a way, I'm sort of molded by them,'' he said of the dancers. ''Everybody's different, and they're very inspirational.''
Ironically, Taylor is reclusive by nature:
''Deep in his soul he's a loner but he chose the most collaborative profession,'' Carbonneau said.
Nevertheless, it's abundantly clear that dance is life for Taylor, who says he'll continue to challenge himself with each new piece he creates.
''I've got to keep trying to do something that I haven't done before,'' he said.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or at kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Paul Taylor's mind thinks differently from most people's.
Get the full article here.
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