Paul Taylor Dance Company at The 92nd Street Y, New York

In honor of The 92nd Street Y NY’s 150th Birthday.

Intriguing curation of this evening features excerpts of three new works by resident choreographer Lauren Lovette, The story of Seven New Dances, which debuted on the Kaufman stage in 1957, eliciting a scandalous newspaper review that consisted of four inches of blank space, and Esplanade, in which Taylor developed his iconoclastic point of view 18 years later.

New Lovette Works
Excerpt I: Music Errollyn Wallen, Concerto Grosso
Dancers: Lee Duveneck, Alex Clayton, Jada Pearman, Jessica Ferretti, Austin Kelly
Dancers in primary colors move fast and sharp. They’re playful. One falls into the wings and is caught. We see the hands. A performer’s single arm often helps another flip or turn. Do-se-do! They whirl, leap, and roll off their backs.

Maria Ambrose, Kenny Corrigan

Excerpt 2: Music Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5- Adagietto
Dancers: Maria Ambrose, Kenny Corrigan
An entwined pas de deux. Even their gazes lock partners. The two are always connected or gravitating towards one another. Forward and back arm in arm. Four hands create a circle. She helps up from the floor as often as he helps her. Fraught.

Excerpt 3: Music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Justin Vernon, Chaconne in Winter
Arranged by Steve Hackman and Time for Three Dancers: Madelyn Ho, John Harnage
A Joyful and athletic pas de deux. Arms windmill. There’s lots of fluid floor work. Movement is passionate, almost warrior-like, yet artists smile. Back dips to the floor. Legs extend with a lift.

Paul Taylor dancers are not only precise, but add to each piece with collective facial expression enhancing mood.

Madelyn Ho

Guest Alan Cumming tells us Taylor thought the choreography for Seven Dances would revolutionize modern dance 66 years, three months and two days ago. Cumming reads from the choreographer’s writing in a perfect American accent.

“For the Kaufman, I must do something different…Dance can be anything one cares to call it …I need something that would achieve a specific effect, a dance style free from the cobwebs of time…I go outdoors and look around the streets…” Taylor wrote. His stick figure chart of positions based on everyday behavior is projected. “We need to unlearn dance moves.”

The Story of Seven New Dances – Choreography by Paul Taylor
Design- Robert Rauschenberg
Script Development – Adam Goldman
The Company with guests Adrian Danchig-Waring, Alicia Graf Mack, Damian Woetzel

Epic: A dancer stands stock still, turns, takes steps, raises a knee, turns, side steps…arms at his sides, deadpan, slow, exacting. “By this time most of the audience had left, leaving friends and family…I’ve been so involved, it hasn’t occurred to me how the audience will react…” Taylor continued. This series, including one segment during which a couple remain stock still, incorporate his fascination with street life. Dancers don’t relate or express. They move familiarly mostly only their own axis. John Cage’s sounds accompany the last.

Alicia Graf Mack, Damian Woetzel

“The manager said if I ever rent this theater again, it will be over his dead body…It’s been an ignoble fall…People regard me suspiciously with sidelong glances…” Taylor wrote.  “After some years, I go back to that space with Esplanade, hoping the audience will stay in its seats.”

Esplande – Choreography by Paul Taylor
Music- Johann Sebastian Bach- Violin Concerto in E Major, Double Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (Largo & Allehro)
The Company

Here’s the amalgamation of Taylor’s perspective. Sharp and smooth cohabit. Dancers connect, coordinate, acknowledge, often flirty. Bodies bend every which way. Floor slides are graceful, expressive. Angled running feels exuberant. There are choreographic winks. Arms swing, pump, reach. Feet are sometimes flattened, fingers splayed, knees bent unexpectedly. We feel wind.

Photos by Richard Termine
Opening: Front row: three men crouching – Jake Vincent, Alex Clayton, Shawn Lesniak ;Two women behind them: Madelyn Ho, Jada Pearman; Two women further behind: Eran Buge, Kristin Draucker; Crouching in the back, face obscured: Lisa Borres,

92YNY Harkness Mainstage Series presents
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Founding Artistic Director- Paul Taylor
Artistic Director- Michael Novak
Resident Choreographer0 Lauren Lovette
Guest Artists: Alan Cumming, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Alicia Graf Mack, Damian Woetzel

92Y 
May 13, 2024 Programs

Paul Taylor Dance Company will be at The Joyce Theater June 25-30