Walter’s World: Paul Taylor Dance Company 2012 New York Season Begins Tuesday

By Walter Rutledge The Paul Taylor Dance Company will begin their 2012 season on Tuesday March 13. The three-week season will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. This unprecedented season, which runs through Sunday April 1^st, a total of 22 works will be performed including three New York premieres.

Choreographer and founder Paul Taylor remains a prolific and creative force in dance. Over the company’s fifty-eight year history Taylor as create 136 works. The three New York premieres The Uncommitted, Gossamer Gallants, and House of Joy exemplify the multiplicity of his genius. The Uncommitted is a true Paul Taylor dance work. Set to the music by Arvo Pärt, the work deals with relationships, or in this case, individuals who are unable to form bonds. While Gossamer Gallants is a fast-paced comedic work about predatory female “insects” and the doomed male bugs that are drawn to them. Insects have been a theme of past Taylor works, and this new work utilizes sections of The Bartered Bride by Bedrich Smetana to tell a tale of love and nature.  House of Joy is probably the most different of the new work presented this season. The relatively short nine-minute work is driven more by gesture and pantomime than dance movement, and creates a dark world. The work is set in a whorehouse, and with Taylor’s wit and savvy storytelling ability delights the audience with a surprise ending.

House of Joy is not the only dark work on the program Taylor’s 1970 Big Bertha returns to the repertoire this season. The work revolves around a picture perfect family that visits an amazement park where they encounter a mechanical doll named Big Bertha. The concise work reveals the family chilling secrets of child abuse and incest. “Child abuse wasn’t in the news in those days like it is now,” states Taylor. “So that was a prediction. It’s always nice to see such a happy, pleasant pretty little family go down the drain.”

In addition to the three New York premieres the Paul Taylor Dance Company 2012 season repertoire will include: 3 Epitaphs (1956), Arabesque (1999), Beloved Renegade (2008), Brandenburgs (1988), Cloven Kingdom (1976), Company B (1991), Esplanade (1975), House of Cards (1981), Junction (1961), Mercuric Tidings (1982), Oh, You Kid! (1999), Piazzolla Caldera (1997), Promethean Fire (2002), Roses (1985), Syzygy (1987), Three Dubious Memories (2010), and Troilus and Cressida (reduced- 2006). These Taylor favorites span over fifty-six years of Taylor “magic”. Many of these works are considered classic masterworks by Taylor and provide a choreographic biography of this American dance icon.

One of the highlights and milestones of the season is the fiftieth anniversary of Aureole. The work premiered on August 4, 1962 and was one of Taylor’s first publicly acknowledged successes. Taylor defied the tendency to use new and experimental music, instead creating a light and airy work to the baroque music of George Fredric Handel. The result redefined Taylor as a choreographer, and changed the look and approach of modern dance forever.

The performances for the 2012 season are:

Week one March 13- 18                                                                        Tuesday, March 13, 7pm: Aureole, Troilus and Cressida (reduced), Brandenburgs, Piazzolla Caldera *Wednesday, March 14, 7pm: Cloven Kingdom, The Uncommitted, Beloved Renegade
 *Thursday, March 15, 7pm GALA: Mercuric Tidings, The Uncommitted,  Aureole
 *Friday, March 16, 8pm: Brandenburgs, Gossamer Gallants, Piazzolla Caldera
 *Saturday,March 17, 3pm: Roses, Gossamer Gallants, Promethean Fire
 *Saturday,March 17, 8pm: Cloven Kingdom, Big Bertha, House of Joy, Beloved Renegade
 *Sunday, March 18, 3pm: Mercuric Tidings, Big Bertha, House of Joy, Company B

Week Two March 20- 25                                                                     Tuesday, March 20, 7pm: Oh, You Kid!, Beloved Renegade, Brandenburgs *Wednesday, March 21, 7pm: Junction, 3 Epitaphs, House of Cards, Mercuric Tidings
  *Thursday, March 22, 7pm: Syzygy, Three Dubious Memories, Piazzolla Caldera
 *Friday,March 23, 8pm: Arabesque, Big Bertha, House of Joy, Syzygy
 *Saturday March 24, 3pm: Arabesque, Three Dubious Memories, Cloven Kingdom
  *Saturday March 24, 8pm: Roses, The Uncommitted, Esplanade
 *Sunday, March 25, 3pm: Aureole, Troilus and Cressida (reduced), Gossamer Gallants, Syzygy


Week Three March 27- April 1                                                              Tuesday, March 27, 7pm: Company B, Gossamer Gallants, Promethean Fire *Wednesday, March 28, 7pm: Syzygy, The Uncommitted, Esplanade *Thursday, March 29, 7pm: Aureole, Troilus and Cressida (reduced), Beloved Renegade, Promethean Fire
 *Friday, March 30, 8pm: Junction, 3 Epitaphs, The Uncommitted, Promethean Fire
 *Saturday, March 31, 3pm: Oh, You Kid!, Big Bertha, House of Joy, Esplanade
 *Saturday March 31, 8pm: House of Cards, Gossamer Gallants, Brandenburgs
  * Sunday April 1, 3pm: Cloven Kingdom, Big Bertha, House of Joy, Piazzolla Caldera

 The season performances will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Ticket prices for all performances are $10, $25, $50, $60, $75, $100 and $150 and can be purchased by visiting www.ptdc.org/tickets.

The Gala Performance and Dinner will take place on March 15 at the Koch Theater. The 7pm performance will be immediately followed by a Black Tie dinner, Dutch auction and dancing. Actor Alan Cummings will host the gala, with Sotheby’s Auctioneer C. Hugh Hildesley handling the auction. Tickets for the gala are $750, $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 for reservations and/or more information call 646.214.5815 or visit www.ptdc.org/gala

In Photos: 1) Michell Fleet and company 2) Michelle fleet 3) Heather McGinnley and Michael Novak  4) Sean Mahoney, Jeffrey Smith, James Samson

Tom Caravaglia Photograher