It's always exhilirating to watch Paul Taylor's dancers going through their paces. The Paul Taylor Dance Company, even as it enters its fifty-fifth year, has that proverbial spring in their step. Propulsive dancing, and energetic movement is a signature of the PTDC style which now has 136 pieces in its repertory.
This year PTDC is celebrating its debut at a new home at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theatre where it will perform through April 1st, and the 50th anniversary of "Aureole." It was on the program along with "Mercuric Tidings" from 1982 and the New York premiere of "The Uncommitted" for their Gala on March 15th.
"Aureole" was Paul Taylor's first great success, and a kind of blueprint for all the fun he would have in dancing and dance making. Its simple and stark costumes, all in white, (by George Tacet) belie the complexity of the piece. Set to excerpts by George Frederic Handel, "Aureole" offers the male soloist, Michael Trusnovec on this occasion, making the difficult executions seem deceptively easy and playful.
By the way, it is part of Paul Taylor's modus of creation to make expert and complicated moves seem merely playful. In "Aureole" he laid the groundwork for elements intrisic to his work, enfolding the balletic and classical into a modern dance. "Aureole" also overflows with irrepresible joy.
Joining the dancers, Mr. Trusnovec, Amy Young, Michelle Fleet, Francisco Graciano, and Heater McGinley, for bows after the "Aureole" performance, were their counterparts from the original cast, which included Elizabeth Walton and of course Paul Taylor, who had chosen the dance as his final performance in 1974.
Paul Taylor's Mercuric Tidings has the dancers leaping languidly into minuets, to music by Franz Schubert excerpted from the first and second Symphonies.
In the opening segment of the commissioned "The Uncommitted," solo dancers are substituted, each appearing from the cast of eleven, almost miraculously out of a rushing crowd. That crowd twirls in elegantly to replace each other for their solos while the curtains billow behind them--could these be the winds of change? Partnering in "The Uncommitted" doesn't seem joyous or celebratory. Movements are sometimes almost feral, occassionally submissive, at times aggressive. At one point a pair of dancers wrestle nastily while the scene behind them devolves into a brawl.
It is a decidely beautiful work, created in honor of PTDC Manager from 1962-68 Charles C. Reinhart, who was also the Director of the American Dance Festival from 1968 to 2011.
For a schedule of the programs in PTDC's spring season, visit www.ptdc.org. Tickets are available in person at the David H. Koch box office.
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