Enjoying the Paul Taylor Dance Company, as always

 

Whenever I get the postcard for the new season of the Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center, I send an e-mail to IHBB (my impossibly handsome ballet buddy).  Our schedules are always crazy and we procrastinate.  Then TDF has a few dates available and we pounce!  That's what we did again this year, and it may be our modus operandi from now on.  We again got fantastic orchestra seats for the matinee yesterday (last year, we were about 20 rows back, this year we were about ten rows back, just off to the side, in superb seats).  Hurray for TDF and the Paul Taylor Dance Company!

Actually, when I had been looking at this year's schedule, yesterday's matinee stuck in my mind as having a program I'd be especially interested in seeing - it had a premiere and it had two pieces I haven't seen before.  So it was serendipitous that discount tickets turned up.  Of course, I always love a Paul Taylor program, so it probably doesn't matter what pieces are performed, I'm going to enjoy myself.  But I did have a grand time, yet again, yesterday.

photo credit: Paul B Goode
 

The first piece was ...Byzantium, from their repertory (first done in 1984, music by Edgard Varese).  One reason this piece struck my fancy during my pre-concert research, was because I have studied "Sailing to Byzantium" by Yeats many times in different poetry classes over the years.  I had a favorite professor who taught it in any class he led.  So, I had an image in my mind.  Of course, that image didn't really match what I saw onstage.  :)  In the program, the quote from the poem is the last line: "Of what is past, passing or to come."  And each of the three movements of the piece address those three times. 

The first section was "Passing," and it was an amazingly haunted passage that was full of strength and balance, and contraction and release.  It seemed as if everyone was a loner, yet somehow searching for and moving within a group.  I found some religious imagery, with poses that resembled a cross, and other ritualistic movements.  I was totally confused, yet completely enraptured.  The second section was "Past," and it had dancers in seemingly ancient robes, moving in really fractured and angular ways, making fascinating shapes.  The music rather reminded me of the score to the film Logan's Run (I have no idea why), so the costumes began to remind me of that past meets future vibe as well.  The third section, "Or to Come," combined the first two sections, in that the ancient robed figures were now moving and morphing amongst the loners/groups of the first section.  The robed figures even sort of birthed another robed figure (and how they did that was incredible), who seemed to bring it all together.  Did it symbolize rebirth?  Resurrection?  Who knows?  I sure don't, but my goodness, it was amazing.  It was nearly completely indecipherable to me, but yet I loved it.  Go figure.



photo credit: Tom Caravaglia

After a brief intermission, we saw the second piece, which is a new one that debuted only last fall.  American Dreamer uses the music of Stephen Foster, sung by baritone Thomas Hampson, to depict decidedly American themes and social patterns (the battle of the sexes was a continuing theme).  Each dancer sat on-stage, but out of the dance area, until it was their turn to perform.  They would put on hats or bonnets and moved to the whimsy of the music, with some melancholy underneath.  So even though the pieces were light-hearted and quite amusing at times, there was still a layer of something else underneath.  The bit that was danced to the song "Beautiful Dreamer" was a favorite of mine - I love that song, it's so sad and happy at the same time, and the movements of a man falling in love with three sleepwalkers was sweet and funny, yet wistful and melancholy at the same time.  If this piece doesn't feel as profound as some other Paul Taylor dances, oh well.  I was charmed by it all the same.

photo credit: Michelle V Agins

The third piece, after another brief intermission, was Arden Court (first done in 1981, music by William Boyce).  This piece was full of the joy and brio I associate with a lot of Paul Taylor's work.  Everyone is so open and free, moving alone and with others, with a speed and rapture through space.  It's life-affirming and exuberant, and full of feeling.  Each dancer gets a moment to shine, and then they also move as one entity.  This is such a tight-knit troupe and it's such a pleasure to watch their symbiosis with each other.  Arden Court is a terrific way to end a program, and, again, the audience responded loudly and enthusiastically.  And, to cap off an exciting afternoon, Paul Taylor himself came out to take a bow!  What a thrill!  I was so happy to loudly show my appreciation for him, his company, and his wonderful choreographic brain.  It's amazing to me that all of these ideas and moves and shapes and lives come from the same brain - bravo, Paul Taylor.  You've won me over once more...

After the performance, IHBB and I went to Cafe Luxembourg for a tasty post-show repast.  I haven't been there in maybe fifteen years - it was just as charming as I remember it.  One of their special springtime cocktails is a sour cherry margarita, which, hello, has my name written ALL OVER IT.  As do their lobster rolls and frites that I ordered.  Delicious deliciousness after a wonderful dance program.  All shared with a wonderfully IHBB.  It was a glorious Sunday afternoon in New York which reminded me of how lucky I am to live here and share my life with my friends and all the wonderful performers I enjoy.  Happy beginning of birthday week to me!