SEPTEMBER 21. 2007 jUStlOUt¡«3
dance
A Decade of Dance
White Bird celebrates 10th season with the return of acclaimed choreographer
by Rebecca Ragain
n 1997, a new organization called White Bird presented its first
j performance: Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Now White Bird is celebrating 10 years in existence by
bringing an updated program by Paul Taylor, who is recognized
as one of the greatest American choreographers.
At age 77, Taylor continues to create an average of two new
dances a year. As of 2007, he has choreographed 126 dances and is
the recipient of so many awards that they completely fill half a page
of paper when typed in 12-point font.
His two companies, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2,
tour steadily, dancing his works. Taylor has also licensed his dances to
be performed by more than 75 companies worldwide.
Interpretation of some of Taylor’s dances, such as 199l’s
“Company B,” can lead one to consider Taylor a gay choreographer.
For instance, in a New York Times dance roundup called “Portraits of
Gay Men, with No Apologies,” Jack Anderson wrote that “Company
B” is “a reminder that during World War II homosexuality was cause
for discharge from the armed forces."
Taylor is not forthcoming about his personal life in interviews.
However, in his autobiography, called Private Domain, he shares that
he is attracted to both women and men, usually preferring “whomever
I wasn’t with” at the time, as he wryly put it.
In any case, the choreographer is not a man with a lot of time to
put into relationships outside the dance world. In Private Domain, he
reflects that his company is like his family—a family that has now
performed in more than 500 cities and 62 countries.
When Taylor first started making dance, the success that he has
achieved today was far from a sure bet. In the 1950s, he challenged
audiences and critics with experimental works that didn’t fit within
the parameters of modem dance at the time.
In Private Domain, Taylor wrote about one of
his first works, “Seven New Dances”: “The dance
is pretty stark.... Maybe folks won’t go for this
sort of thing. But I shove the notion aside.”
Indeed, “Seven New Dances” nearly emp
tied the theater. It also inspired Dance Observer to
run a blank column, a now famous nonreview sub
mitted by critic Louis Horst.
Undeterred, Taylor continued to make new
dances and began touring with his small company.
Initially, touring was arranged around the schedule
of the Martha Graham Dance Company, for which
At age 77, Paul Taylor (above) continues to create about two dances a year.
Taylor was dancing in increasingly important roles.
In 1962, Taylor left Graham’s company to concentrate on his own
“Banquet of Vultures,” a business-suit-clad Death leads combatants
choreography. He and his company toured Paris, where he started to
to their doom.
choreograph what would prove to be one of his most-loved (by audi
Taylor steers clear of calling “Banquet of Vultures" a commentary
ences) and longest-lived dances, “Aureole."
on current events. He told the Times that he doesn’t think the dance
Paul Taylor Dance Company will open the Portland program with
has to speak specifically to a particular situation. He had hoped it
“Aureole," a lighthearted work set to music by G.E Handel that
would be seen as universal.
typically brings smiles to audience members’ faces. In an article for
Sandwiched on the program between the polar opposites of
Panache, Susan Reiter described it as a “deceptively breezy, playful yet
“Aureole” and “Banquet of Vultures” are two other works. The first is
tender dance for five white-clad dancers.”
1975’s “Esplanade," a work celebrated for “its sheer physicality and
When “Aureole” premiered in 1962, no one in Taylor’s company
exuberance,” according to the book Fifty Contemporary Choreographers.
had any idea that they would be dancing this work hundreds upon hun
“Troilus and Cressida (reduced)" is Taylor’s 2006 take on Shakes
dreds of time, all over the world. Nor did they foresee that it would be
peare’s tragicomedy. Gia Kourlas of the Times called it a “sliver of
hilarity.” ©
danced by many other companies, as well as learned and performed by
generations of new Paul Taylor Dance Company dancers.
Although the Portland program begins with what the Oxford
White Bird presents P aul T aylor D ance C ompany 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3
Dictionary of Dance calls one of Taylor’s sunniest works, it ends at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway. Tickets are
with one of his darkest dances ever. In the 2005 anti-war piece $20450 from 503790-2787.
Bouffant Salon
503.224.4099
33 NW 9 th A venue • S econd F loor • P ortland
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