PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY GALA

Review by Mary Seidman

The Paul Taylor Dance Company Gala at the David H. Koch Theater featured two major works Echo, a premiere by resident choreographer Lauren Lovette, and Mercurial Tidings, a re-staging of Paul Taylor’s 1982 work. 

Echo began with singing by Time for Three string trio elevated on a small stage from the orchestra pit. An a cappella /falsetto series of wordless chord progressions  conjuring up wind sounds, humming and whistling, the trio, two violins and a bass, eventually joined in with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s to composer Kevin Puts’ complex four part score Contact. Constantly changing from energetic to somber and mysterious, then demanding, antagonistic screeching sounds, Puts describes his piece as being “about the reach for something greater, for the unknown.”

An all male dance for eight, several entered down the aisles from the back of the audience to each side of the stage, forming still shapes, as the curtain opened to a single man spinning and twirling in the center, accenting the many tiers of the black ankle length skirt he and the others wore  (some bare chested, some with black halter tops, costumed by Zac Posen). Another man enters and a duet begins. Others enter and leave, creating dynamic wind-blown-like running formations, lifts, dives, rolls, and endless highly technical phrases, executed to perfection.  Lighting by James F. Ingalls framed the constantly changing formations and floor patterns that stayed competitive with the music directed by David la Marche.

Were these characters all in black representative of bats in the night… or echoes of the light then dark universe? Lovett’s choreography kept pace with Puts’ exciting score, but at the cost of allowing personal expression to shine through.  As this premiere work matures, one would hope that a greater feeling and weight would reach out to the audience… beyond technical prowess and the impressive collaborations with costume, light, and music.

Paul Taylor’s Mercurial Tidings, (1982), with musical excerpts from Schubert’s Symphonies No. 1 and 2 showcased thirteen company members, exuberantly and incessantly filling the stage with movement poetry. Costumed in simple bright pink leotards for the women and leggings for the men (Gene Moore), the piece begins in a communal group shape which then explodes into non stop locomotor groupings of interwoven runs, leaps, skips, embraces.

How many ways can you run? How many ways can you skip? Taylor explored these questions, starting with pedestrian movements that developed into exhilarating highly technical pas de chat turns in the air, sautés, numerous boundless leaps, changing direction flawlessly, instantaneously. Warm lighting by Jennifer Tipton, changed the background from blue to orange to red, supporting mood changes in the dance and the music directed by Tara Timoncic.  Two standouts, Madelyn Ho and John Harnage, stole the show with limitless passion and assurance during their seamless encounters.        

This heartfelt, technically challenging, playful romp gave a lot: Taylor’s love for his company and its spirit…a perfect performance, a love song, for this GALA evening.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Mary Seidman