Three Paul Taylor Masterpieces

Above: Robert Kleinendorst and Eran Bugge in Paul Taylor’s ESPLANADE, photo by Paul B Goode. Click on the image to enlarge.

Saturday March 24, 2012 evening – To see ROSES again was a major reason to attend Paul Taylor Dance Company‘s performance at Lincoln Center this evening. The cast of dancers was the same as at the earlier performance I had seen, and they again made a profoundly satisfying impression. There is so much tenderness in this work, and it is very moving to see the relationships between the various members of the Company which – under the romantic surface of the piece – seem to reflect their affection and respect for each other as dancers and as colleagues.

As the poignant strains of the Siegfried Idyll fade away, Eran Bugge (above) and Michael Trusnovec appear like shining angels in white and dance a sublime duet in which time seems to stand still. ROSES creates such a heart-filling atmosphere; I wish it was being danced more often this season because I would go every single time.

Above: Fracisco Graciano and Parisa Kobdeh in THE UNCOMMITTED, photo by Tom Caravaglia. 

THE UNCOMMITTED seemed an exact counter-balance to ROSES. Whereas the latter is all about settled relationships and the quiet joys of companionship and trust, THE UNCOMMITTED charts its craggy course amid the rocks and reefs of isolation and inability to connect. The incandescent music of Arvo Part gives the work an almost spiritual quality.

In the opening segment, each dancer (Michelle Fleet, above, in a Tom Caravaglia photo) has a solo passage expressing frustration, restlessness or dismay; these are people who cannot (or who don’t really want to) forge links with others in the group. Each soloist is ‘dropped off’ to dance, then re-absorbed into the collective but never really becoming part of it.

A series of duets ensue (Laura Halzack and Michael Trusnovec, above in a Tom Caravaglia photo) but the couples – though sometimes seeming to hover on the brink of romantic unity – always end up escaping one another. No one is really ready or willing to settle down, the conflict between desire and wariness always ending in turning away. THE UNCOMMITTED seems like a dancework that will continue eternally even after the curtain has come down. It’s a piece that speaks strongly to me.

The sheer, sunny simplicity of ESPLANADE – its structured and sometimes whimisical exploration of walking, running, jumping and falling – always makes for a joyful finale to a Taylor evening. Set to music of Bach, it builds to an exciting conclusion as the dancers fling themselves onto the floor in fearless sliding motifs. The cast of nine (but did I spy a tenth?) included the radiant Amy Young and the elegant beauty Laura Halzack (wearing pants), with Michelle Fleet in an especially dynamic performance.

Taylor audiences are the best: wonderfully focussed during the dancing and unbridled in their enthusiasm during the curtain calls.