Above: Michael Trusnovec of the Paul Taylor Dance Company photographed by Jordan Matter.
Sunday March 25, 2012 matinee – Among the many works being presented by Paul Taylor Dance Company during their premiere season at Lincoln Center, AUREOLE (celebrating its fiftieth birthday) looked outstandingly fresh and fine this afternoon. The cast was led by Michael Trusnovec who gave a performance of great clarity and lyric power in the role’s expressive solo. Michael has been dancing magnificently all season and today, both in AUREOLE and the afternoon’s concluding SYZYGY, he was on top form: one of the truly great male dancers of our time.
For AUREOLE’s beautiful but all-too-brief pas de deux, Amy Young was at her loveliest; she and Michael danced in perfect harmony in this Springtime duet. Mr. Trusnovec was not the only top-flight male dancer in the cast: Francisco Graciano gave a vivid performance of his athletic and very demanding role, his dancing crisp and crystal clear. Gorgeous dancing from Michelle Fleet and Heather McGinley put just the right finishing touch on this ballet. An all-star cast in a Taylor masterwork: life is good.
It seemed a bit odd to have back-to-back comedies as the central segment of the programme; perhaps being a matinee it was thought to play to the many kids in the audience. I would have chosen one or the other and in fact could have done without TROILUS AND CRESSIDA altogether, except that Robert Kleinendorst looks so hot in his underwear.
Poor Ponchielli! Walt Disney and Allan Sherman have conspired to make the ballet music from LA GIOCONDA a source of mirth for millions of people who wouldn’t know the Ca D’Oro from a bowling alley. Over the last half-century at The Met ballerinas like Sally Brayley, Nira Paaz, and Allegra Kent have danced to this music; in 2006 Christopher Wheeldon re-choreographed the ballet for the Met’s Montresor production: Angel Corella, Danny Tidwell, Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg have danced Christopher’s bravura and only slightly tongue-in-cheek version, while Ashley Bouder performed it splendidly with MORPHOSES at City Center. Paul Taylor’s take on the Dance of the Hours goes in for pratfalls and guffaws. It couldn’t end soon enough.
By contrast, GOSSAMER GALLANTS, which had seemed like a major bit of fluff when I first saw it, now looked more appealing. The Smetana score is entertaining, and there’s quite a bit of real dancing mixed in with the horseplay…and the bug-spray.
SYZYGY dates from 1987 but for me it’s a real 60’s piece. Watching the dancers whirl and swirl madly about the stage, I feel like it’s the Summer of Love and everyone’s more than a bit high. I half-expected Janis Joplin to materialize in her feathers and finery and sing “Try…Just a Little Bit Harder”. Donald York’s synthesizer-rich score amplifies this feeling: it’s kozmic, to say the least.
The title SYZYGY comes from a term used to describe those rare times when the sun, moon and Earth are in perfect alignment. It’s a great finale for a Taylor performance, and it was brilliantly danced today.
Oberon's Glade 