City Center takes Taylor’s choreography for a spin

For students weary of studying, the playful humor of Paul Taylor’s choreography can provide entertainment that’s far from academic.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company recently began a two-and-a-half week run at New York City Center, featuring two New York City premieres and a collection of classics from Taylor’s repertoire that emphasize his choreographic genius. Even with five decades of professional choreography behind him, Taylor still inspires audiences to eagerly anticipate what he will come up with next.

The Wednesday night opening featured three pieces. The first, titled “Syzygy”, has a dynamic, expressive demeanor that sets the tone for the rest of the concert. The movement in “Syzygy” is athletic and meticulous—Taylor uses fast, flinging limbs as words in his motive vocabulary. The piece has a celestial, space-like quality, as though the performers are orbiting planets interacting with one another through some arcane force. The individual dancers never perform a single phrase as a group, remaining just shy of unity throughout the piece.

“Brief Encounters” was next, making its anticipated New York debut after its completion last year. It is here that Taylor’s genius becomes evident—he explores sensuality in a manner that makes the audience feel comfortable, bridging the gap between the provocative and the intellectual. The piece is overtly sexual—the dancers are dressed in underwear, and the lighting and backdrop are elusive and mysterious. However, Taylor’s choreography, though suggestive, is comedic and true to his signature linear aesthetic. The music and expressions of the dancers evoke an innocence that doesn’t make the audience members feel uncomfortable while watching—in fact, it leaves them begging for more.

The concert closed with “Beloved Renegade”, a piece inspired by Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”, which is evident in the poetic movement and sections sharing titles with Whitman poems. Set to choral music and loaded with allegorical imagery, “Beloved Renegade” has a more spiritual, transcendental feel than the previous pieces. The sections alternate between dramatic and playful, yet the piece remains weighted with meaning throughout.

The performance articulated the range of Taylor’s work—his pieces are intelligent and classic, and his dancers are extremely expressive. Taylor puts his audience at ease, often incorporating humor while also balancing narration and abstraction in a thoughtful, enjoyable manner.
Although the Paul Taylor Dance Company does not wow audiences with high leg extensions or edgy material, for a simply enjoyable evening it will not disappoint.