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The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to DANCE IN AMERICA with a bravura one-hour program featuring two contrasting works. Inspired by the Great Depression, "Black Tuesday" recalls an era when Hollywood movies and popular music offered a glamorous antidote to the hard times facing America. Referring to popular period dance forms and performed to Tin Pan Alley songs of the era, the work reflects the harsh reality and escapism of the times in alternately grim and optimistic terms. "Promethean Fire" has been greeted with rave reviews and audience ovations; "It has grandeur, majesty and a spiritual dimension ... quite simply one of the best dance works choreographed by Paul Taylor," wrote THE NEW YORK TIMES. Set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach with orchestrations by Leopold Stokowski, the dance's complex and elegant structure is suffused in majestic passion, its bursts of fury and frustration ultimately radiating with a sense of humanity and renewal.
ACTS OF ARDOR: TWO DANCES BY PAUL TAYLOR is the seventh DANCE IN AMERICA presentation to exclusively feature the works of the legendary choreographer and his company. In the essay, writer Gia Kourlas discusses the two dances, "Black Tuesday" and "Promethean Fire." Director Matthew Diamond explains how he became involved with the program, his approach to filming the dances for television, and his dance background in Dialogue. A catalogue of the songs and music from the program is included in the dance list.
Additional funding for this program is provided by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust and Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown.
Top banner photos: The Paul Taylor Dance Company in "Promethean Fire" (photo by Lois Greenfield) and "Black Tuesday" (photo by Paul Dodds). |
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"Promethean Fire" was commissioned by the American Dance Festival and first performed in 2002. |
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The Paul Taylor Dance Company, currently comprised of 16 members, was formed by the choreographer in 1954. |
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This program is not available on VHS or DVD. |
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