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TWO DANCES
By Gia Kourlas
From "Aureole" and "Esplanade" to "Company B," Paul Taylor's reputation has long been crystallized: he is one of the most talented and prolific choreographers in the world, and his output as a dance maker has been resonant for many years. "Black Tuesday," which was created for his company members, but first performed by American Ballet Theatre, is a both haunting and uplifting portrait of life during the Great Depression. "Promethean Fire," a grand pure-movement dance, is as luminous as the Bach music to which it is set.
Both works, in their entirety, are included in ACTS OF ARDOR: TWO DANCES BY PAUL TAYLOR as part of the DANCE IN AMERICA series. Taped at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre in May 2003 and directed by Matthew Diamond, who can be credited with capturing other of Taylor's work on film (including the 1998 documentary DANCEMAKER), the program features commentary by the choreographer as well as insight into his artistic process. "As a choreographer, it isn't just a matter of making steps up and putting them together," Taylor says. "I think about a family of dance steps that are related to each other so that you don't pick steps just from any old place -- you establish a vocabulary for that particular dance. A certain movement style, a certain attitude. It's really a matter, too, of creating an atmosphere. It's just like entering a strange territory every time."
At first, the ambience of both "Black Tuesday" and "Promethean Fire" seems vastly different, but however contrary Taylor's atmospheres, the dances are darkly edgy. Within the frivolity of jitterbugging (distorted, of course, by Taylor) in "Black Tuesday" lies real hardship. "Promethean Fire," though operatic in scale, is as full of exaltation as it is devastatingly tragic. Taylor is a master at coating his unconventional psychological dramas in a deceptive layer of cheerful veneer (the happier the dances seem to be, the more substantial the underlying gloom).
Although the dance is set during the Great Depression, at the start of "Black Tuesday," Taylor's dancers are ridiculously happy. Dressed in Santo Loquasto's evocative costumes, in which hems are shredded and the color scheme can best be described as decay in shades of charcoal and chestnut, the dancers are clearly down and out, but determined to look on the bright side. According to Taylor, he was moved by fact that Americans, even in the midst of such great suffering, flocked to the upbeat and optimistic entertainment of the era, notably movie musicals, since they offered a means of escaping, however briefly, from their day-to-day struggles.
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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