Friday February 25, 2011 - Above, Tom Caravaglia's photo of Amy Young and Robert Kleinendorst in Paul Taylor's CLOVEN KINGDOM, the closing work on tonight's programme at City Cente,r danced compellingly by the beautiful people of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Two works from 1976 bookended the newest Taylor treat, PHANTASMAGORIA.
POLARIS, tonight's opener, is probably unique among all dance works in that the same choreography is danced twice by two sets of dancers, the second group replacing the first as the music goes forward. Staged in an open cube of white metallic piping, the two sections seem so different even though the steps are the same. Each group is led by a Taylor diva: Amy Young in Part I and Annamaria Mazzini in Part II. Though dancing the same solo, Amy and Annamaria each make their own imprint on the music. In Part I, Eran Bugge, Aileen Roehl, Sean Mahoney and Michael Apuzzo looked striking in the simple black/white costuming. In Part II, their counterparts were Michelle Fleet, Parisa Khobdeh, Michael Trusnovec - a god of the dance if ever there was one - and Jeffrey Smith. I hadn't seen POLARIS for many years and it looked and sounded (Donald York score) really fantastic tonight.
Taylor audiences are among the best on the New York dance scene: in general they are very attentive - even reverential - and they shower the dancers (and the works) with warm applause throughout the performance.
The new PHANTASMAGORIA (Tom Caravaglia photo above) is a sort of salade of unconnected vignettes woven together wittily and superbly danced. It opens with some rustic Flemish peasants - the men in exaggerated codpieces - having a romp. They reappear throughout the work, weaving in and out of the dream of dances. Parisa Khobdeh and Sean Patrick Mahoney, in lavish East Indian garb, re-tell the Adam and Eve story; Ms. Khobdeh's big green stuffed serpent is playfully used as a phallic symbol. Their dance is interrupted by the most gorgeous nun ever to emerge from a convent: Laura Halzack. Sister Laura reappears from time to time, to admonish or to be tempted. In a tour de force, Michelle Fleet suddenly materilaizes to perform a brilliant Irish step-dance which the audience loved.
Laura Halzack made a quick costume change to appear as one of the Isadorables along with Annamaria Mazzini and Amy Young. In their wafting white Grecian tunics and with peonies in their hair, the three women drew amused chuckles from the audience; on the other hand, I thought how lovely it would be to see these three beauties dancing some serious Duncan. But then Robert Kleinendorst stumbled in as a Bowery bum, swigging whiskey from a brown bag. In a final scene, Michael Trusnovec infected everyone with a dose of the St. Vitus virus. PHANTASMAGORIA, set to Renaissance dance tunes, may not go down in history as a Paul Taylor masterpiece, but it is certainly a charming interlude and gives the dancers opportunities to shine in diffferent styles. (In Tom Caravaglia's photo above the Isadorables are Annamaria Mazzini, Laura Halzack and Amy Young)
CLOVEN KINGDOM has been one of my favorite Taylor works ever since I first saw it a quarter-century ago at Jacob's Pillow:
Tonight CLOVEN KINGDOM seemed ever-fresh and alluring as the women in their flowing evening frocks and the handsomely tuxedoed Taylor men move with a mixture of ballroom-style sweep and primitive, almost animalistic grace as the work deepens beyond the mere pleasantries of watching attractive people in a social setting. (Dancer Francisco Graciano talks about doing this athletic choreography in a tux here). Mirrored headdresses cast shards of white light into the auditorium while the score mixes the Baroque elegance of Arcangelo Corelli with the vastly different soundschemes of Henry Cowell and Malloy Miller, often with an hallucinatory effect created by jagged editing. The cast of twelve provide great oppotunities for Taylor-watching; these are some of the greatest movers on the planet.
It's always a joy to see Paul Taylor come out for a bow at the end of a performance: he doesn't always, but tonight he did and the entire house rose in tribute to the great man.
It was great running into our young dancer-friends Michelle Puskas and Yon Burke this evening.
In Spring 2010, Kokyat had the oppportunity to photograph Taylor luminaries Laura Halzack and James Samson as they rehearsed for a guest appearance with Amy Marshall Dance Company. You can view the images here.
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