Into the Wilde
At a time when the arts in America are under attack and many small dance companies are quietly disappearing, San Francisco’s dance scene—for decades second in its volume of activity only to New York—still has a pulse.
PlusWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
One of the most important questions for any director who inherits a dance company from its founding choreographer is how to keep the repertory alive. Stagnation—simply repeating the same cluster of increasingly familiar works—is not really an option. Dances die if they are performed too often just as they do if they are left on the shelf for too long. Changes creep in, obscuring the original style and intention. Also, dancers need new challenges. This is why companies have tended to commission new works from contemporary choreographers. The Paul Taylor Dance Company has done this, as have the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, José Limón, and many others. In this way, the company keeps moving forward. The quality of the new work varies.
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At a time when the arts in America are under attack and many small dance companies are quietly disappearing, San Francisco’s dance scene—for decades second in its volume of activity only to New York—still has a pulse.
PlusNoé Soulier enters the space without warning, and it takes a few seconds for the chattering audience to register the man now standing before them, dressed simply in a grey t-shirt and black pants, barefoot.
PlusIn the first few seconds that the lights come up on BalletX at the Joyce Theater, an audience member murmurs her assent: “I love it already.”
PlusThe right foil can sharpen the distinct shapes of a choreographic work, making it appear more completely itself through the comparison of another.
Plus
Dear Jeannette, Neither of these dances had Labanotation scores. I’m sure the reconstructors wish they did.
Best,
Marina
Nowhere in this article is it mentioned that Paul Taylor was a huge proponent of Labanotation, a system of movement notation that accurately records and preserves choreography so that future companies may perform the works as the choreographer intended.The Dance Notation Bureau has in its files 50 scores of notated works by Taylor, which may include the ones being reconstructed.