Paul Taylor: Short Stories in Dance

55 years after it began, the Paul Taylor Dance Company is one of the country’s premier arts institutions. Its founder, Paul Taylor, is an icon not only of American dance but American contemporary art. His dances are like short stories, on the order of John Cheever, John Updike and Kurt Vonnegut, where the sometimes light and seemingly pop surface masks the dark underbelly of American life.

Taylor’s work with George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham, giants of modern dance, along with his mentoring of Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Barishnikov and Twyla Tharp illustrate his place in history. But he continues to create fresh, vital works. The Paul Taylor Dance Company premieres a new work co-commisioned by Dartmouth’s Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hanover, along with other pieces tonight, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

We’re honored with the opportunity to talk to this truly great American artist. Paul Taylor joins us from Dartmouth College.

Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College

YouTube: excerpt of Paul Taylor's Esplanade (1977)

(Photo courtesy ShellyS via Flickr/Creative Commons)