Taylor 2 Dance Company - Review

On Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 8pm, I attended a performance by Taylor 2, the sister company of Paul Taylor Dance Company, at the Miller Center for the Arts located on the campus of Reading Area Community College in Reading, PA. This was the final performance of this beautiful new center’s debut season. For those of who may not know, Paul Taylor Dance Company is a world class modern dance company, and Mr. Taylor is considered by some to be the greatest living choreographer. Taylor 2 consists of 6 talented young dancers, 3 male (Justin Kahan, John Eirich, and Nic Ceynowa) and 3 female (Alison Cook, Jamie Rae Walker, and Latra Wilson) who performed 3 classic Taylor pieces: Arden Court, Runes, and Company B.

The show opened with Arden Court an upbeat and light piece easily appreciated by the audience. The dancers moved to excerpts from Symphonies Nos. 1,3,5,7,8 by William Boyce. I was extremely impressed with the dynamic grace of the male dancers as moved about the stage. The choreography illustrated a series of playful relationships between the dancers that kept the crowd entertained from start to finish.

Runes was dark in every sense of the word, a sharp contrast to Arden Court, its content dealt with the concepts of magic, ritual sacrifice, and evolution. This piece had movements that were harsh and grounded, again contrasting the flowing airiness of the first piece. This piece required the active thought of audience members to decipher its message. I believe, as I mentioned in “Selling the Underground", that presenting artistic products that require thought reduce their mass appeal. This simply means that fewer people will be able to appreciate the depth of the work. I personally had mixed feelings about this piece, but I spoke with the Cathleen Stephen, Director of the Miller Center, and she told me that Runes was her favorite of the three pieces presented that evening.

The night ended with Company B, a work expressing the sentiments of Americans during World War II with music by the Andrews Sisters. The themes celebration and sadness during wartime are relatively universal, and are especially relevant to America in the 21st century. The most moving number was “There Will Never Be Another You” in which a couple grows increasing further apart until the male departs to join of marching procession upstage, leaving his female counterpart collapsed to her knees and staring off in anguish. It literally gave me goose bumps. Company B was my favorite piece of the evening and I felt it was an excellent way to end the night.

If any of you are interested in seeing Paul Taylor Dance Company or Taylor 2 they are currently touring Pennsylvania as part of the NEA’s “American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius” initiative. I will also be attending two performances (April 11th & 12th at 8pm) at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center located on the campus of Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, PA. For more information on these upcoming events or to purchase tickets go to the RLAC website: http://www.hacc.edu/rose

Links Related to this blog:
Miller Center for the Arts: http://www.racc.edu/millercenter/index.html
Paul Taylor Dance Company: http://www.ptdc.org/
Rose Lehrman Arts Center: http://www.hacc.edu/rose/