Three hits and a miss for Paul Taylor Dance

Three hits and a miss for Paul Taylor Dance

by Rod Parke - SGN A&E Writer Paul Taylor Dance Company Friday, May 2 Meany Theater The Paul Taylor Dance Company has been around since 1954 (!) and can't pretend to the kind of freshness that Black Grace showed up recently at Meany Theater. But it remains a vital and athletic company that seldom fails to delight. Aureole opened with five dancers to the music of George Frideric Handel. Most amazing was Michael Trusnovec, whose balance and control allowed him to hold the audience spellbound throughout a very slow, lengthy solo. He also went on to display great lyric talents in the flow of his body. Costumes were white, skin-tight body suits, which of course put the lovely bodies on display. Very nice! Troilus and Cressida was a comic piece set to the "Dance of the Hours" by Ponchielli. Like Disney's Fantasia, it was full of laughs, although I felt at times it pushed a little too hard at being funny. It was indeed hard not to think of the dancing hippos while watching altogether a different picture on the stage! The first of two intermissions preceded Cloven Kingdom, a work of considerable length and ambition. Unfortunately, neither my partner nor I felt it quite worked. Initially, the lyrical music of Arcangelo Corelli seemed fine with the dancing, but then percussive music by modern composers Henry Cowell and Malloy Miller began to overlay the continuing Corelli. This, of course, was the beginning of the cleaving. It succeeded in being ugly. Later, the two disparate kinds of music were alternated, sometimes in shots of only a second or two; this worked much better. Dancers wore even dresses and tuxedos. The work was the only part of the program that didn't delight. Black Tuesday employed wonderful projected backdrops and even more wonderful original recordings of songs from the depression era. It consisted of a series of solos, duets, and ensemble numbers, each of which beautifully captured the essence of the song played. They were alternately sad, comic, satiric, and beautiful. Especially wonderful was "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," danced by Annmaria Mazzini. The UW World Series programs for next season have been announced and are more than worth checking out. You may do so at www.uwworldseries.org. Reviewer Rod Parke can be reached at rod@sgn.org