TAYLOR DANCERS IN THE THICK, IN THE SWING
                    And Unafraid of Somber Themes 
                                              By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of April 1, 2011
                                                                  Vol. 13, No. 84
          Paul Taylor, the record-setting and indestructible artistic director, continues full steam ahead with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, bringing three programs, no less, for yet another a stimulating week in San Francisco.
            This is no broken record. Despite only one new work among the eight presented, the octogerian Taylor and his all-Taylor evenings are an on-going stimulus to the imagination. Quite a record for a New York troupe begun in 1954.
            The characteristics were all in place, with several mature women in the ensemble, along with a virile, athletic group of men within the well-balanced group of 16 on stage.
            Golden oldies predominated opening night. “Cloven Kingdom” (1976) shows similarities of the dating game to mating rituals among the deer, with the men adopting poses of leaping stags, hands pointing downward like hoofs. It turns ever giddier, into a “Carnival in Venice” atmosphere, with women’s headdresses having oblique mirrors, as much intended to attract as to reflect.
            ”Black Tuesday” (2001) recaptures the Depression, the threadbare togs, and the tomboys, with  songs ranging from the desperate, the escapist and the gloomy. There are escapes  from reality, and intrusions of reality.  I could not forget the anguish of the pregnant woman (Parisa Khobdeh). But the night’s most dramatic turn came from a long, passionate solo of Annmaria Mazzini, in an intense solo of vexation.
            Taylor’s response to 9/11 was “Promethean Fire” (2002), a gaunt and passionate work for a large ensemble in black, ending in a giant pile of (dead?) bodies. It’s highly disciplined, with a tautness suggesting suffering---one of the darkest pieces in the Taylor canon, set to an austere romantic score based on Bach.
            All music was prerecorded.
            Paul Taylor Dance Co. in the first of 3 programs at the Novellus Theatre, Yerba Buena Gardens, S.F., through April 3.  For info: go online. 
        ©Paul Hertelendy 2011
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           Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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