Iconic Paul Taylor Dance Company Performs Promethean Fire and more
September 25, 2006
Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium for the first time in 13 years in a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, performance of Taylor's 2002 masterpiece Promethean Fire and other signature works.
Often cited as the world's greatest choreographer, Taylor has created more than 120 dances. His sixteen-member company serves as a beacon of American creativity. Since 1954, the company has performed in 50 states and in more than 60 countries.
Tickets are on sale at $33 for an adult, $15 for a University Park student, and $24 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu or phone (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and HUB-Robeson Center, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays.
Taylor, who attained fame as a soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company, has a rare affinity for music. He has set dances to everything from Tin Pan Alley and tango to reggae and Ragtime, but he is especially at home when his muses are J. S. Bach, Handel and their brothers in Baroque.
Promethean Fire, a 20-minute piece that features the full company of dancers, is set to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565; Prelude in E-flat minor, BWV 853; and Chorale Prelude "Wir glauben all'an einen Gott," BWV 680.
"A culmination of a lifetime's work, Promethean Fire is nothing less than an illustration of why modern dance was invented in the first place," writes critic Allen Robertson. "Through its movement–cascading tidal waves of dance throbbing with power and statuesque splendor–Taylor's choreography conveys deep emotional truths which words could never render. Immense and glorious, Promethean Fire is filled with an absolute sense of inevitability."
The other scheduled works, also choreographed by Taylor, are Roses (1985) and Book of Beasts (1971). Roses, danced to Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Heinrich Baermann's Adagio for Clarinet and Strings, features six couples. Book of Beasts unfolds in "chapters" involving various configurations of company dancers. Musical selections include works by Schubert, Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Beethoven, Boccherini and Tchaikovsky.
Taylor has received every major honor given to artists in the United States. President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts in 1993. A year earlier, he was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. He is also the recipient of three Guggenheim Fellowships. More than 75 dance companies across the globe have obtained permission to perform Taylor works.
Taylor's company has long been one of the world's most sought-after dance troupes. It has represented the United States at arts festivals in more than 40 countries and has toured extensively under the aegis of the U. S. Department of State. The company spends more than half of each season touring to cities and university campuses across America.
The company has appeared on PBS in nine separate programs, including the 1991 Emmy Award-winning Speaking in Tongues.
Sovereign Bank sponsors the concert. WTAJ-TV 10 and Lite 99 FM are the media sponsors. Free audio description, which is especially helpful to patrons with sight loss, is available for this performance at no extra charge to ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion that provides insight from a visiting artist or local expert, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.
In conjunction with the appearance by Paul Taylor Dance Company, the Center for the Performing Arts presents a free screening of the Oscar-nominated film Dancemaker, about the career of Paul Taylor, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, in the Palmer Museum of Art's Palmer Lipcon Auditorium on the University Park campus. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. A critic for Time called Dancemaker "perhaps the best dance documentary ever."
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379