A Force of Nature
Before Paul Taylor became known as one of the world's leading choreographers he was a very different, very good dancer. First for Martha Graham, then for Merce Cunningham, and briefly for George Balanchine, Taylor was a great big, athletic guy dancing among the sylphs.
From the beginning, Taylor's choreography for his company engaged us partly for Taylor's own dancing and the dancing of the people he surrounded himself with -- tall, athletic dancers, men and women both, who were often taxed to the max by Taylor's choreography.
Besides the straightforward athleticism, something else about Taylor's choreography rang true. Perhaps it had something to do with Taylor's self-confessed fascination with human and animal life. "I'm crazy about anything that flies, crawls, or slithers," he admits in Private Domain, his autobiography: the nascent choreographer as observer, or voyeur.
In preparation for Paul Taylor Dance Company's annual concert in Northeast Ohio, we lined up a phone interview with one of the company's senior dancers, Robert Kleinendorst, who spoke to us from City Center in NYC where he and the company were preparing for a performance.
Cool Cleveland: Last year PTDC fit Cleveland in between Fall for Dance at City Center and an Asian tour. This year looks like City Center again and a Mediterranean tour in April. Robert Kleinendorst: Yeah. We're doing a lot of domestic touring before then.
PTDC.org lists 17 domestic performances between City Center and Christmas. Busy company. How many pieces do you perform at City Center?
RK: Our 50th year, 2005, we upped our repertory from about 5 dances to 19 dances, a huge repertoire, so people could get a sampling of everything, kind of greatest hits and then some. That worked out so well that we've done that ever since. If you kind of knock the same dances around over and over again, body parts start wearing down. But a repertoire that keeps revolving keeps things fresh and treats our bodies better, so it works out better for audiences and the dancers.
So, like last year, you have 18 or 20 dances in rolling rep? That seems like an amazing feat of memory.
RK: Some of the dances just kind of stick around -- Esplanade, Arden Court, Promethean Fire - those dances will stay in the rep for years. And as far as memory goes, it's much easier with muscle memory. When you're dancing your body takes over for you and you don't have to think that much. Of course it's hard to learn all those dances, but once you've performed them a few times, your body takes over, so it's easier than it looks.
I see from your resume that you danced for Hernando Cortez in Cortez & Co. in NYC. Clevelanders know Cortez from his tenure as Artistic Director of Verb Ballets.
RK: I danced for Hernando for about a year. It was the last thing I did before I got into Taylor 2, and I had a great time. 3 of the women I danced with in Cortez & Co. ended up going with him to Cleveland, Shannon Mulcahy DiNota, Liz Flynn, and Catherine Meredith.
Yes, we remember Shannon's and Liz's dancing well. Catherine Meredith is still with Verb, though she's on maternity leave from performing.
RK: Hernando obviously did his own thing but he was based in Taylor where he learned his craft. Hernando gave a lot of lifts, which was nice, because there's so much lifting in Paul's work, and it was a huge step ahead for me when I got into Taylor 2 to be able to step in and do the lifts cleanly.
I really liked working with Hernando. He was very, very clear as an artist about what he wanted. And it was very athletic, dancey dance. I had a great time with him.
I'd heard about Taylor 2 as a career ladder into the Taylor company, but for you it was Cortez and then Taylor 2.
RK: Yeah. After the year with Hernando I danced in Taylor 2 from 1998 to 2000, then I got in the main company in 2000. Actually Michael Trusnovec, who's currently dancing with PTDC, danced with Hernando a little bit. So did Joe Gallerizzo who ended up in Taylor 2 for a while. So did Francisco Graciano, who danced in Taylor 2 and is now in the main company. So, Hernando was kind of Taylor 3 for a while, for men at least.
Tell us about the upcoming Cleveland concert.
RK: Well, first of all it's a really great program for seeing the entire gamut of Paul's work. Brandenburgs is very classical with lots of jumps and beautiful lines and partnering. Changes is set to the Mamas and the Papas and it's very audience accessible; it has fun social dancing -- the swim, the mashed potato, the frug and all that stuff is in there -- fun costumes, great lighting, that sort of thing. Then Syzygy [Pictured, photo by Lois Greenfield] is not a real dark dance but it's definitely one of his more scribbly, modern pieces. You've seen Syzygy?
Yeah, I have the Danish TV production on tape.
RK: Right. Well, since we're on that, the dictionary definition of Syzygy is the alignment of 3 or more heavenly bodies. What we take away from that and what you'll see throughout that dance is orbiting, one person with a number of other people orbiting around this person. It's like you're watching a comet or stars, very explosive in moments, very eye-catching.
The really neat thing about Syzygy is the improvisation, which is rare for Paul. It's definitely in a style - you obviously can't do whatever you want - there are rules to follow. But there's also choreography you can play with. If it's a big grand jete, you can throw your arms out however you want. You'll see definite unison, but within that unison there's a mayhem of scribbling arms and shooting legs, that sort of thing.
Can you characterize the Donald York score for our readers?
RK: There are 2 different versions of the score. One is for full orchestra and the one that we currently use is all synthesizers. Which gives it a very Logan's Run, very 80's feel, which I love. We got to do it with live music at City Center 2 or 3 years ago and that was a whole different experience. In either version, you can hear how Don likes to use syncopation with driving rhythms, which really offsets our movement great. The music and the movement work in symbiosis.
I love Don's scores. If you saw the company perform in Cleveland the summer before, you might remember Diggity.That's a Donald York score.
Yes, we saw that. One of Lisa Viola's last performances with Paul Taylor Dance Company. (In Diggity, the Donald York score supports a bright, comic dance, a marked contrast to the darker lighting and tone of Syzygy.)
(Watching our Syzygy tape again with Kleinendorst's remarks in mind, we certainly see unusual plasticity in the dancers' arms and legs. Mayhem's the word, like some wild party that's gotten way out of hand. )
Shall we talk about Brandenburgs?
RK: Brandenburgs is set to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, the first and second movements of Concerto # 6 and all 3 movements of concerto #3. Of the 5 movements, the entire cast dances in 1,3, and 5. The 2nd movement the lead man is Michael Trusnovec with 3 ladies, a very nice adagio, a lot of partnering. Then the 4th section is a solo just for Michael; interestingly, he does the entire adagio downstage left in a very tight special light.
Interesting contrast to the rest of the dance, I'd think.
RK: Yes, right after the solo is over the rest of the 5 men come barreling in full tilt and then we basically jump for the next 5 minutes. (Laughs)
It's a wonderful dance. It has a lot of Paul's trademark choreographic tricks, where he leads the eye one way and has something come on from the other side that you don't even see until it's in full swing, or just as you're following someone off stage left, someone else comes flying in stage right and smacks you in the face. Or, in the 3rd movement, 3 of the men are retreating upstage when 2 men jump through them straight forward toward the audience, so he's got your eye following one way and Bam!
It's a rolly-coaster ride, Brandenburgs. Really difficult with tons of jumping and the corps group of men are on stage probably 90% of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th sections, so we're always framing the women as they do these beautiful solos.
Tell us about The Mamas and the Papas, about Changes.
RK: That dance is really fun! It's all Mamas and Papas except for one song that, technically, was a solo sung by Mama Cass, California Earthquake. There are Mamas and Papas characters. It starts with social dancing from that period ...
I bet Paul Taylor and his dancers can have a lot of fun with that kind of material. In his writing and his choreography, Taylor was always very aware of popular social dances. RK: Oh, absolutely. And he does his research. In dances like Oh, You Kid! or Antique Valentine, which is 1800's social dancing, he'll find videos and books and make us learn the dances. He'll always kind of run with things but he's usually focused on having us learn the original period dances before he loosens things up and lets us play with them.
So, after the first section with the period social dances and the Mamas and the Papas characters, there's a great solo for Annmaria Mazzini [pictured, photo by Tom Caravaglia], set to California Earthquake. It's almost as if she's the earthquake. She will pull and push us as if she's making the earth tilt or shake.
She looks like a force of nature in that publicity photo.
RK: The next section is set to a much older Mamas and Papas piece, I Call Your Name. It has more of a 50's flavor. The 4 men carry Laura Halzack around and basically worship her for the entire section.
The next section, Mansions, is all about getting' high and havin' a bad trip. So that section gets a little darker. There's definitely a freakout in there.
Thank heavens there's a little of the famous Paul Taylor darkness in there.
RK: (Laughs.) Then there's a duet which I'm not going to tell you anything about, and it ends with California Dreamin', an ensemble ending with some really nice dancing, a unison for the entire company toward the end that's almost like a school of fish or a flock of birds. Very nice for the eye, very much a crowd pleaser.
Thanks Robert. Looking forward to seeing you and your fellow company members dancing in Cleveland.
RK: Awesome.
Paul Taylor Dance Company performs at 8PM Sat 10/3 at E. J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St., Akron, Ohio 44325. For tickets $5 to $45 phone 330-972-7570 or go to http://www.ticketmaster.com. Presented by Dance Cleveland, University of Akron Dance Program, and E.J. Thomas Hall.
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas. Elsa and Vic are both longtime Clevelanders. Elsa is a landscape designer. She studied ballet as an avocation for 2 decades. Vic has been a dancer and dance teacher for most of his working life, performing in a number of dance companies in NYC and Cleveland. They write about dance as a way to learn more and keep in touch with the dance community. E-mail them at vicnelsaATearthlink.net.(:divend:)