Paul Taylor Dance Company Review
March 1, 2025 | The Kennedy Center – Washington, D.C., USA
Throughout his career of more than six decades, American choreographer Paul Taylor (1930-2018) attained the status of a legend. He created dances that transcended the art form, many of his works still regarded as classics of the modern dance repertory.
The troupe he founded in 1954 – The Paul Taylor Dance Company (PTDC) – has always been an inspirational force in American dance culture. It’s a group of sensational dancers – endearing athletes, expressive artists, and extraordinary entertainers – who cherish and preserve the artistic legacy of the company’s founder.
During its engagement at the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., the company presented two of Taylor’s greatest hits – Esplanade (1975) and Arden Court (1981) – as well as the world premiere of How Love Sounds, choreographed by Hope Boykin, a former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Paul Taylor Dance Company Review
The lyrical and lively Arden Court, danced by an ensemble of six men and three women, opened the program. Accompanied by symphonic music of the Baroque composer William Boyce, this piece brims with joy, charm, and exuberant wit.
“It’s a happy dance,” Taylor said to describe the mood and atmosphere of this work.
The movement vocabulary – a medley of natural, pedestrian movements infused with a subtle balletic hint – is a trademark of the Taylor choreographic style. From the first moments of the dance, Arden Court is an homage to the beauty and strength of the masculine body.
The superb male contingent of the cast – comprised of Lee Duveneck, Alex Clayton, Devon Louis, John Harnage, Austin Kelly, and Kenny Corrigan – takes center stage during the entire dance, showcasing their incredible dancing prowess and even more incredible physique. Their performance was a sight to behold.
The trio of ladies of Arden Court – Lisa Borres Casey, Jessica Ferretti, and Payton Primer – held their own with distinction, dancing with abandon, tenderness, and delight.
Taylor wasn’t called “the most wryly funny choreographer” for nothing. From start to finish, this dance is infused with playfulness and sly humor, marking Taylor’s comedic sense at its best.
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In her new piece, How Love Sounds, created specifically for PTDC, Boykin – who serves as Artistic Advisor for Dance Education for The Kennedy Center and Artistic Lead for The Kennedy Center Dance Lab – used a selection of music by a diverse range of composers and performers including Antonín Dvořák, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and Donna Summers.
The dance’s soundtrack also included spoken words, written and performed by Boykin herself.
How Love Sounds celebrates the spirit of love and community and delivers plenty of enjoyable moments. The choreography aptly blends social and ballroom dancing with modern dance movements and everyday gestures. At times, the stage evokes a glamorous dance club, and at times, a neighborhood impromptu dance party.
The piece unfolds as a string of vibrant dance-vignettes: solos, duets, and ensembles, in which the cast of ten dancers (five women and five men), all dressed in brightly colored street clothes, create a dynamic spectacle of all things love: they stroll onstage; they mingle; they dance.
The rhythm is there; and there are ample opportunities for romance and heartbreak.
I especially enjoyed the electrifying choreography for the ensembles, in which the cast went for broke, dancing their hearts out; but there were many moments of calm and contemplation.
The audience went rapt when the music gave away to spoken voice. And the excellent Madelyn Ho, sporting a gorgeous emerald-green dress, lost herself in a beautiful reverie, dancing with breathtaking elegance and soul.
Taylor’s Esplanade is a perfect curtain closer. Even after 50 years since its creation, this stirring and life-affirming dance retains all the visual and emotional power to lift one’s spirit.
It’s said that Esplanade was inspired by the sight of a girl sprinting to catch a bus. The endless running motif (together with rolling, spinning, sliding and falling) permeates this work throughout, giving the entire choreography a sense of headlong rush.
But there is also a feel of summertime (undoubtedly reinforced by the sunny colors of John Rawlings’ costumes) and the bright and vivacious music by J.S. Bach (excerpts from his two violin concertos).
The opening and closing sections of the dance are the testament of Taylor’s prowess to excite and exhilarate. Watching the female dancers flying into their partner’s arms with fearlessness and daring in the dance’s finale was an unforgettable experience.
Esplanade is a masterwork for the ages.
Featured Photo of Paul Taylor Dance Company Madelyn Ho and Company in Hope Boykin’s in How Love Sounds. Photo by Ximena Brunette_@xmbphotography.
