Holy Cross and Clark University Bring Paul Taylor's Dance Company to Worcester

WORCESTER, Mass. – An exciting collaboration between the department of theatre at the College of the Holy Cross and Clark University’s Program in Performing Arts will bring the Taylor 2 troupe of the famed Paul Taylor Dance Company to Worcester.

The Taylor 2 company, a smaller touring troupe created by the pre-eminent choreographer Paul Taylor to allow his works wider reach, will perform on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m., in Clark University’s Daniels Theatre.  The Daniels Theatre is located on the Clark campus in Atwood Hall, at the intersection of Main Street and Downing Street in Worcester, Mass. Admission is free for all Clark University and Holy Cross students with student I.D. and $10 for all others.  Tickets will be available at the door (cash or check only) or online (credit card only) at www.zaptix.com/browse/ma.  For more information, call or email the ClarkArts Events Office at 508.793.7356.

Kaela San Lee, director of the Holy Cross Dance Collective and lecturer at the College, is largely responsible for bringing the troupe to Worcester.  “Paul Taylor is indisputably one of the greatest and most renowned American choreographers of the twentieth century,” she notes. “His body language always carries an incredible range of motion, emotion, and imagination.  Through his choreography, Paul Taylor comments on the human condition, and most importantly, he entertains while doing so.  This is a tremendous opportunity not just for the two institutions, but for Worcester as well.”

Gino DiIorio, Clark University’s program director for theatre arts, stated, “It's an honor to have the Taylor 2 dance company visit Clark.  Paul Taylor's contribution to dance and choreography cannot be overstated. I'm certain the performance will inspire and intrigue both students and faculty here.  I'm especially pleased that Clark and Holy Cross are working together to make this event happen. I'm hopeful that this is the beginning of a long collaboration between the performing arts departments of both universities.”

Information about the specific works being performed by the six-member troupe will be forthcoming.  In addition to the performance, Taylor 2 will provide a master class for select Clark and Holy Cross students as part of its visit.

Paul Taylor established Taylor 2 in 1993 to ensure that his works could be seen by audiences all over the world, unhindered by economic or technical limitations. Taylor worked with longtime colleague Linda Hodes to create a company that could accommodate performance requests as well as teach and provide community outreach. Taylor looked back to the 1954 origins of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for the structure of his new company: Six professionals with a particular gift for his style who perform his work throughout the world.

In selecting repertoire for Taylor 2, Taylor chooses dances that span the broad spectrum of his work. Several of the dances performed by Taylor 2 have been re-worked from the Paul Taylor Dance Company's version to enable the smaller ensemble of dancers to perform them. ABOUT PAUL TAYLOR:

Paul Taylor has set movement to music so memorably that for millions it is impossible to hear certain orchestral works and popular songs and not think of his dances. As the subject of the widely seen documentary, Dancemaker, and author of a critically acclaimed autobiography, he has demystified his creative process as few artists ever have. At 76, Paul Taylor may be the most sought-after choreographer working today, commissioned by leading companies, theaters and presenting organizations the world over.

Paul Taylor grew up near Washington, D.C., and discovered dance in the late 1940s, which he began studying at Juilliard. By 1954 he had assembled a small company of dancers. A commanding performer, he joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1955 for the first of seven seasons as a soloist while continuing to make dances on his own troupe. In 1959 he danced with the New York City Ballet as guest artist in George Balanchine's Episodes. After retiring as a performer in 1975, Taylor devoted himself fully to choreography. Celebrated for uncommon musicality, he has set dances to Ragtime and reggae, tango and Tin Pan Alley, telephone time announcements and loon calls; turned elevator music and novelty tunes into high art; and more traditionally, used the music of various Baroque and classical composers.

Taylor has received every important honor bestowed to artists by the United States and France. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 1993. In 1992 he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, and received an Emmy Award for Speaking in Tongues, produced by WNET/New York the previous year. In 1995 he received the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts, and was named one of 50 prominent Americans honored in recognition of their outstanding achievement by the Library of Congress's Office of Scholarly Programs. He was elected to knighthood by the French government as Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1969 and has since been elevated to the ranks of Officier (1984) and Commandeur (1990). In January 2000 he was awarded France's highest honor, the Légion d'Honneur, for exceptional contributions to French culture.

Taylor is the recipient of three Guggenheim Fellowships and has received numerous honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees. He has received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship – often called the “genius award” – and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award. Other awards include the New York State Governor's Arts Award and the New York City Mayor's Award of Honor for Art and Culture. In 1989 he was elected one of 10 honorary American members of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.