UMS Digital Presentations
Streaming Sep 11-21
Paul Taylor: Celebrate the Dancemaker
About this Presentation
Join University of Michigan dance historian and educator Angela Kane and Paul Taylor Dance Company Artistic Director Michael Novak for a unique viewing experience that celebrates the mind, work, and legacy of one of the world’s greatest dance makers: Paul Taylor.
In collaboration with The Taylor Archives, Kane and Novak will take audiences through rarely-seen footage of several iconic Taylor works, culminating in a full viewing of his 2002 Promethean Fire — arguably one of his greatest artistic achievements created in the wake of 9/11, proclaiming that even after a cataclysmic event, the human spirit finds renewal and emerges triumphant.
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Credits
Paul Taylor: Celebrate the Dancemaker is presented in honor of Frank Legacki.
We are grateful to the University of Michigan for its partnership and support this season.
Hosts & Featured Works
Angela Kane, formerly head of the Division of Arts and the Department of Dance Studies at the University of Surrey, joined the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at University of Michigan as professor and chair of dance in September 2007. Her dance career spans ballet and modern dance, aesthetics and criticism, and advanced Laban studies. She holds an MA in dance history and a PhD from the University of Kent on fifty years of creativity by the New York-based choreographer Paul Taylor. Alongside her teaching and research in the UK, she has worked as Company Historian for the Paul Taylor Dance Company since 2003 and her forthcoming book on the company is under contract with University of Michigan Press.
Michael Novak became the second Artistic Director in the history of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation in September 2018. A critically-acclaimed dancer of the Company from 2010 – 2019, Mr. Novak earned a nomination for the Clive Barnes Foundation Dance Award for his debut Season, and by the time of retirement had performed over 50 roles in both Taylor works, as well as those by today’s seminal contemporary choreographers. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 2009.
Set and Costumes by George Tacet
Lighting by Thomas Skelton
Music by George Frideric Handel
Sinfonia (from Act II) in G (from Jephtha, HWV 70): Andante
Sinfonia (from Act III) in D (from Jephtha, HWV 70): Allegro
Dancers: Paul Taylor, Elizabeth Walton, Dan Wagoner, Sharon Kinney (1963)
Original Production made possible by the 1962 American Dance Festival at Connecticut College.
Preservation made possible by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, and by contributions to the Paul Taylor Repertory Preservation Project with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Scudorama
Set and Costumes by Alex Katz
Original lighting by Thomas Skelton
Lighting recreated by Jennifer Tipton
Music specially composed by Clarence Jackson
Dancers: Laura Halzack, Sean Mahoney, Michael Trusnovec, Annamaria Mazzini, Julie Tice, Michelle Fleet, Parisa Khobdeh, Jamie Rae Walker (2009)
Commissioned by the American Dance Festival.
Revival made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces: Dance Initiative, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts; with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; and with support from the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal)
Set and Costumes by John Rawlings
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
Music and arrangement for two pianos by Igor Stravinsky
Dancers: Michael Trusnovec, Amy Young, Robert Kleinendorst, Laura Halzack, Michelle Fleet, Parisa Khobdeh, Sean Mahoney, Eran Bugge, Jamie Rae Walker, Michael Apuzzo, Michael Novak, Heather McGinley (2013)
Original production made possible by contributions from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
Revival supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Preservation made possible by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, with contributions to the Paul Taylor Repertory Preservation Project with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Foundations of the Milken Families.
Dancemaker
Producer and Director: Matthew Diamond
Producer: Jerry Kupfer
Executive Producer: Walter Scheuer in association with the Four Oaks Foundation
Released: 1998
Piazzolla Caldera
Set and Costumes: Santo Loquasto
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton
Music by Astor Piazzolla and Jerzy Peterburshsky
“Concierto para Quinteto”, by Jerzy Peterburski and Astor Piazzolla, used by permission of Spirit Two Music. All songs performed by Gidon Kremer on the album Hommage à Piazzolla, Nonesuch Records, 2011. Special Thanks to Robert Hurwitz.
Dancers: Patrick Corbin, Francie Huber, Lisa Viola, Andrew Asnes, Tom Patrick, Richard Chen See, Andy LeBeau, Terry Pexton, Ted Thomas (1997)
Commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Altria Group, Inc. and Brenda and Keith Brodie.
Original production also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, The Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, and Carole K. Newman.
Preservation made possible by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown
Promethean Fire
Set and Costumes by Santo Loquasto
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Arranged for Orchestra by Leopold Stokowski
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, Prelude in E-flat Minor, BWV 853, Chorale Prelude “Wir glauben all an einen Gott”, BWV 680
Dancers: Patrick Corbin, Lisa Viola, Richard Chen See, Kristi Egtvedt, Silvia Nevjinsky, Andy LeBeau, Takehiro Ueyama, Heather Berest, Michael Trusnovec, Annmaria Mazzini, Orion Duckstein, Amy Young, Robert Kleinendorst, Julie Tice, James Samson, Michelle Fleet (2003)
Commissioned by the American Dance Festival through the Doris Duke Awards for New Work and Samuel H. Scripps.
Original production also made possible with support from Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown.
Creation made possible by contributions to the Paul Taylor New Works Fund.
Matthew VanBesien
Christina Bellows
Sara Billmann
Ryan Davis
Cayenne Harris
Michael Kondziolka
Carmen Rodriguez
Produced and Edited by
Eric Woodhams
Additional Production Support
Jake Gibson
Anne Grove
Educational Event Support
Christina Mozumdar
University of Michigan Department of Dance
Angela Kane
Paul Taylor Dance Foundation
Michael Novak, Artistic Director
John Tomlinson, Executive Director
Lisa Conlon, Director of Tour Engagements
