Paul Taylor Dance Company

"The American spirit soars whenever Taylor’s dancers dance.” – The San Francisco Chronicle

The PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY, a leading innovator in modern dance, is known for its vast repertory, featuring works from its founder, new pieces by contemporary choreographers, and significant historical dances. Under Michael Novak's direction, the Company tours annually, sharing modern dance with a broad audience domestically and internationally.
 

Esplanade

Choreography: Paul Taylor | Music: Johann Sebastian Bach

The definitive Paul Taylor work, Esplanade is at once playful, somber, romantic, and explosive. This pillar of modern dance instantly affirmed Taylor as one of history’s greatest choreographers.

An esplanade is an outdoor place to walk. In 1975, Paul Taylor, inspired by the sight of a girl running to catch a bus, created a masterwork based on pedestrian movement. If contemporaries Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg could use ordinary “found objects” like Coke bottles and American flags in their art, Taylor would use such “found movements” as standing, walking, running, sliding, and falling.
 

Company B

Choreography: Paul Taylor | Music: Songs sung by the Andrews Sisters

Just as America began to emerge from the Depression at the dawn of the 1940s, the country was drawn into the Second World War. In a seminal piece of Americana, Paul Taylor recalls that turbulent era through the hit songs of the Andrews Sisters. Although the songs depict a nation surging with high spirits, millions of men were bidding farewell to wives or girlfriends, and many would never return from battle. The dance focuses on such poignant dualities.