Paul Taylor Dance Company visit an “infusion of choreography, master classes, and performance”

Paul Taylor Dance Company visit an “infusion of choreography, master classes, and performance”

Paul Taylor Dance Company dancers will offer master classes and lecture demonstrations to dance students at USC, as well as to students from area middle and high schools.

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor

The University of South Carolina dance program will host the internationally acclaimed Paul Taylor Dance Company for a one-night-only performance, Wednesday, October 22 at the Koger Center for the Arts. The performance is sponsored by the University of South Carolina College of Arts and Sciences, the USC Department of Theatre and Dance and Richland One School District.

Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for 2nd Balcony seating, $35 for Grand Tier seating and $40 for Orchestra seating. Tickets can be reserved by calling (803) 777-5112 or by purchasing online at capitoltickets.com.

One of the towering icons of modern dance, Paul Taylor has been a prominent dance artist since the mid 1950s and is considered by many to be America’s greatest living choreographer. Since its founding, Paul Taylor Dance Company has traveled the world, performing in 540 cities in 64 countries, reinforcing its historic role as one of the early touring companies of American modern dance. The New York Times has praised Paul Taylor Dance Company as “one of the most exciting, innovative, and delightful dance companies in the entire world.”

The company’s Koger Center program will include performances of popular masterworks from the Paul Taylor repertoire, including Diggity, The Word, and Esplanade.

“The dances we’re performing showcase the brilliance of Paul Taylor in a variety of dance styles and themes,” said John Tomlinson, executive director of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation. “These dances – a combination of classics and recent masterworks – are a marriage of some of the world’s greatest choreography – performed by some of the world’s finest dancers.”

For USC Dance founder and Artistic Director Susan Anderson, the chance to bring the renowned company to the University stage was one she couldn’t pass up. She says she has been in love with the choreographer’s work since her early days as a dancer in Irvine, California.

“I was one of those ‘bunhead’ ballerinas growing up,” Anderson says with a laugh. “When I first saw the company in the early 1970s in Los Angeles, it was the first time I’d seen modern dance and I absolutely fell in love with Paul Taylor’s style. He’s extremely inventive and creative — he breaks all of the rules and regulations of ballet.”

This visit to Columbia will bring more than just a dynamic performance to the Midlands. During their stay, PTDC dancers will offer master classes and lecture demonstrations to dance students at the University, as well as to students from area middle and high schools.

For University dance majors, the Paul Taylor connection has informed much of the Fall semester’s studies, as they rehearse Taylor’s famous Company B with former PTDC dancer Cathy Buck. Company B is scheduled for performance during the USC Dance Company’s 20th Century Masterpieces concert, which will be performed at the Koger Center November 6 and 7. Current PTDC performers will be present for a public critique of the student’s progress on Company B on October 21 from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in the USC Dance Studios at 324 Sumter St. The rehearsal and critique are open to the public.

Study of the Paul Taylor canon will continue for majors in USC’s Dance Education track, who will be creating educational packets detailing Taylor’s distinctive style, which they will distribute to area schools.

“Having this infusion of Paul Taylor choreography, master classes, lecture demonstrations and performances is an outstanding way for our students to become very familiar with this very influential style of dance,” said Anderson. “We are truly grateful to Dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick from the College of Arts and Sciences for making this performance possible, and for her vision for the arts at USC to be an integral part of the community.”

For more information about the PTDC Koger performance or the dance program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush, bushk@mailbox.sc.edu or (803) 777-9353.

Via: University of South Carolina Department of Theatre and Dance