DNC 101: Analysis of Paul Taylor's Life, Works, and Legacy

This report details the life and career of Paul Taylor, a prominent American choreographer and modern dancer. Born in 1930, Taylor's journey began with studies in painting and swimming before transitioning to dance, studying under renowned figures like Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham. He launched his professional career with the Martha Graham Company, playing significant roles in various productions. Taylor's unique dance style, characterized by flat and lyric movements, led him to establish his own company in 1954, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, which toured extensively and gained international recognition. His notable works include 'Duet' and 'Aureole,' blending modern dance with contemporary musical scores. The report also highlights his awards, contributions to dance philosophy through his writings, and the legacy of Taylor 2, which continues to promote his masterworks. The report references sources such as Encyclopedia Britannica and Thefamouspeople.com to support the information presented.

Han Xiao
DNC 101
Due: 0702/2019
Paul Taylor
In the year 1930, 29th July, Paul Taylor was born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in the
United States. He was an American choreographer and modern dancer who was very
famous for his innovations, derisive, and in a very mocking manner which he
choreographed in his own dance company. In the year1947, he took admission to
Syracuse University in the on the grounds of scholarships on painting and swimming.
From the year 1951, he started to take interest in dancing and which is why he studied
dancing with Doris Humphrey, José Limón Martha Graham, and ballet with Margaret
Craske and Antony Tudor. In the year 1953, he started his professional career under the
company of Martha Graham which is to play a very important role such as Aegisthus in
Clytemnestra (1958), Hercules in Alcestis (1960), and Theseus in Phaedra (1962). He has
also served various other dancers like Merce Cunnigham and Charles Weidman. George
Balanchine also created a solo dance performance for Taylor in the Episodes (1959),

which is the work that has been choreographed by Graham and Balanchine and the music
design is given by Anton Webern (Encyclopedia Britannica 2019). There are several
forms and styles in the dance as performed by Taylor which he described as flat meaning
where there are two-dimensional appearances, lyric in long arms and the formation of the
dance movements those are based on the scribbling of dance that thrives on the actions
which is based on the line or shape. In the year 1957, Duet is his first work, where he
with his partner stood stable for more than three minutes to Orbs (1966), which is an
hour-long musical composition to the last strings of Beethoven. In the year 1954, he
established his own company known as the Paul Taylor Dance Company, where there are
only 13 dance members where the first performance took place in Europe in the year
1960, and then in the year 1965, this group made a tour in South America under the
grants provided by the International Cultural Exchange Program of the United States,
Department of States, and in the year 1978, this group toured in USSR and made its first
appearance on the citizen television network in United States of America (Encyclopedia
Britannica 2019). Spoleto Festival is also welcomed with the choreography by Paul
Taylor and the Two Worlds and received various grand awards. His decision to end his
career is in the year 1970. In the year 1962, he formed one of the most important dance
pieces known as Aureole and that was his grand success. After that, he started blending
the modern dance movements with the musical score of contemporary background that
had been composed two hundred years ago (Thefamouspeople.com 2019). This form of
dancing style became famous and came into the limelight where several producers of

ballet use this dance form in their dancing production houses. This dance form is first
performed by the Paris Opera Ballet and then performed by the Royal Danish Ballet. His
dance company is considered to be one of the greatest dance institutes of the 20th
Century. This dance troupe made its performance in more than five hundred cities and
more than sixty-two countries across the globe. He has also worked with famous dance
choreographers as well as pioneers like Laura Dean, Elizabeth Keen, Dan Wagoner, Lila
York, Martha Graham and Senta Driver. The objective of this dance company was also to
promote to the huge amount of audiences across the world the works of Paul Taylor. He
has also written few books based on the philosophies of dance like Private Domain
(1987), Private Domain: An Autobiography (1988), and Facts and Fancies: Essays
written mostly for fun (2013). In the year 1993, he created Taylor 2, which helped in the
continuation to bring forth the masterworks of the choreographer in around the smaller
places across the globe (Thefamouspeople.com 2019). This group also teachers the styles
in the dance in several numbers of the educational institutions, gatherings, events and in
community gatherings. Paul Taylor is among the last active dance legends those are
created around the second group of dance artists in America. His form of dance was very
radical and is concerned about the themes like comic and sexualities. There are various
numbers of choreography as performed by him and among them, some are the Esplanade,
3 Epitaphs, Speaking in Tongues, Aureole, etc. He won several awards like National
Medal of Arts and Emmy. He was considered to be one of the famous choreographers on
stage and an American dance icon, et al. BelAir Classiques has sponsored Paul Taylor

Dance Company in the production of Brandenburg’s – Beloved Renegade
(Brandenburg’s 2019). The video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=uPXAAyUjUGg
Reference:
Brandenburg’s (2019). Beloved Renegade.. [video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPXAAyUjUGg [Accessed 24 Jun. 2019].
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Paul Taylor | American dancer and choreographer.
[online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Taylor-choreographer
[Accessed 24 Jun. 2019].
Thefamouspeople.com. (2019). Who is Paul Taylor? Everything You Need to Know.
[online] Available at: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/paul-taylor-4050.php
[Accessed 24 Jun. 2019].