Fascinating: Dances by Charles Weidman
Jan
20
2025
It was a triumvirate. The brilliant second-generation offspring of Denishawn, the pioneering American modern-dance company comprised a trio of names: Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. A fourth post-Denishawn great was Jack Cole, but Cole came to the party after that first fabulous threesome had departed. I have listed the names of Graham, Humphrey, ...
Shelley Duvall’s special dance as Olive Oyl, in ‘Popeye’ 4
Seen above, a personal photo published with permission. It is a beatific pose by the recently deceased actress Shelley Duvall dancing as Olive Oyl in director Robert Altman’s “Popeye” (1980). Duvall (1949-2024), who recently passed away, led a long and memorable career primarily as a character actress, but in this case she played a full ...
Dance memories stored in a jewelry bag, a gift from Yuriko
Mar
16
2022
A short time after Paul Taylor Dance Company founding member Sharon Kinney left Taylor’s company and had her first child, a son, she got a call for work. Calling was Yuriko (1920-2022), the great, fleeting exponent, and leading light, of Martha Graham Dance Company. It was the late sixties, and the Japanese-American dancer, transitioning from ...
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance’s timely staging of Kurt Jooss classic ‘The Green Table’
4th April 1953: The ‘Gentlemen in Black’ sit around the conference table and discuss war in a scene from Kurt Jooss’s award-winning modern ballet ‘The Green Table’. Original Publication: Picture Post – 6477 – 20th Century War Dance – pub. 1953 (Photo by John Chillingworth/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In 2014, Paul Taylor, who died in ...
Memories of Paul Taylor … and ‘Aureole’ 2
Oct
7
2018
Ed. note: Guest blogger Sharon Kinney contributes this reminiscence to mark the passing away of Paul Taylor on August 29, 2018 and to honor a great American dancer/choreographer. Writes Sharon: It was the summer of 1962, Paul Taylor invited me to come audition for a new piece he was making to be performed at Connecticut ...
In memoriam: ‘Still trying to get Paul Taylor’s jump right’
Sep
17
2018
Ed. note: A guest writer, Sean Mahoney, pictured above, submitted this personal reminiscence of his work with the great iconoclastic choreographer Paul Taylor (1930 – 2018). Mahoney, who began his association with the Taylor organization in 1994, has been a member of Paul Taylor Dance Company since 2004. I was in rehearsal and Paul was ...
Rauschenberg dance contributions recognized in live MoMA performance
Who’s going to New York? Oh, you already live there? Then get thee to MoMA on Wednesday, September 6, for a curated performance of mid-century dance masterworks at the vaunted MoMA Sculpture Garden twice that day. The dance program accompanies Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends, the exhibit now on at the Museum through September 17. Rauschenberg ...
Paul Taylor’s gorgeous, sprawling “Brandenburgs” on PBS
Apr
29
2013
“This piece is meant to be very dancey, but it has a theme. I would say it’s about gallantry. The men are gallant towards the women. The women are more playful. Each of the women has a distinct personality. There’s a leading man, too. His relationship to the women, it’s gallant, but it’s not a ...
Paul Taylor garners prestigious arts award
Oct
21
2012
New Yorkers gathered on October 3 to honor legendary choreographer Paul Taylor at a State Dinner at the iconic Lotos Club, founded in 1870. Mr. Taylor received the Medal of Merit, the Club’s highest honor given to leaders in the arts and cultural worlds. Past recipients include Gilbert and Sullivan, Ulysses S. Grant, Samuel Clemens, ...
To New York for Paul Taylor, Martha Graham, Susan Marshall
Mar
12
2012
You’ve heard of ‘Autumn in New York,’ correct? Well, what about ‘Spring Dance Season in New York’? We’re eastward-bound to check it out. Like this? Read more: Paul Taylor Moves to Lincoln Center (The Huffington Post) Michael Jackson visited Martha Graham studio