Happy National Dance Day

Happy national dance day! Hope you are all having a great dance-filled day. The Isadora Duncan Dance Company is performing at Alice Austen House this evening, if you’re out by Staten Island or simply want to enjoy a lovely dance performance by the ocean before sunset!

Dancers: Lori Belilove and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company
Photography: Jason Chuang

#nationaldanceday

Bei Mir Bist du Schön (Reprise)

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B”

“Company B” ended where it began with a reprise of “Bei Mir Bist du Schön.” However, underneath all the jumps and jives, was America really the same after everything that took place?

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Paul Taylor Dance Company
Photography: Jason Chuang

#lcoutofdoors #paultaylordancecompany #ptdc #ptamd #moderndance

There Will Never Be Another You

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B”

As the stories of “Company B” continued and as America became further drawn into World War II, we once again were confronted with the realities of the war. Here are Heather McGinley and Sean Mahoney with the sorrows of losing a loved one in “There Will Never Be Another You.”

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Heather McGinley, Sean Mahoney, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company
Photography: Jason Chuang

#lcoutofdoors #paultaylordancecompany #ptdc #ptamd #moderndance

Rum and Coca-Cola

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B”

We were treated to hit songs of the 1940s including “Rum and Coca-Cola” by the Andrews Sisters. The song lyrics, based on a calypso (not the jump but a style of Afro-Caribbean poetry), tell the stories of American G.I.s in Trinidad. Accompanied by the Duchess‘s singing, here’s the amazing Eran Bugge and the boys!

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Eran Bugge and the Paul Taylor Dance Company
Photography: Jason Chuang







Oh Johnny Oh Johnny Oh!

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B”

More of the 1940s American life. Here is “Oh Johnny Oh Johnny Oh!” by the Andrews Sisters where every girl in town is crazy about a certain little lad… featuring James Samson as Johnny and the Duchess on the mic.

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: James Samson and the Paul Taylor Dance Company
Photography: Jason Chuang





I Can Dream, Can’t I?

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B”

The optimism of the American youths in the early 1940s was soon overshadowed by the realities of the World War, as millions were sent into battle. In “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” Parisa Khobdeh bid goodbye to her sweetheart, uncertain of when (or if) they would reunite.

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Parisa Khobdeh and the Paul Taylor Dance Company
Photography: Jason Chuang

Tico-Tico

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B”

With a touch of Latin American rhythm, Francisco Graciano danced all out — from his handsome entrance to leaps, barrel rolls, and floor slide — to the Brazilian choro “Tico Tico” made popular in America by the Andrews Sisters in 1944.

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Francisco Graciano
Photography: Jason Chuang

#lcoutofdoors #paultaylordancecompany#ptdc #ptamd #moderndance

Bei Mir Bist du Schön

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance presents “Company B” at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival.

Company B is the story of America in the 1940s. Jubilant youths were high in spirit as the nation began to emerge from the Great Depression.

“Company B”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Paul Taylor Dance Compnay
Photography: Jason Chuang

Company B

The Paul Taylor Dance Company accompanied by the Duchess at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival on Friday.

With the Duchess performing songs of the Andrews Sisters, the Paul Taylor Dance Company put on “Company B,” a choreography set in the 1940s swing era as the United States emerged from the Great Depression and drawn into World War II.

Comprised of ten parts, each section of “Company B” tells a different story of the nation. Starting with youths jubilantly dancing the lindy hop, jitterbug, and polkas… we were then treated to hit songs of the era (“Tico Tico” and “Rum and Coca-Cola”)… before the storyline moved onto young lovers separated by war (“I Can Dream, Can’t I?”) and the heartbreak of losing a loved one (“There Will Never Be Another You”). As we watched Heather McGinley mourn on stage, we couldn’t help but feel for what the 1940s generation had gone through in a turbulent era.

“Company B – Bei Mir Bist du Schön”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Robert Kleinedorst, James Samson, Parisa Khobdeh, Sean Mahoney, Eran Bugge, Francisco Graciano, Laura Halzack, Michael Apuzzo, Michael Novak, Heather McGinley, George Smallwood, Christina Lynch Markham, Madelyn Ho, Kristin Draucker
Photography: Jason Chuang

Airs

The Paul Taylor Dance Company performed at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival on Friday.

“Airs” is a happy, dynamic, and energetic choreography filled with jumps, lifts, and fluid movements meant to represent the air and water. Paul Taylor paints the stage with his dancers as gusts of wind, eddies in the river, clouds in the air. Everything is smooth and ever changing — like spending a day out in the nature, or like nature itself.

“Airs”
Choreography: Paul Taylor
Dancers: Michael Trusnovec, Robert Kleinendorst, George Smallwood, Michelle Fleet, Eran Bugge, Laura Halzack, Parisa Khobdeh
Photography: Jason Chuang