Pittsburgh Dance Council Presents Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Byham Theater, Oct. 22

Pittsburgh Dance Council will present Paul Taylor DANCE COMPANY at the Byham Theater, on Saturday, October 22, 2011, at 8:00 p.m.

The dance program will include: Mercuric Tidings (1982), music: Schubert / excerpts from Symphonies 1&2, costumes: Santo Loquasto, lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Three Dubious Memories (2010), music: Peter Elyakim Taussig / Five Enigmas (movements 1,3,4,5), costumes: Santo Loquasto, lighting: Jennifer Tipton; and Piazzolla Caldera (1997), music: Astor Piazzolla and Jerzy Peterburshsky / El Sol Sueno, Concierto Para Quinteto / Celos / Escualo, costumes: Santo Loquasto, lighting: Jennifer Tipton.

Tickets ($19-$50) may be purchased at the Box Office at Theater Square, online at www.pgharts.org, or by calling (412) 456-6666. First Commonwealth is the proud season sponsor of Pittsburgh Dance Council, and 90.5 Essential Public Radio is the media sponsor.

Mr. Paul Taylor was born in 1930 and grew up in Washington, DC. In the late 1940s, he began studying painting at Syracuse University until he discovered dance, which prompted his transfer to The Juilliard School in New York City. At the age of 23, Taylor, along with five other colleagues, gave his first choreographed public performance at the Henry Street Settlement in Manhattan on Sunday, May 30, 1954. After the debut of Taylor’s successfully choreographed performance, he became the youngest member of the pantheon that created American modern dance. Since retiring as a performer in 1974, he has devoted himself to creating major choreographed works including: Esplanade, Arden Court, Last Look, Musical Offering, Company B, and Promethean Fire, to name a few. According to Time Magazine, "Paul Taylor is the reigning master of modern dance" (Time Magazine).” Taylor continues to be one of modern dance’s most celebrated artists.

Paul Taylor Dance Company has performed for 56 years in more than 520 cities in 62 countries, as well as represented the United States at arts festivals in more than 40 countries worldwide. In honor of India’s celebration of the nation’s 50th anniversary in 1997, the Company toured throughout India. Taylor’s company continued to tour throughout the world, and in 1999 was honored as the Best International Dance Event by Chile’s Art Critics' Circle. Within its goal to reach new audiences, the Company toured the People's Republic of China in the summer of 2001 and performed in six cities, presenting American modern dance for the first time to audiences in four of those cities toured. The New York Times addresses the Company as, "One of the most exciting, innovative, and delightful dance companies in the entire world (New York Times).”

Taylor has received numerous accolades for his outstanding work: (1967) 16th Annual Capezio Dance Award; the Dance Magazine Award, MacArthur "Genius" Award, Algur H. Meadows Award, Manchester Evening News Award, Association of Performing Arts Presenters Award of Merit, and the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award. Vanity Fair magazine refers to him as "the greatest choreographer in the world.” "Paul Taylor Dance Company is perhaps the most beloved and respected modern dance company in the world, famous for Mr. Taylor's wit, its sunny expansiveness, its all-American optimism and its occasional forays into darkness and gloom (Dallas Morning News).”

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos

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