Acclaimed as one of America’s foremost dancemakers, Paul Taylor (1930-2018) created a remarkable repertoire of 147 works for his company, ending with Concertiana. He performed with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, but focused his energies on his own company for over sixty years. He first came to Jacob’s Pillow as a dancer in Pearl Lang’s company in 1954, and brought a group of his own dancers (including Twyla Tharp) for the first time ten years later. The Paul Taylor Dance Company has since appeared at the Pillow many times, including a 1982 performance with an early cast of Airs, a 2000 performance of Company B, and his classic Esplanade in 2017. Taylor’s visual artwork was the subject of Pillow exhibitions in 2000 and 2019, and the Pillow commissioned new Taylor dances in 2000 and 2007. His second company, Taylor 2, had its genesis at the Pillow in 1993. Writing in The New York Times, Anna Kisselgoff referred to Promethean Fire as “quite simply one of the best dance works choreographed by Paul Taylor.”
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