Paul Taylor Dance Company
"Company B", "Gossamer Gallants", "Promethean Fire"
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
New York, New York
March 27, 2012
by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2012 by Mary Cargill
"Company B", Paul Taylor's salute to the men and women who endured World War II via the Andrews Sisters' songs, becomes darker at every viewing. The opening "Bei Mir Bist du Schon", with its cheerful, upbeat rhythms, is haunted by dark figures, wandering through the melody, like ghosts remembering their past. The larger stage tends to distance the audience, and helps the dances look as if they were filtered through a memory. The dancers, though, during the happier moments, had an immediate effect, and Laura Halzack and Jeffrey Smith were explosive during the "Pennsylvania Polka". "Tico, Tico", with a smooth and fluid Francisco Graciano, had an almost tragic impact, as this young soldier valiantly tried to keep up appearances (Graciano seemed almost desperate in his swaggering gesture of combing his hair). It was clear that both he and the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (Robert Kleinendorst) were among the victims. So too, in another way, were many of the women. Parisa Khobdeh, who could dream, and Amy Young, dancing with her ghost, were heartbreaking. It was a vivid performance of one of Taylor's most haunting works.