“Mercuric Tidings,” “Dilly Dilly,” “Esplanade”
Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 15, 2016
by Leigh Witchel
© 2016 by Leigh Witchel
Paul Taylor once again threw an anti-gala for his company’s opening night at Lincoln Center. All seats were $5 – and the company danced two of his classics and a pre-miere, which made half a sawbuck even more of a bargain. A grand gesture; let’s hope it becomes a tradition.
Michael Trusnovec and Laura Halzack in “Mercuric Tidings” Photo © Paul B. Goode.
“Mercuric” is one of Taylor’s baldest exercises in transposition: he created a modern dance analogue to the symphonic ballet. The cast was all in saturated, fiery rose; the women in leotards and the men in tights (bare-chested, natch. This is Paul Taylor). Two Schubert symphonies were stitched seamlessly into a three-movement score in fast-slow-fast tempos, with very familiar ways of handling each section. After the bright opening, Taylor set the slow movement in low, honey light. The closing movement ended with a final pose that could have been lifted straight from Mr. B – and it looked right at home on his stage.
Taylor didn’t ape Balanchine; he followed the arc of the music, but didn’t feel a need to follow the orchestration. A solo in the score didn’t mean there would be a solo onstage. Instead of a grand pas de deux during the second movement, Taylor fashioned three duets, all observed by a woman and a trio of her companions. If you’re still one of those ballet folk who gets antsy around modern dance, “Mercuric” could be your Rosetta Stone.
If “Mercuric” apes ballet’s structure, “Esplanade” finds Taylor appropriating Balanchine’s musical taste (the last two movements of the dance – all five from Bach concertos – are also in “Concerto Barocco”) and going his own way. Taylor rejected vocabulary brilliantly; almost the whole dance is made out of “ordinary” movement, with the genius stroke of amping up to a virtuoso finale made not out of pirouettes or tours, but daredevil jumps and slides.
The dance has the feeling of an extended playground session and the cast gave a game performance. Parisa Khobdeh’s solo in the finale was composed of falls in rapid-fire succession; she seemed so delighted with them that the only thing to do after tumbling down was to fall again. The “runt” role in the ballet, originated by Lila York, often seems set off from the rest of the cast, a sort of winsome outsider. Michelle Fleet brought glamour to the role, opening her arms like a hostess presenting her salon and inviting the rest of the group to follow her.
Taylor’s always thrown in a dopey work amidst the great ones. A New York premiere, “Dilly Dilly” was yet another, this time to Burl Ives songs. It was set at dance night at the grange hall, with the entire cast wearing Stetsons. The men were in cutoff western shirts showing off their biceps; the women were in short shorts with their midriffs exposed.
“Dilly Dilly” isn’t terrible, but there’s precious little there there. Follow the bouncing ball, and that’s the choreography. In “Blue-Tail Fly,” Eran Bugge played a fly molesting Robert Kleinendorst. Michelle Fleet actually acted out biting his arm. Michael Novak got to hop on all fours in “Mr. Froggie Went A-Courtin’.” Bless the dancers for putting up with it.
Taylor has a gift for taking popular music and getting to the irritants beneath its skin. They’re certainly here; the origin of “Blue-Tail Fly” was in 1840’s minstrel shows. But “Dilly Dilly” seemed exhausted just trying to present a Mickey Mouse sing-a-long of the tunes. The solos acted out the lyrics slavishly. The corps worked in block-like unison. There was little counterpoint, use of space, little of anything that resembled choreography beyond a talent-show sketch. You only needed to look at the other works on the program to see what was missing.
© 2016 by Leigh Witchel
Bottom: Eran Bugge, Robert Kleinendorst and Michelle Fleet in “Dilly Dilly” Photo © Paul B. Goode.