NEW YORK, NY– The Paul Taylor Dance Company’s 2023 Season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, from October 31 through November 12, will include fourteen dances by five choreographers – Ulysses Dove, Amy Hall Garner, Larry Keigwin, Lauren Lovette, and Paul Taylor – and feature world premieres by Lovette, PTDC’s Resident Choreographer, and Keigwin, Taylor Company Commissioned choreographer. Music on all programs will be performed live by Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL), conducted by Taylor Music Director David LaMarche and Tara Simoncic. Ticket prices for the 2023 Season start at $15 and go on sale September 13. Tickets are available at www.boxoffice.dance.
Continuing his mission to build a repertory for the 21st Century, Artistic Director Michael Novak will present four works by three of today’s leading dance makers.
· Lauren Lovette will be represented by two new works. Dreamachine, set to Michael Daugherty’s percussion suite of that name, will have its New York premiere. Premiered in Los Angeles in April 2023 with set and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Jennifer Tipton, Dreamachine will include the world premiere of a new section created for New York and featuring Daugherty’s score performed by OSL.
· Lovette’s Echo, created for the men of the Taylor Company, will be given its world premiere. Set to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts’s “Contact” to be performed live by OSL and 2023 Grammy Award-winning trio Time for Three. Echo will feature costumes designed by renowned fashion designer Zac Posen and lighting by James F. Ingalls. Complementing Echo will be a dance featuring the women of the Taylor Company: Ulysses Dove’s 1986 masterwork Vespers, set to music by Mikel Rouse and staged by the late choreographer’s brother, Alfred Dove.
· Larry Keigwin, who created Rush Hour on commission for the Taylor Company in 2016, will premiere his second PTDC work Drum Circle, set to a score by Argentine composer William Catanzaro and performed live by multi-percussionist trio CHAIN. Drum Circle will have costumes by William Ivey Long and lighting by James F. Ingalls.
· Amy Hall Garner’s Somewhere in the Middle will return following its premiere performances last season. Set to the music of Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, and Bill Evans, the dance has costumes by Mark Eric, set by Donald Martiny, and lighting by Jennifer Tipton.
The season will also feature nine Paul Taylor classics spanning thirty years of extraordinary creativity: Book of Beasts (1971), Esplanade (1975), Cloven Kingdom (1976), Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal) (1980), Mercuric Tidings (1982), Last Look (1985), Eventide (1997), Piazzolla Caldera (1997), and Black Tuesday (2001).
“I’m passionate about creating visually stimulating conversations between music and dance, in collaboration with Orchestra of St. Luke’s,” said Novak, who succeeded Paul Taylor as PTDC’s Artistic Director in 2018. “Both Lauren Lovette and Larry Keigwin are choreographing their works, quite literally, around the musicians.” Lovette’s Echo and Keigwin’s Drum Circle will feature musicians performing on stage. “I’m committed to showcasing interdisciplinary collaborations for Lincoln Center,” Novak continued. “This current generation of Taylor dancers carry significant emotional and kinetic power, which has yielded a Season of significant repertory and commissioning, packed with visually stunning and daring theatrical works.”
PTDC’s 2023 Gala performance will take place on Thursday, November 2 at 7pm and features the world premiere of Lovette’s Echo and Taylor’s Mercuric Tidings. The performance will be preceded at 6pm by a cocktail reception for Gala guests and will be followed by dinner and dancing at 8pm. Vanessa Williams is Honorary Chair of the Gala and Co-Chairs Caroline Cronson and Jonna Mackin will host this special event honoring Dimitra Manis, Executive Vice President and Chief Purpose Officer of S&P Global. Echo costume designer Zac Posen will make a special guest appearance. Attire is “Formal & Fabulous”; black-tie is not required.
Capitalizing on PTDC’s decade-long partnership with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Novak will present a Family Matinee on Saturday, November 4, at 2:00 p.m. The program features the return of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” performed by OSL and narrated by multiple Tony, Grammy, and Emmy nominee Vanessa Williams. Paul Taylor’s Book of Beastsand Cloven Kingdom round out the family-friendly program from last Season. Special ticketed opportunities will be available for this performance: children and families can join a Taylor dancer live on the Lincoln Center stage and visit the Koch Theater’s Promenade for face painting, photos, movement tutorials, fairy hair, autographs, and refreshments.
PTDC’s 2023 Season includes unique ticketing opportunities such as “$20 Under 40,”Arnhold Tier 3, and Polaris Project, which all underscore Novak’s commitment to breaking down barriers and making exceptional dance experiences accessible to the widest possible audience with an emphasis on younger generations.
- The Season will feature the “$20 Under 40” ticket program. Dance lovers age 40 and under can attend PTDC’s 2023 performances at Lincoln Center for $20 after registering online. Paultaylordance.org/20under40
- Central to the annual New York Season is the Arnhold Tier 3 Dance Education & Audience Development Initiative (Arnhold Tier 3), launched in 2015 with leadership support from Jody and John Arnhold. Arnhold Tier 3 offers New York City Public School students a dance education experience that includes FREE tickets for students and their parents, teachers, and school administrators. The program inspires and provokes the curiosity of thousands of New York City and New York State public school children through exposure to some of the world’s greatest dances and dancers. For more information, visit paultaylordance.org/arnhold-tier-3.
- The Polaris Project offers affordable access to live performances, workshops and artist Q&As, to a wide range of community organizations. Past participants have described the experience as transformative, inspiring, and inclusive. For more information call 646-214-5807.