The Hamilton College Contemporary Voices and Visions Series opens the spring season with a Mohawk Valley Dance Partnership presentation of the Taylor 2 Dance Company on Saturday, January 21, at 8 p.m. at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts.
An offshoot of the larger Paul Taylor Dance Company, choreographer Paul Taylor established the Taylor 2 company in 1993 to ensure that his works could be seen by audiences all over the world, unhindered by economic or logistical limitations. Taylor worked with longtime colleague Linda Hodes to create a company that could accommodate performance requests as well as teach and provide community outreach. Taylor looked back to the 1954 origins of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for the structure of his new company: six professionals who perform his work and teach his style to people of all ages.
In selecting repertory for Taylor 2, Taylor chooses dances that span the broad spectrum of his work. Several of the dances performed by Taylor 2 have been reworked from the Paul Taylor Dance Company's version to enable the smaller ensemble of dancers to perform them. Critics and audiences cheer as Taylor 2 introduces the athleticism, humor and range of emotions found in Taylor's work.
Taylor 2 has conducted multi-week residencies in Cleveland and at Skidmore College, SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Geneseo, and has taught more than 200 master classes throughout the New York City Public School system. Taylor 2's domestic touring has included an unprecedented 22-city tandem tour (with the Paul Taylor Dance Company) of Wisconsin in 1996 and a statewide tandem tour of Alaska in 1997. The Company toured throughout Pennsylvania in 1998 and South Carolina in 1999.
In addition to a full length evening performance, there will be a pre-performance workshop titled Creative Connections: Exploring the Choreography of Paul Taylor.
Free and open to the public, the pre-performance workshop, sponsored by the CNY Arts in Education Institute, will provide an insight into the evening's dance works performed by the Taylor 2 company . It will be held in List 106 at 7 p.m.
Jane Tavalin Schwartz, dance teaching artist and Colgate faculty member, and AEI director Lesley Tillotson will facilitate the workshop.
This performance is a project of the Mohawk Valley Dance Partnership which combines the talents and resources of three community partners: Hamilton College, the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, and the Central New York Community Arts Council's Arts in Education Institute. The performance is made possible, in part, by the New York State DanceForce, a statewide consortium of choreographers, arts organizations, presenters and educators. Administered by The American Dance Asylum, Inc., DanceForce programs include artist residencies, community outreach activities, and other programming that link artists and communities across New York State. DanceForce receives major sponsorship from the New York State Council on the Arts. Additional support is provided by Altria and JP MorganChase.
Tickets for this event are $18 for adults, $12 for senior citizens, and $5 for students. Special discounts for Munson-Williams-Proctor members and group discounts are available. All seating is general admission. For more information or to order tickets call the Hamilton College box office at 859-4331 or the MWPAI ticket office at 797-0055 or (800) 754-0797. All seating is general admission.
