Friday, February 14, 2025
Paul Taylor Dance Foundation
in association with
The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College
Presents
MADELYN HO KRISTIN DRAUCKER
LEE DUVENECK ALEX CLAYTON
DEVON LOUIS JOHN HARNAGE
LISA BORRES CASEY JADA PEARMAN
SHAWN LESNIAK JAKE VINCENT
JESSICA FERRETTI AUSTIN KELLY
KENNY CORRIGAN GABRIELLE BARNES
EMMY WILDERMUTH ELIZABETH CHAPA
PAYTON PRIMER
Founding Artistic Director
PAUL TAYLOR
Artistic Director
MICHAEL NOVAK
Resident Choreographers
LAUREN LOVETTE ROBERT BATTLE
Rehearsal Directors
BETTIE DE JONG CATHY MCCANN
Principal Lighting Designers
JENNIFER TIPTON
JAMES F. INGALLS
Principal Set & Costume Designers
SANTO LOQUASTO
WILLIAM IVEY LONG
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Executive Director
JOHN TOMLINSON
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Leadership funding provided by Stephen Kroll Reidy.
Major support provided by The SHS Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.
Additional major funding provided by S&P Global, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Support for the creation of new work provided by Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Paul Taylor Dance Company gratefully acknowledges the estates of Harlan Morse Blake and Mary J. Osborn for their transformational gifts.
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@paultaylordance
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COMPANY B
Songs sung by the Andrews Sisters
(The songs express typical sentiments of Americans during World War II)
Choreography by Paul Taylor
Costumes by Santo Loquasto
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
(First performed in 1991)
Madelyn Ho Lee Duveneck
Alex Clayton Devon Louis
John Harnage Lisa Borres Casey
Jada Pearman Jake Vincent
Jessica Ferretti Austin Kelly
Gabrielle Barnes Emmy Wildermuth
Elizabeth Chapa
Bei Mir Bist du Schön
full cast
Pennsylvania Polka
Ms. Borres Casey and Mr. Kelly
Tico-Tico
Mr. Clayton
Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
Mr. Duveneck with cast women
I Can Dream, Can’t I?
Ms. Ferreti
Joseph! Joseph!
Mss. Pearman, Barnes, Wildermuth
Messrs. Duveneck, Vincent, Kelly
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Company B)
Mr. Harnage
Rum and Coca-Cola
Ms. Ho with cast men
There Will Never Be Another You
Ms. Chapa and Mr. Louis
Bei Mir Bist du Schön
full cast
Commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Wallace Foundation and The Brown Foundation.
Produced in cooperation with Houston Ballet and
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Creation of this dance made possible with support from
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Preservation made possible by contributions to the Paul Taylor Repertory Preservation Project with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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SCUDORAMA
“What souls are these who run through this black haze?”
And he to me: “These are the nearly soulless
Whose lives concluded neither blame nor praise.”
— Dante
Music specially composed for the dance by Clarence Jackson
Choreography by Paul Taylor
Set and Costumes by Alex Katz
Original lighting by Thomas Skelton
Lighting recreated by Jennifer Tipton
(First performed in 1963)
Kristin Draucker Devon Louis
Kenny Corrigan
Jada Pearman Jessica Ferretti Elizabeth Chapa
Lisa Borres Casey Gabrielle Barnes
Commissioned by the American Dance Festival.
Revival supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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ESPLANADE
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin Concerto in E Major,
Double Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (Largo & Allegro)
Choreography by Paul Taylor
Costumes by John Rawlings
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
(First performed in 1975)
Madelyn Ho Kristin Draucker
Alex Clayton John Harnage
Lisa Borres Casey Jada Pearman
Shawn Lesniak Jessica Ferretti
Elizabeth Chapa
Original production made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Revival made possible by a contribution from Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown.
Preservation made possible by contributions to the Paul Taylor Repertory Preservation Project with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Prospect Hill Foundation, and Charles F. and Theresa M. Stone.
50th Anniversary Celebration of Esplanade supported by Richard Hertz and Doris Meyer.
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The taking of photographs and the use of recording devices are strictly prohibited.
Program and casting are subject to change.
Latecomers will be seated only during intermissions.
Please silence all mobile devices during the performance.
Paul Taylor Dance Company
The genesis of the Paul Taylor Dance Company occurred on May 30, 1954 in Manhattan, when dancemaker Paul Taylor first presented his choreography with five other dancers on the Lower East Side. That performance marked the beginning of 64 years of unrivaled creativity, and in the decades that followed, Mr. Taylor became a cultural icon and one of American history’s most celebrated artists and was part of the pantheon that created American modern dance. Leading the Company that bears his name until his death in 2018, Mr. Taylor molded it into one of the preeminent performing ensembles in the world. Under the artistic direction of Taylor alumnus Michael Novak, the Company continues to bring “America’s most communicative and wildly theatrical modern dance” to audiences and students around the world, with a yearly residency at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
The Company currently resides in the Lower East Side of Manhattan but sustains a global presence through its robust touring programs. Since its first European tour in 1960, the... ...Company has performed in more than 600 cities in 66 countries, representing the United States at arts festivals in more than 40 countries and touring extensively under the aegis of the U.S. Department of State. Dedicated to sharing modern dance with the broadest possible audience, the Company tours annually, both domestically and internationally, with performances and a variety of educational programs and engagement offerings. Recent tours have brought the Company to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, Germany, Italy, Oman, Peru, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey, as well as scores of cities within the United States.
The hallmark of the Company is its ever-expanding repertory. More than 170 dances exist within the Foundation’s canon, 147 of which were choreographed by Mr. Taylor. The body of Mr. Taylor’ work is titled the Taylor Collection, and is home to dances that cover a breathtaking range of topics, themes, and moods. These dances speak to the natural world and man’s place within it; display love and sexuality in all gender combinations; contemplate iconic moments in American history; and reveal the spectrum of life’s beauties, complexities, and society’s thorniest issues. While some of these dances are termed “dark” and others “light,” the majority are dualistic, mixing elements of both extremes.
In addition to the Collection, the Company commissions dance works from established and emerging choreographers. In 2022, Lauren Lovette was appointed the Company’s first Resident Choreographer, ushering in a new era and demonstrating the Company’s deepened commitment to support dance creation in the 21st century. For more information please visit www.paultaylordance.org.
PAUL TAYLOR
Paul Taylor, one of the most accomplished artists this nation has ever produced, helped shape and define America’s homegrown art of modern dance from the earliest days of his career as a choreographer in 1954 until his death in 2018. Having performed with Martha Graham’s company for several years, Mr. Taylor uniquely bridged the legendary founders of modern dance – Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey and Ms. Graham – and the dance makers of the 21st Century with whom he later worked. Through his initiative at Lincoln Center begun in 2015 – Paul Taylor American Modern Dance – he presented great modern works of the past and outstanding works by today’s leading choreographers alongside his own vast repertoire. He also commissioned the next generation of dance makers to work with his renowned Company, thereby helping to ensure the future of the art form.
Mr. Taylor continued to win public and critical acclaim for the vibrancy, relevance and power of his dances into his eighties, offering cogent observations on life’s complexities while tackling some of society’s thorniest issues. While he often propelled his dancers through space for the sheer beauty of it, he more frequently used them to comment on such profound issues as war, piety, spirituality, sexuality, morality and mortality. If, as George Balanchine said, there are no mothers-in-law in ballet, there certainly are dysfunctional families, disillusioned idealists, imperfect religious leaders, angels and insects in Mr. Taylor’s dances. His repertoire of 147 works covers a breathtaking range of topics, but recurring themes include the natural world and man’s place within it; love and sexuality in all gender combinations; and iconic moments in American history. His poignant looks at soldiers, those who send them into battle and those they leave behind prompted the New York Times to hail him as “among the great war poets” – high praise indeed for an artist in a wordless medium. While some of his dances have been termed “dark” and others “light,” the majority of his works are dualistic, mixing elements of both extremes. And while his work was largely iconoclastic, he also made some of the most purely romantic, most astonishingly athletic, and downright funniest dances ever put on stage.
Paul Taylor was born on July 29, 1930 – exactly nine months after the stock market crash that led into the Great Depression – and grew up in and around Washington, DC. He attended Syracuse University on a swimming scholarship in the late 1940s until he discovered dance through books at the University library, and then transferred to The Juilliard School. In 1954 he assembled a small company of dancers and began to choreograph. A commanding performer despite his late start in dance, he joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1955 for the first of seven seasons as soloist while continuing to choreograph on his own troupe. In 1959 he was invited to be a guest artist with New York City Ballet, where Balanchine created the Episodes solo for him.
Mr. Taylor first gained notoriety as a dance maker in 1957 with Seven New Dances; its study in non-movement famously earned it a blank newspaper review, and Graham subsequently dubbed him the “naughty boy” of dance. In 1962, with his first major success – the sunny Aureole – he set his trailblazing modern movement not to contemporary music but to baroque works composed two centuries earlier, and then went to the opposite extreme a year later with a view of purgatory in Scudorama, using a commissioned, modern score. He inflamed the establishment in 1965 by lampooning some of America’s most treasured icons in From Sea To Shining Sea, and created more controversy in 1970 by putting incest and spousal abuse center stage in Big Bertha.
After retiring as a performer in 1974, Mr. Taylor turned exclusively to choreography, resulting in a flood of masterful creativity. The exuberant Esplanade (1975), one of several Taylor dances set to music by Bach, was dubbed an instant classic, and has come to be regarded as among the greatest dances ever made. In Cloven Kingdom (1976) Mr. Taylor examined the primitive nature that lurks just below man’s veneer of sophistication and gentility. With Arden Court (1981) he depicted relationships both platonic and romantic. He looked at intimacy among men at war in Sunset (1983); pictured Armageddon in Last Look (1985); and peered unflinchingly at religious hypocrisy and marital rape in Speaking In Tongues (1988). In Company B (1991) he used popular songs of the 1940s to juxtapose the high spirits of a nation emerging from the Depression with the sacrifices Americans made during World War II. In Eventide (1997) he portrayed the budding and fading of a romance. In The Word (1998), he railed against religious zealotry and blind conformity to authority. In the first decade of the new millennium he poked fun at feminism in Dream Girls (2002); condemned American imperialism in Banquet of Vultures (2005); and stared death square in the face in the Walt Whitman-inspired Beloved Renegade (2008). Brief Encounters (2009) examined the inability of many people in contemporary society to form meaningful and lasting relationships. In this decade he turned a frightening short story into a searing drama in To Make Crops Grow and compared the mating rituals of the insect world to that of humans in the comedic Gossamer Gallants. Mr. Taylor’s final work, Concertiana, made when he was 87, premiered at Lincoln Center in 2018.
Hailed for uncommon musicality and catholic taste, Mr. Taylor set movement to music so memorably that for many people it is impossible to hear certain orchestral works and popular songs and not think of his dances. He set works to an eclectic mix that includes Medieval masses, Renaissance dances, baroque concertos, classical warhorses, and scores by Debussy, Cage, Feldman, Ligeti and Pärt; Ragtime, Tango, Tin Pan Alley and Barbershop Quartets; Harry Nilsson, The Mamas and The Papas, and Burl Ives; telephone time announcements, loon calls and laughter. Mr. Taylor influenced dozens of men and women who have gone on to choreograph – many on their own troupes – while others have gone on to become respected teachers at colleges and universities. And he worked closely with such outstanding artists as James F. Ingalls, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, William Ivey Long, Santo Loquasto, Gene Moore, Tharon Musser, Robert Rauschenberg, John Rawlings, Thomas Skelton and Jennifer Tipton. Mr. Taylor’s dances are performed by the Paul Taylor Dance Company and companies throughout the world, including the Royal Danish Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
As the subject of the documentary films Dancemaker and Creative Domain, and author of the autobiography Private Domain and Wall Street Journal essay Why I Make Dances, Mr. Taylor shed light on the mysteries of the creative process as few artists have. Dancemaker, which received an Oscar nomination in 1999, was hailed by Time as “perhaps the best dance documentary ever,” while Private Domain, originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, was nominated by the National Book Critics Circle as the most distinguished biography of 1987. A collection of Mr. Taylor’s essays, Facts and Fancies, was published by Delphinium in 2013.
Mr. Taylor received nearly every important honor given to artists in the United States. In 1992 he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and received an Emmy Award for Speaking in Tongues, produced by WNET/New York the previous year. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 1993. In 1995 he received the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts and was named one of 50 prominent Americans honored in recognition of their outstanding achievement by the Library of Congress’s Office of Scholarly Programs. He is the recipient of three Guggenheim Fellowships, and honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from California Institute of the Arts, Connecticut College, Duke University, The Juilliard School, Skidmore College, the State University of New York at Purchase, Syracuse University and Adelphi University. Awards for lifetime achievement include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship – often called the “genius award” – and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award. Other awards include the New York State Governor's Arts Award and the New York City Mayor's Award of Honor for Art and Culture. In 1989 Mr. Taylor was elected one of ten honorary members of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Having been elected to knighthood by the French government as Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1969 and elevated to Officier in 1984 and Commandeur in 1990, Mr. Taylor was awarded France’s highest honor, the Légion d’Honneur, in 2000 for exceptional contributions to French culture.
Mr. Taylor died in Manhattan on August 29, 2018, leaving an extraordinary legacy of creativity and vision not only to American modern dance but to the performing arts the world over.
MICHAEL NOVAK
Michael Novak, Artistic Director of Paul Taylor Dance Company, is carving a profound mark in the dance industry with an unwavering commitment to usher in a new era of expansion for the Taylor organization, driven by his passion for artistic innovation, inclusion, and education. Before assuming his role as Artistic Director, Novak built an impressive career as a critically acclaimed Taylor dancer, hailed by The New York Times as “a marvel of plasticity and penetrating imagination.” In 2018, after 8 years of performing with the Company, Paul Taylor appointed Novak as his successor, entrusting him with the responsibility of preserving and evolving the Company. That same year, Novak officially became Artistic Director after Paul Taylor’s death, and retired from performing shortly thereafter.
Under Novak’s direction, Taylor continues to be one of the world’s leading dance companies, with robust domestic and international touring; an annual season at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; an ever-expanding repertory that includes both Paul Taylor’s groundbreaking work alongside new choreographic voices to reflect contemporary themes and diverse perspectives; several educational programs to inspire the next generation of dancers and dance advocates; and a recent expansion to large new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, offering greater resource to the creative community in New York City, the heart of the dance universe. The New York Times hailed his inaugural season as Artistic Director as “groundbreaking and inspirational.” In 2019, he partnered with Orchestra of St. Luke’s Bach Festival, curating the first presentation in a single engagement of all six of Paul Taylor’s iconic dances set to music by the Baroque composer. In memory of Mr. Taylor, he launched “The Celebration Tour,” a multi-year international touring retrospective of the Taylor repertoire. He co-directed the Company’s first virtual live-streamed benefit, Modern is Now: Stories of our Future, hailed by many as the high bar for digital dance benefits. In 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he brought the Taylor Company to 16 venues in 11 American cities for a total of 51 performances, earning the designation "Best of Dance 2021" from The Washington Post. That same year he selected Taylor alumna and dance educator Carolyn Adams to head the Taylor School to cultivate the next generation of professional dancers and dance advocates. A few months later, he was named a Crain’s New York Business “40 Under 40” for his leadership.
In 2022, he appointed former New York City Ballet dancer Lauren Lovette to be the Taylor Company’s first Resident Choreographer, while simultaneously producing a historic restaging of Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table. This juxtaposition of presenting dance works that span centuries is central to Novak’s vision, and has garnered significant attention, elevating the modern dance idiom at Lincoln Center and around the world. He appointed Robert Battle as the second Resident Choreographer in 2024, as part of a larger vision for a new commissioning model for the Company.
Born with a passion for movement and expression, Novak’s formal dance education began at a young age, with foundational training in his hometown of Rolling Meadows, Illinois. He later studied at University of the Arts, The Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Springboard Danse Montréal, and The Taylor School. In 2005, Novak was admitted to Columbia University’s School of General Studies, where he was awarded scholarships for academic excellence. He became a member of the Columbia Ballet Collaborative, the University’s critically acclaimed resident company, and was named Artistic Associate responsible for advising on the curation of resident choreographers and directing the group’s branding and promotion.
At Columbia, Novak became immersed in the study of dance history, which ignited a passion for modern dance. He developed a keen interest in the work of François Delsarte, the 19th Century French movement theorist who codified the system linking emotion and gesture that would inspire the first generation of American modern dancers. At Columbia, he performed Mr. Taylor’s solo in Aureole, leading him to embrace the Taylor repertoire. In a 2009 program celebrating Diaghilev at Columbia’s Miller Theatre, Novak embodied Vaslav Nijinsky’s role in L’Après-midi d’un faune with an authenticity that brought him to the attention of dance critics and scholars.
Upon graduation, he received his BA in Dance magna cum laude with Departmental Honors, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. As a distinguished alumnus, he was the Keynote Speaker for the Class of 2020, and now serves as a member of their Board of Visitors.
LAUREN LOVETTE (Resident Choreographer) personifies the intertwining of dance and choreography, moving seamlessly from one to the other. Her work has been commissioned and performed by leading dance companies and festivals, including the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Vail International Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Nevada Ballet Theatre, as well as a self-produced evening entirely of her own work in which she also danced, Why It Matters.
She began creating dance as a ballet student, for a 2007 choreographic workshop showing at the School of American Ballet (SAB). Another ballet, for the 2008 workshop, was soon followed by her being selected to create a work for the 2009 New York Choreographic Institute.
In 2016, Lovette, then a relatively new principal dancer, was asked to choreograph her first piece, that then premiered at the New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala. In 2017, she choreographed for the Vail International Dance Festival, the NYCB Fall Season Gala, and the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. She was awarded the Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University in fall of 2018, and a year later created a work for the 2019 Fall Fashion Gala at NYCB. Her work at NYCB is noteworthy, forging a path for other female choreographers in an area of dance that has notably been predominantly male.
Born in Thousand Oaks, CA, Lovette began studying ballet at the age of 11 at the Cary Ballet Conservatory in Cary, NC. She enrolled at SAB as a full-time student in 2006. In October 2009, Ms. Lovette became an apprentice with NYCB and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in September 2010. Promoted to soloist in February 2013 and to principal dancer in June 2015, she stepped down from her position at the company in 2021 to embark on a career devoted to dance and choreography in more equal measure. Ms. Lovette received the Clive Barnes Award for dance in December 2012 and was the 2012-2013 recipient of the Janice Levin Award. She was invited to be the first ever Resident Choreographer for the Company in Spring 2022 and creates new work on the Company annually. In 2023, Lovette joined the Nantucket Dance Festival as Co-Artistic Director.
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ROBERT BATTLE (Resident Choreographer) began his journey to the top of the modern dance world in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Florida, where he showed artistic talent early and studied dance at a high school arts magnet program. From there he attended Miami’s New World School of the Arts and then the dance program at The Juilliard School where he met his mentor, Carolyn Adams. He danced with Parsons Dance from 1994 to 2001, and set his choreography on that company starting in 1998. Mr. Battle founded his own Battleworks Dance Company in 2002 which performed extensively at venues including The Joyce Theater, American Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow. A frequent choreographer and artist in residence at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater since 1999, he set many of his works on the Ailey Company and Ailey II. In July 2011 he was personally selected by Judith Jamison to become Artistic Director of Ailey, making him the third person to head the Company since it was founded in 1958. During his 12 years as Artistic Director he expanded the Ailey repertory with works by artists as diverse as Kyle Abraham, Mauro Bigonzetti, Ronald K. Brown, Rennie Harris, and Paul Taylor. He also instituted the New Directions Choreography Lab to help develop the next generation of choreographers. He stepped down from the position in 2023.
Mr. Battle was honored as one of the “Masters of African American Choreography” by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005, and he received the prestigious Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 2007. He is a recipient of the 2021 Dance Magazine Award and has honorary doctorates from The University of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, and Fordham University. Mr. Battle was named a 2015 Visiting Fellow for The Art of Change, an initiative by the Ford Foundation.
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BETTIE DE JONG (Rehearsal Director) was born in Sumatra, Indonesia, and in 1946 moved to Holland, where she continued her early training in dance and mime. Her first professional engagement was with the Netherlands Pantomime Company. After coming to New York City to study at the Martha Graham School, she performed with the Graham Company, the Pearl Lang Company, John Butler and Lucas Hoving, and was seen on CBS-TV with Rudolf Nureyev in a duet choreographed by Paul Taylor. Ms. de Jong joined the Taylor Company in 1962. Noted for her strong stage presence and long line, she was Mr. Taylor's favorite dancing partner and, as Rehearsal Director, was his surrogate in the studio and on tour for more than 40 years. In 2019, she received the 2019 Balasarawati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching Award from American Dance Festival for her substantial contributions to the sustainment of the Taylor legacy.
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CATHY MCCANN (Rehearsal Director) was a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for 13 years. Among the 18 dances Mr. Taylor made on her were Mercuric Tidings, Brandenburgs, Musical Offering and Sunset. She was featured in five Taylor television specials, including the 1991 Emmy Award-winning Speaking in Tongues. In 1991, Mikhail Baryshnikov invited her to join the White Oak Dance Project, where she performed works by Mark Morris and Lar Lubovitch. Ms. McCann has staged Taylor dances for American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Washington Ballet, among others, and her own choreography has been presented at New York City Center. She has been a faculty member of Adelphi University, Barnard College and Hofstra University, and has taught at the American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She was appointed Director of Taylor 2 by Mr. Novak in March 2019. She became Rehearsal Director in March 2020.
MADELYN HO, M.D. is from Sugar Land, Texas where she began dancing at Kinard Dance School with Shirley McMillan and later trained with BalletForte under the artistic direction of Michael Banigan. She graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Chemical and Physical Biology. While there, she was awarded the Artist Development Fellowship and attended the Taylor School Winter Intensive. She was a member of Taylor 2 from 2008 to 2012 and left to attend Harvard Medical School, during which time she was a guest artist for Alison Cook Beatty Dance and performed with Urbanity Dance. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Spring 2015 and completed her Doctorate of Medicine in May 2018.
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KRISTIN DRAUCKER was born in Washington D.C and grew up in York, Pennsylvania. She began her training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Dale Weary. In 2005 she was awarded a Fellowship to study Horton and Graham at The Ailey School. Since moving to New York City she has danced with Michael Mao Dance, ArmitageGone!Dance, New Chamber Ballet, and at Bard's Summerscape in Les Huguenots. In 2009 she joined the 50th Anniversary International Tour of West Side Story and in 2010 performed in Tino Sehgal's KISS at The Guggenheim Museum. Ms. Draucker began creating dances in 2014 and has shown her work in New York, Philadelphia and as part of the LaMAMA Umbria Festival in Spoleto, Italy. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Winter 2017.
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LEE DUVENECK grew up in Arlington, Texas, where he trained with Anne Oswalt and Gwen Price. In 2010, he earned his B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University, where he studied with Taylor alumna Ruth Andrien and jazz dance icon Danny Buraczeski. While in New York, he has danced for Annmaria Mazzini, Mari Meade and Jessica Gaynor. Mr. Duveneck joined Taylor 2 in 2012, and joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2017.
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ALEX CLAYTON grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, He received his B.F.A. in Dance with a Minor in Visual Arts from Stephens College in 2013. He was a Graham 2 company member from 2014 to 2015. He also performed with companies including 10 Hairy Legs, Abarukas Project, Curet Performance Project and Performa15. He served as Rehearsal Assistant for Paul Taylor American Modern Dance “Taylor Company Commissions” choreographer Lila York when she created Continuum in 2016. He joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2017.
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DEVON LOUIS who hails from Washington, DC, is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He attended the Ailey School as a recipient of the Oprah Winfrey Scholarship, and furthered his dance education at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival under the direction of Milton Myers. Mr. Louis has performed works by Alvin Ailey, Matthew Rushing, Christopher Huggins, Nathan Trice, Ronald K. Brown and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. He has also performed as a member of Ballet Hispanico’s junior company, BHdos; The Metropolitan Opera; and Nimbus Dance Works. Mr. Louis joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2018.
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JOHN HARNAGE a native of Miami, Florida, studied dance at the Miami City Ballet School and New World School of the Arts. He was a Modern Dance Finalist in the 2010 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts YoungArts competition. In 2014 he graduated from The Juilliard School, where he performed works by Pina Bausch, Alexander Ekman, Jose Limón, and Lar Lubovitch, among others. He then began working with Jessica Lang Dance, and joined the company in 2015, performing and teaching around the world. He also performed as a principal dancer in Washington National Opera's 2017 production of Aida at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Harnage joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Fall 2018.
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LISA BORRES CASEY a native of Staten Island, New York, is a graduate of LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. At the Hartt School of the University of Hartford, from which she graduated in 2011, she studied with Stephen Pier and Katie Stevenson-Nollet and danced in works by Martha Graham and Pascal Rioult. She participated in Summer Intensives at the Joffrey Ballet School, Martha Graham Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Parsons Dance, and has taught dance at The Hartt School. Since 2012, Lisa has been part of the selection process for Ballet Tech, Eliot Feld’s tuition-free school that draws its students from the NYC public school system, whose diversity reflects the full American spectrum. She has performed with Amy Marshall Dance Company, Elisa Monte Dance, DAMAGEdance, and Lydia Johnson Dance. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Spring 2019.
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JADA PEARMAN began dancing at the Motion School of Dance in Hamilton, Bermuda where she trained extensively in all styles of dance. In 2013, Jada attended The Grier School in Pennsylvania, as a pre-professional dancer under the direction of Jocelyn Hrzic. Whilst at The Grier School, she worked with choreographers such as Jon Lehrer, Melissa Rector, Kiki Lucas, Phil Orsano and many more. As a member of Grier Dance, she performed at the Palm Springs Choreography Festival, Steps on Broadway Choreography Festival and Koresh Artists Showcase. She attended summer intensives including Alvin Ailey, Point Park, University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Hubbard Street. She earned her BFA from the University of Arizona in Spring of 2019 where she performed works by Martha Graham, Larry Keigwin and others. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2019.
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SHAWN LESNIAK from New Haven, Connecticut, began dancing at the age of seven. For most of his youth, Shawn trained in various dance techniques such as ballet, jazz, modern and tap, and he danced competitively for more than a decade. He continued his training at The Ailey School and Point Park University. He has toured both internationally and domestically as a member of Parsons Dance, and has worked with choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, Matthew Neenan, Matthew Powell and Emery LeCrone. Mr. Lesniak joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Winter 2019.
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JAKE VINCENT was born in Atlantic City and grew up in Flemington, New Jersey He attended the Taylor School Summer Intensive in 2012, and received a B.F.A. in Dance and Dance Education in 2014 from Montclair State University. He performed with Rioult Dance NY, Von Howard Project, DiMauro Dance, Zullo/Raw Movement, 360Dance Company, Mazzini Dance Collective, 10 Hairy Legs, Douglas Dunn and Dancers and Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance. He joined Taylor 2 in summer 2017. He joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Winter 2020.
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JESSICA FERRETTI, originally from Port Chester, New York, started her dance training at Westchester Dance Academy. She graduated magna cum laude in 2019 from Marymount Manhattan College, where she performed works by Larry Keigwin, Jessica Lang, Michael Thomas, Loni Landon, Nancy Lushington, Pedro Ruiz, Chase Brock and Tito Del Saz. She attended the Paul Taylor Summer Intensives in 2016 and 2018 and the Martha Graham Intensive in 2017. She joined Taylor 2 in fall 2019. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2021.
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AUSTIN KELLY is from Overland Park, Kansas where he began dancing at Jody Phillips Dance Company and later studied at the University of Hartford’s The Hartt School where he graduated Summa Cum Laude earning a B.A. in Performing Arts Management with minors in Dance Performance and Business Management in 2021. He has performed works by Paul Taylor, José Limón, August Bournonville, Lar Lubovitch, and Stephen Pier. While earning his degree, he simultaneously studied Paul Taylor’s style through The Taylor School’s winter intensives, summer intensives, and virtual classes held during the Covid-19 pandemic. Austin danced with Alison Cook Beatty Dance after graduating. He joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Winter 2021.
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KENNY CORRIGAN is originally from Southwick, Massachusetts and received his BFA from Point Park University. He has performed in Carmen (Houston Grand Opera), as Carnival Boy in Carousel (Riverside Theatre), An American in Paris (First International), Queen of The Night (NYC), Rock the Ballet – Sweetbird Productions, and Rasta Thomas’s Romeo and Juliet (International). He has also been seen on America’s Got Talent (Season 9 Semi-finals), Bad Boys of Ballet, MACYS Thanksgiving Day Parade as Jimmy Fallon’s body double, Saturday Night Live (Harry Styles), and a Swarovski commercial (Karlie Kloss). Kenny joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Spring 2022.
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GABRIELLE BARNES was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, where she began her dance training at the age of 4 and furthered her studies at Florida State University’s School of Dance, graduating with a BFA in Dance in 2021. She is a dancer and Balanced Body Comprehensively Certified Pilates instructor. She has performed works choreographed by Paul Taylor, Norbert De La Cruz III, Merce Cunningham, Jawole Jo Willa Zollar, Donna Uchizono, David Parsons, Trey McIntyre, Francisco Graciano, David Grenke, and Laura Halzack to name a few. Gabby has recently performed with The Heraclitus Project, Nanm: A Robenson Mathurin Dance Company, and Laura Halzack. She received a scholarship for the Taylor School in 2022 and joined the Taylor Outreach Ensemble in 2023. Gabrielle joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2024.
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EMMY WILDERMUTH is originally from Littleton Colorado where she began her dance training at the Belliston Academy of Ballet. In 2021, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma with degrees in Modern Dance Performance and Professional Writing. While at OU, Emmy worked under the instruction of Austin Hartel, Roxanne Lyst, and Leslie Kraus and performed works by renowned artists such as Rena Butler, Jiri Kylian, Paul Taylor, and Alejandro Cerrudo. She has performed internationally with programs in Barcelona and Beijing. Throughout her professional career, Emmy has performed as a company member of Kizuna Dance, rogue wave, and NewBrese Dance Project in New York, Atlanta, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Emmy has also created a collection of works for stage and film which have been presented at festivals throughout the country under the collective name dance WILD. In 2023, Emmy and her collaborator, Catherine Messina, founded the unKEMpT Dance Festival, with a mission to provide performance opportunities for artists, regardless of background or resources. In conjunction with this festival, the pair runs an affordable class series that provides a platform for New York-based movement artists to teach classes of a variety of styles at an accessible rate. Emmy joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2024.
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ELIZABETH CHAPA is from Barrington, Illinois where she trained at Joffrey Ballet and A&A Ballet. She furthered her studies at Butler University, where she studied under Taylor alumna, Susan McGuire. In 2020, Ms. Chapa was the recipient of the Eileen Poston Dance Scholarship award. After graduating with a B.F.A in Dance Performance in 2023, she began her professional career with Ballet Fantastique. She attended the 2023 & 2024 Taylor Winter Intensive, as well as the 2024 Taylor Summer Intensive. Elizabeth joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2024.
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PAYTON PRIMER is from Dallas, Texas, where she trained at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While there, she was named a Contemporary/Modern Dance Finalist in the 2018 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts YoungArts competition. Payton graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University/The Ailey School with three degrees: BFA in Dance, Anthropology, and International Studies with a concentration in Global Affairs. She has performed works by Paul Taylor, Robert Battle, Lar Lubovitch, Peter Chu, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Omar Román De Jesús, among others. Payton has danced internationally in Armenia, Georgia, and Germany as well as nationally throughout the United States. She has also performed as a member of Gaspard and Dancers, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, Adams Company Dance, and Taylor Outreach Ensemble. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Winter 2025.
The Taylor School
Carolyn Adams, Director of Education
The Taylor School, established in 1984, is under the direction of Taylor Alumna, Carolyn Adams. As the educational arm of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, the School seeks to embrace the rich multicultural history of the dance field while providing innovative educational initiatives to empower, inspire and support the next generation of dancers, dance makers, dance audiences, and dance advocates. Through focused programming, high-quality dance education is offered to students of all ages and levels, including introductory and professional level classes, our semester-long Youth/Adult Program, and the touring Taylor Teen Ensemble. Another unique Taylor offering is the Jody and John Arnhold Tier 3 Dance Education and Audience Development Initiative, which offers free dance classes and tickets to the Company’s New York Seasons to K-12 students throughout the state of New York. The Taylor School has achieved distinction by the virtue of outstanding and dedicated faculty members - including current members of the Taylor Company, Taylor alumni and guest artists. The School has become a home base for an increasing number of young dancers in New York City who are not connected or affiliated with universities or conservatories. Students receive individual attention, mentoring, performance opportunities and a generous scholarships program. For more information visit paultaylordance.org/school