Paul Taylor Dance Foundation
in association with
The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College
Presents
PAUL TAYLOR
DANCE COMPANY
ERAN BUGGE CHRISTINA LYNCH MARKHAM
MADELYN HO KRISTIN DRAUCKER
LEE DUVENECK ALEX CLAYTON
DEVON LOUIS JOHN HARNAGE
MARIA AMBROSE LISA BORRES
JADA PEARMAN SHAWN LESNIAK
JAKE VINCENT JESSICA FERRETTI
AUSTIN KELLY KENNY CORRIGAN
Founding Artistic Director
PAUL TAYLOR
Artistic Director
MICHAEL NOVAK
Resident Choreographer
LAUREN LOVETTE
Rehearsal Directors
BETTIE DE JONG CATHY MCCANN
Principal Lighting Designers
JENNIFER TIPTON
JAMES F. INGALLS
Principal Set & Costume Designers
SANTO LOQUASTO
WILLIAM IVEY LONG
Executive Director
JOHN TOMLINSON
Leadership funding provided by Stephen Kroll Reidy.
Lincoln Center Season made possible by Marjorie S. Isaac.
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.
Public support provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
@paultaylordance
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Somewhere in the Middle
Music of Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, and Bill Evans
Choreography by Amy Hall Garner
Costumes by Mark Eric
Set by Donald Martiny
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
(First performed in 2022)
Madelyn Ho Lee Duveneck
Devon Louis John Harnage
Maria Ambrose Lisa Borres
Jada Pearman Austin Kelly
Commissioned in part by NextMove Dance at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia, PA, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance.
Somewhere in the Middle is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Choreographer fee and dancers’ salaries for this work were supported in part by the National Endowment of the Arts.
-INTERMISSION-
Piazzolla Caldera
“…The flawed confusion of human beings…worn away as by the labor of hands, impregnated with sweat and smoke, smelling of lilies and of urine, splashed by the labor of what we do, legally or illegally…as impure as old clothes, as a body, with its food stains and its shame, with wrinkles, observations, dreams, wakefulness, prophecies, declarations of love and hate, stupidities, shocks, idylls, political beliefs, negations, doubts, affirmations…” — Pablo Neruda
Music by Astor Piazzolla and Jerzy Peterburshsky
Choreography by Paul Taylor
Set and Costumes by Santo Loquasto
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
(First performed in 1997)
Eran Bugge Christina Lynch Markham
Kristin Draucker Lee Duveneck
Alex Clayton Devon Louis
John Harnage Jada Pearman
Shawn Lesniak Jake Vincent
Jessica Ferretti Kenny Corrigan
El Sol Sueño | full cast
Concierto Para Quinteto | Ms. Bugge, Ms.Ferretti, Mr. Corrigan
Celos | Mr. Clayton, and Mr. Harnage, Ms. Pearman and Mr. Duveneck
Escualo | full cast
Commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Altria Group, Inc. and Brenda and Keith Brodie.
Original production also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, The Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, and Carole K. Newman.
Preservation made possible by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown
Music performed by Gidon Kremer from the recording “Hommage à Piazzolla” on Nonesuch Records. Special thanks to Robert Hurwitz.
-INTERMISSION-
Brandenburgs
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concertos #6 (movements 1 & 2) and #3
Choreography by Paul Taylor
Costumes by Santo Loquasto
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
(First performed in 1988)
John Harnage
Eran Bugge Madelyn Ho
Lee Duveneck Alex Clayton
Devon Louis Maria Ambrose
Shawn Lesniak Jake Vincent
Original production made possible in part by contributions from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Wallace Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Ida and William Rosenthal Foundation, Inc.
Preservation made possible by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown and contributions to the Paul Taylor Repertory Preservation Project with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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.
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. Over 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 other “light,” the majority are dualistic, mixing elements of both extremes.
In addition to the Collection, the Company also 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, 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, the six-member Taylor 2 Dance Company (begun in 1993), 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 became the second Artistic Director in the history of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation in September 2018, having been selected by Mr. Taylor months earlier to succeed him upon his death. A critically acclaimed dancer of the Company from 2010 to 2019, Novak was nominated for the Clive Barnes Foundation Dance Award for his debut Season. During his career with the Company, he performed fifty-six roles in fifty Taylor dances, thirteen of which were made on him, and new roles in several works by other leading choreographers.
Under Novak’s direction, the Paul Taylor Dance Company continues to be one of the world’s premier dance companies, with robust domestic and international touring; an ever-expanding repertory that includes the Taylor canon, historical masterpieces, and works he commissions; and an annual engagement at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. 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. And during the height of the Covid pandemic, he brought the Taylor Company to sixteen venues in eleven American cities for a total of fifty-one performances, earning the designation "Best of Dance 2021" from The Washington Post. His 2021 selection of Taylor alumna and dance educator Carolyn Adams to head the Taylor School underscored his commitment to preparing and cultivating the next generation of professional dancers and dance advocates and broadening the Foundation’s impact in arts education. In 2022 Novak selected former New York City Ballet dancer Lauren Lovette to be the Taylor Company’s first Resident Choreographer.
Raised in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, Novak began studying dance at age ten and by age seventeen was offered a Presidential Scholarship to attend The University of the Arts in Philadelphia to pursue training in jazz and ballet. The following year he undertook an apprenticeship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society. 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, which led 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.
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.
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.
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.
ERAN BUGGE is from Oviedo, Florida where she began her dance training at the Orlando Ballet School, and went on to study at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford under the direction of Peggy Lyman, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Ballet Pedagogy in 2005. She attended The Taylor School and the 2004 and 2005 Taylor Summer Intensives. Ms. Bugge has performed in works by Amy Marshall, Katie Stevinson-Nollet and Jean Grand-Maître. She was also a member of Full Force Dance Theatre and the Adam Miller Dance Project. In 2012, Ms. Bugge was the recipient of the Hartt Alumni Award. In 2018, she danced in the feature film The Chaperone choreographed by John Carrafa. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Fall 2005.
CHRISTINA LYNCH MARKHAM grew up in Westbury, New York and began dancing with Lori Shaw, and continued at Holy Trinity High School under the direction of Catherine Murphy. She attended Hofstra University on scholarship and performed works by Cathy McCann, Karla Wolfangle, Rachel List, Robin Becker, and Lance Westergard. During college she also trained at The Taylor School, and attended the Company’s Summer Intensive Program. After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2004, she danced with the Amy Marshall Dance Company, Stacie Nelson and The Dance Theater Company. She joined Taylor 2 in Summer 2008, and made her debut with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Summer 2013.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
MARIA AMBROSE grew up in Meredith, New Hampshire and began her dance training at age four under the direction of Sally Downs. She furthered her training with Edra Toth and performed with the Boston Dance Company. She attended George Mason University where she was awarded the Harriet Mattusch Special Recognition in Dance. And graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance Performance in 2011. She has performed with Elisa Monte Dance, The Classical Theatre of Harlem, LEVYdance, AThomasProject, and Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance. In 2018, she traveled to China as an ambassador for Parsons Dance to teach dance to young musicians, and then to Japan as part of the Dance International Program. She began studying at The Taylor School in 2012, and joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Spring 2019.
LISA BORRES 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 Pick 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 – SweetbirdProductions, 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.
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 uniquely 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 PTDC, 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
Available on DVD: Dancemaker, the Academy Award-nominated documentary about Paul Taylor, Paul Taylor Dance Company in Paris, featuring stage performances of Brandenburgs and Beloved Renegade, and Paul Taylor Creative Domain, a behind-the-scenes documentary about Mr. Taylor’s enigmatic creative process. Copies of Mr. Taylor’s acclaimed autobiography, Private Domain; and Paul Taylor Dance Company souvenir books, are also available. To order, call (212) 431-5562.
551 Grand Street, New York, New York 10002 | paultaylordance.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Founder
PAUL TAYLOR
Artistic Director
MICHAL NOVAK
Nancy H. Coles, MD, Chair
Richard E. Feldman, Esq., Vice Chair
Douglas L. Peterson, Vice Chair
Stephen Kroll Reidy, Vice Chair
Joseph A. Smith, Treasurer
Elise Jaffe, Secretary
Robert E. Aberlin
Carolyn Adams, Trustee Emeritus
Emad Bibawi
Sally Brayley Bliss, Trustee Emeritus
Deirdre K. Dunn
John Philip Falk
Jonna Mackin
Adam MacLean
Yvonne Rieber
William A. Shutzer
C.F. Stone III
Stephen Weinroth
Max R. Shulman – Counsel
John Tomlinson, Executive Director
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Dr. Robert A. Scott, Chair
Christine Ramsay Covey, Secretary
Lisa Brothers Arbisser, MD
Chance Blakeley
Sally Brayley Bliss
Joan C. Bowman
Darcy Gilpin
Dr. John D. Golenski
Joshua Jeffery
Maria Kantorowicz
Ambassador Kenton Keith
Roger A. Kluge
Lee Manning-Vogelstein
Meloney Moore
Hal Rubenstein
Max R. Shulman
ADMINISTRATION
Artistic Director: Michael Novak
Music Director: David LaMarche
Resident Choreographer: Lauren Lovette
Rehearsal Director: Bettie de Jong
Rehearsal Director: Cathy McCann
Production Stage Manager: Maddie Kunert
Lighting Supervisor: Joe Naftal
Wardrobe Supervisor: Marlene Hamm
Executive Director: John Tomlinson
Director of Finance: Sarah Schindler
Director of Development: Jenna Jacobs
Director of Education: Carolyn Adams
Company Manager: Bridget Welty
Director of Operations: Noah Aberlin
Director of Tour Engagements: Lisa Conlon
Marketing Manager: Colin Knapp
Senior Development Associate: Dorcas Yip
Development Specialist: Michael Apuzzo
Taylor School Manager: Amanda Stevenson
Director of Licensing: Richard Chen See
Taylor School Associate: Olivia Passarelli
Taylor School Administrator: Nadia Hannan
Press Agent: Lisa Labrado
Special Executive Advisor: Lucie André
Marketing Counsel: Alan Olshan
Orthopedic Consultant: David S. Weiss, MD, NYU Langone Health
Archival Consultant: Linda Edgerly, The Winthrop Group
Auditor: Michael Wallace, Lutz & Carr
Travel Agent: Michael Retsina, Altour