In Dantean spirit

To celebrate 50 years of hard-won existence, the Paul Taylor company is touring each of the 50 states. During its first week of three in New York, the dancing has been spectacular. Patrick Corbin, sidelined last year with a shoulder injury, is back in the central role of “Aureole” as well as in parts that he originated, and his deep focus is a joy. Richard Chen See, in the Dan Wagoner-part, whose choreography requires the dancer to perform almost entirely in demi-plié-rebounds from the stage floor as if it were a mattress of eiderdown.

Michael Trusnovec, a virtuoso who inflames whatever he dances, seems to be at the peak of his career.
The women in the company display Amazonian strength and stamina, as well as individuality. In the dark second section of “Esplanade,” where a family-frozen into isolated fragments by some unspecific shame-sheds its humanity to become a bonded herd of cattle, Heather Berest’s double contraction of heaving sorrow was so huge and exact that it evoked Martha Graham. Taylor veterans Annmaria Maz­zini, Silvia Nevjinsky, Julie Tice, and Lisa Viola produce dance effects that can be as dazz­ling in their register as some of those by the Taylor men from the ...