Professional Lineage

Paul Taylor began training in dance at age 21.  Two years later, in 1953, he began dancing with Martha Graham's company.  While being in the company he performed important roles like Aegisthus in Clytemnestra (1958)  Hercules in Alcestis (1960), and Theseus in Phaedra (1962). He also trained in modern dance under Jose Limon and Doris Humphrey and ballet under Antony Tudor and Margaret Craske. He performed works by other modern choreographers including Charles Weidman and Merce Cunninghamg. George Balanchine create a solo for him in Episodes (1959) music by Anton Webern. It was in his work, "3 Epitaphs" that he recalls stepping away from Martha's influence and creating his own identity, he states: "Well, of course, I wanted to do everything in my work to get away from her work. I did not want to be another little Martha Graham, as much as I admired her...So I was always trying to find ways, frankly, to annoy her." Most of the stylistic choices that Taylor made in his work depicted his desire to escape from his Martha roots.  For example he described his movement style as sometimes "flat" (2-dimensionality), "dance scribbling" (emphasis on action rather than shape or line), and "lyric" (long arms.) Most of his collaborations were with musicians, most notably including John Cage and Claude Debussy. He also collaborated with his conductor Donald York, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, and set designer Alex Katz while he owned his company Paul Taylor Dance Company. Katz sums up his experience with Taylor,  “I learned a lot doing sets and costumes in terms of scale. I learned a lot from Paul in terms of gestures and relationships between people. I learned from Paul that all your pieces don’t have to be the same. I learned from Paul never to be complacent towards the public. I learned a lot from Paul in terms of styling ideas. I learned a lot from Paul that the one person you don’t want to bore is yourself.”

-AR&JL

Paul Taylor Biography

SMALL BIOGRAPHY
 Paul Taylor was born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up around the area of Washington D.C. until he moved to New York to attend Syracuse University studying painting and participating in swimming. It was up until his senior year in college that he decided to transfer to Julliard to become a dance major; auditioning in socks because he couldn't decided to be a modern or ballet dancer.His career has included in creating a company in 1954 and dancing until 1974, having created over 134 works.

One of the core contributions of Paul Taylor was his use of music in juxtaposition against the movement. He would use Ragtime, Rock, Tango, classical symphonies, and scores by Debussy and Cage among others. Paul would even use noise of telephone and sound of human laughter to accompany his dances. Among the different types of music he would pursue normal-day gestures to create his movement as well as explore how man fits into nature. He would then touch on heavier topics such: sexuality, rape, incest, religion, war, spirituality, morality, and mortality. This particular range of topics is what distinguished him from his time and modern dance predecessors.

AR & JL

Allie's History

I am Allie Rick and I am currently studying dance at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. My passion for dance began at the ripe age of three when I began taking dance classes at a local dance studio. Throughout elementary school, my studies intensified and I began to learn the basics of dance styles such as ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and hip hop. When I was about 7 I decided that along with training at the studio, I wanted to join the competitive group in the studio that travelled to different dance competitions around the country. I remember my mindset at that young age being that I wanted to learn as much about the basic technique of as many styles as possible. I am so thankful that I got to train starting at such a young age, but due to financial issues, I had to leave the studio and taking dance classes after 8^th grade. I continued to dance through high school by taking part in the high school pom pon team and performing at my high school. Although it did not consist of training in technique as intensely as I had in the past, it kept me in shape and flexible. The choice to stop training in dance in high school was one of the toughest decisions I had to make, but due to the circumstances, I had to do it for the sake of my family.

After I graduated high school I decided to attend the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee with the intention of majoring in Communication. I have always had a passion for talking and communicating with others and thought that studying communication would make me happy. It didn’t; something was missing. Dance. I decided to audition for the dance department my second semester at school, and it was definitely the right choice in hindsight. I am finally doing what I love again and learning more and more about what dance means to me. From an excerpt of a paper I recently wrote about what dance means:

“To me, dance isn’t just what I do, it’s who I am. Dance isn’t solely an art form; but a lifestyle, a best friend, a mentor, and a continuous journey that allows me to grow and create the person that I am today and who I will be in the future. Unlike many things in life, dance is non-perishable and produces feelings and emotions that no one could ever take away from me. It is always there to lift me up on a bad day, listen to my story, and share it with an audience without any words. Dance is my notebook where I record my life; my laboratory where I discover my inner-self; and my home where I am happy and at peace. Dance is a thrill and an excitement that never gets old, boring, or tired; there is always a new goal to obtain. Dance is my language that allows me to communicate with the world and opens the door to many experiences and opportunities.”

I want to further develop technique and an understanding of dance in the next year that I am hear and carry that out into my career after UW-Milwaukee. Dealing with the obstacles and the triumphs life throws at you really inspires me in my movement, and I plan to make a piece that describes that feeling and connection for my senior project. I am ready to soak in as much as I can to be the best dancer I can be.

Jose's History

I am Jose Angel Luis. I was born in Veracruz, Mexico in 1990 and four years later I moved to Racine, Wisconsin. When I was five years old I went back to Mexico for an extended period of time and as a result did not finish kindergarten. Then I came back entering first grade and taking bilingual classes all five years and ESL until third grade. In my elementary years I was put in small dance performances, one of which I remember being a flower. I can’t say much else of it, except I was a yellow flower. Throughout the end of my elementary years I would devotedly watch S Club 7, a British pop group that had their own television series. Not only did it help me learn English quicker, but that is when I started to learn choreography and create my own when they didn’t have a dance for a song I liked. Ironically, I would hate performing anything live.

In middle school I refused to go to school dances, and refused to go on stage in my drama class. Middle school was a huge transitional moment for me, because although some of my bilingual classmates from elementary school still stayed in those classes until late middle school, I was able to progress into regular classes; as a result, losing part of the group of people I came from. High school then came, and it wasn’t until my sophomore year that I decided I wanted to pursue dance.

It was through my involvement in theater that I was introduced to improv. My teacher, Nancy Gibson was in contact with Josie Henningfield and Sofi Askenazi and brought them to do small dance workshops with us. Although that sparked my interest in movement, it wasn’t until witnessing Alvin Ailey’s “Revelation” in Chicago that I knew I wanted to be a dancer. It is least to say that improv and contact improv highly influence who I am as a mover, with of course, some theatrical influences. As I finished high school and remained in the theater program, I got more involved in choreography and eventually ended choreographing a self-written musical my senior year.

I set high goals for myself, but really I just look at these goals as daily responsibilities. I have to do the work to get something out of it, and if it is something I am really curious about I devote myself completely. If there is one trait that I would admire and hate about me is that I am a pusher, meaning that I keep going until I burn out. It pays off, but it is quite evident among my peers and mentors. Yet, this is something that I value about dancers; we are always working and learning more about our craft.