Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/91307
Sarasota News Leader November 2, 2012 this strange, slightly misanthropic, but always witty commentary on the way a man chases a woman until she captures him. Though this amusing ballet sets the mood for the evening, above all, do not be fooled: Paul Taylor is a serious and thoughtful artist. The Uncommitted continues Taylor's explo- ration of contemporary relationships; but in this complex ballet set to the effective and haunting score by Arvo Part, the popular Es- tonian composer, Taylor is in a more somber mood. Again, the costumes are by Looquasto and the patterned, flowered unitards might re- flect both the changing nature of the seasons and of relationships, the focus of this work. As the ballet opens, the 11 dancers rush onto the stage, circle in slow strides and suddenly, with the sound of a gong, rush off, leaving a solo dancer center stage. Each solo is that of a lone figure reaching, hoping and pleading for an answer. One dancer doubles into herself; a man flings himself around the stage; another punches the air: each one, alone — searching, arms stretched into the empty air and look- ing up as if to find an unseen force that will provide the hidden answer. This emotional, powerful pattern is repeated over and over with the group getting smaller and smaller, as if one by one, they leave this universe. The focus shifts in the second section of the ballet to a series of duets that reflect how easily we leave one another. Groups enter, regroup and leave — two men fight; men and women easily exchange partners in a series of duets; and in the last pas de deux, when the woman is left alone as her indifferent part- ner walks away, the story of misplaced loyal- Page 101 ty that Taylor is telling is emphasized in The Uncommitted. I am not sure if I wanted to protect myself from the anguish on stage, but though I was pulled into the extraordinary inventiveness and originality of the dance in the first sec- tion, it was the power of the music that kept me entranced in this second section. A word here about the 11 dancers who make up The Paul Taylor Dance Company: Each one has absorbed Taylor's aesthetic and move- ment vocabulary, which is a blend of modern dance techniques and ballet, and they dance with a seamless, expressive cohesiveness. Last but not least, my favorite piece of the evening, aptly titled Cascade, was pure dance: a cascading, nonstop explosion of movement to Bach's Concertos for Piano and Orches- tra. I love the music of Bach and I love to watch highly trained, beautiful dancers skim across the stage like a group of elegant pan- thers stalking their prey. Taylor's longtime partners, Jennifer Tipton (lighting) and Santo Loquasto (costumes), worked with him to suggest the quasi-Baroque period of Bach's world. The dancing, rooted in the dances of the period, retained a sense of Baroque court formality in the various duets. However, when the men danced in unison, all sense of formality was pushed aside as they followed George Smallwood, a bald, older dancer who jumped with the tensile strength of a goat. Like Taylor, who was once a large, graceful dancer, the men in his company are strong, quick and light on their feet.