The Mary B. Martin School of the Arts will be presenting a screening of “Paul Taylor: Creative Domain”. The documentary looks at the legendary American choreographer Paul Taylor as he pieces together “Three Dubious Memories”, his 133rd dance in his 50-plus year career.
The film has been well-received by critics, earning a New York Times “Critics’ Pick” and a 7.5/10 rating on IMDb.com. Sarah Kaufman of The Washington Post writes, “Unlike many dance documentaries, ‘Paul Taylor: Creative Domain’ doesn’t fetishize every aspect of the dancer’s day. It zeroes in on a mystery. The mystery is how Taylor, one of the greatest modern-dance choreographers, uses a simple formula of people plus time to make a work of art that pulls you in like an undertow.”
Another writer, The New York Times’ Rachel Saltz, states of the documentary, “We see the hard work, of course, but also the practical solutions to practical problems, as Mr. Taylor moves bodies this way and that, giving simple commands.
Through it all, Mr. Taylor’s creative mysteries remain intact; a master of the casual and the vernacular (a good way to learn about movement, he says, is to watch football halftime shows), he nonetheless approaches the mystical.”
The Emmy-winning director of the documentary, Kate Geis, will be in attendance to answer questions after the film.
“[Taylor] is a private person in general and private about his creative process, so the opportunity to make a film focusing simply on how he makes a dance was a dream come true for everyone who worked on the film,” states Geis.
Preceding the showing will be a performance from the Mountain Movers Dance Company, based here at East Tennessee State University. The group’s director, Jen Kintner, makes a strong emphasis on the locality of the Mountain Movers.
“The improvisation is just to allow folks to see that modern dance is not only on big concert stages and created in big cities,” Kintner says, “We will have structured improvisations that use that space, allowing us to interact with each other and to create new movement in the moment.”
The event is set to take place in the Martha Street Culp Auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 15. The dance performance begins at 6:30 p.m. and the screening of the film will follow at 7:00.
In addition, members of Paul Taylor’s own dance company, Taylor 2, will be performing at the Culp Auditorium on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
For more information on Mary B. Martin School of the Arts or the event, call 423-439-TKTS (8587) or go to www.etsu.edu/martin.
