Posted by The Paul Taylor Dance Company
The Kennedy Center
including a postshow toast with the Paul Taylor Dance Company members and its
Artistic Director:
Michael Novak '09GS
CAA Arts Access, the Columbia School of General Studies, and ColumbiaDC invite the Columbia community in DC to an exciting evening with the Paul Taylor Dance Company!
Led by artistic director Michael Novak, The Company makes a triumphant return to the Kennedy Center as it commemorates 70 years of extraordinary dance. Experience Paul Taylor classics and the world premiere of How Love Sounds by Hope Boykin (Artistic Advisor for Dance Education at the Kennedy Center).
***Tickets are limited, non-refundable, and include access to the post-show toast with company members and Michael Novak***
Seats will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. These orchestra seats have a $57 face value.
Metro: The Foggy Bottom/George Washington University/Kennedy Center station (on the Orange, Blue, and Silver lines) is a short walk via New Hampshire Avenue. The Kennedy Center Shuttle provides regular service from this location to the venue as well.
More about the program: The Paul Taylor Dance Company makes a triumphant return to the Kennedy Center as the company commemorates 70 years of extraordinary dance. Paul Taylor emerged as a cutting-edge choreographer in the 1950s. Over six decades, he crafted 147 company works that provoke social issues and spotlight theatrical modern dance. Taylor’s astonishing legacy continues today under the leadership of Michael Novak, a company member appointed to the role of Artistic Director by Taylor before his passing in 2018.
The company ushers in a new era with the world premiere of How Love Sounds by Hope Boykin (Artistic Advisor for Dance Education at the Kennedy Center). Nine dancers perform boundary-pushing movement, all set to Boykin’s favorite songs that “sound like love.” You’ll hear the joyful timbre of Stevie Wonder, the shimmering pulse of Donna Summer, the heartbroken twang of Patsy Cline, and even the stirring orchestral music of Antonín Dvořák. Commissioned by the Kennedy Center, the work was developed as part of the Social Impact Office Hours residency program.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company will also perform two classics by Paul Taylor. In Arden Court, dancers move playfully in a romantic scene inspired by Shakespeare, performing to symphonic excerpts by baroque composer William Boyce. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, Esplanade transforms the idea of pedestrian movement into a riveting performance, set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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. More on his bio HERE