Macho Men, Virgins Float Through Taylor's Dream Dances

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 6, 2008.

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Paul Taylor's latest pair of ballets, ``De Suenos'' (Of Dreams) and ``De Suenos que seRepiten'' (Of Recurring Dreams), reflect a passion for Mexico that dates back to his devil-may-care teens, when he first toured the country on a bicycle.

The dances, set to an aural kaleidoscope of Mexican music and street noise, are being performed in the Taylor company's current New York City Center season. Taylor meshes the phantasmagorical imagery and customs of ancient Mexico, particularly those associated with the Day of the Dead, with a tourist's notion of festive Mexico's colorful gaiety and his own belief that life harbors terrible pits of darkness.

Annmaria Mazzini and Lisa Viola perform in the Paul Taylor Dance Company production "De Suenos (of Dreams)" in New York on Aug. 17, 2007. Photographer: Tom Caravaglia/Paul Taylor Dance Company via Bloomberg News

``De Suenos'' is a pageant in which stock figures parade and pose as if for a charade. The dancing is secondary and forgettable, though it bears the familiar Taylor imprint of grotesque beauty. The only remarkable achievement of the piece lies in the choreographer's capturing the way dreams flow from one happening to another, unhampered by logic.

Armed with a candy skull, Richard Chen See represents Death. He faces off against Laura Halzack's serene Virgin of Guadalupe, clothed and crowned in gold, expressing her pure goodness by an impeccable classical-ballet adagio.

Over the Top

Robert Kleinendorst almost goes over the top as a male transvestite prostitute, forced by a handful of macho peasants into a sombrero-crushing hat dance. Their girlfriends shift between dulcet waltzing and cowering before a raised machete. Michael Trusnovec's Deer Dance, though made to look like a National Geographic misfire, is poignant just the same.

The whole business is a picture postcard on which the customary scrawl of ``Wish you were here'' could be read as provocative or at least wickedly enigmatic.

Julie Tice and Sean Mahoney perform in the Paul Taylor Dance Company production "De Suenos Que Se Repiten (of Recurring Dreams)" in New York on Jan 18, 2008. Photographer: Tom Caravaglia/Paul Taylor Dance Company via Bloomberg News

``De Suenos que se Repiten'' echoes the previous piece. It begins exactly where the other ended, with a spotlight singling out the grinning skull of Death. He now rules over an octet of henchpeople, given to faux-primitive rituals. The macabre aspect of a repeated nightmare gives way to a series of odd couplings, each ending in a meaningful kiss on the mouth.

The last duo, the most conventionally romantic, is the high point of the piece: Together, Annmaria Mazzini and Kleinendorst make every lift an embrace.

Suddenly the full cast assembles and it's fiesta time, with overtones of a Broadway musical. Death may fell everyone with his machete, but the Virgin of Guadalupe resurrects them for a few moments of ordinary street life as the curtain falls.

Santo Loquasto's costumes and scenery, typically inventive and gaudy, tend to overwhelm the choreography. The music has been assembled by the Kronos Quartet and recorded on its CD ``Nuevo.'' Taylor wryly claims he made the second ``Suenos'' piece because there was still material on the disk that he hadn't used.

Neither dance really had much of a lasting impact, but I found myself momentarily beguiled by them anyway.

At City Center, 131 W. 55th St., through March 16. Information: +1-212-581-1212; http://www.nycitycenter.org.

© 2008 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.