Volume 31, Number 9 · May 31, 1984
Real Guys
By Howard Moss
The Paul Taylor Dance Company
at The City Center Theater, New York City March 20–April 15, 1984
Historic evenings of dance exist in the imagination—Nijinsky's Faun, Ulanova's Swan, the première of Le Sacre…were they really as extraordinary, as breathtaking, as scandalous as legend would have us believe? I attended one such occasion on the evening of May 14, 1959, when Martha Graham and George Balanchine 'collaborated' for the first and only time. The work was Episodes, set to all the music Anton Webern ever wrote, and 'collaborated' is a strong word for what actually went on. Webern's scores were divided in half, like two parcels, and Graham tied up the first, and Balanchine the second. Beyond a mutual composer, if there was any connection between the first and second halves of the program it escaped me. But something odd and important happened that evening: Graham and Balanchine exchanged positions, almost as if by deliberation. It became clear that the ballet had taken over the avant-garde, and that modern dance was presenting its audience with a 'story ballet' in the old-fashioned sense, complete with magic scenic effects (a throne that turned around of its own accord), fancy costumes (all black and glitter), and even a game of battledore, in which Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots traded shots over an imaginary net.
Review, 3019 words
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