Northrop Presents
Paul Taylor Dance Company
With Live Orchestra
Saturday, Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m.
2026-27 Northrop Season
Esteemed for passionate expression and thrilling athleticism, Northrop-favorite Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to set the stage ablaze with highly charged, energetic modern dance — accompanied by a live orchestra. The dynamic ensemble, “one of the most exciting, innovative and delightful dance companies in the entire world” (The New York Times) continues to pulse with the powerhouse imagination of its namesake under the “Taylor-made” appointment of Artistic Director Michael Novak.
The vigorous program showcases three contrasting works that explore the complexities of the human condition through Taylor’s signature theatricality. It opens with the physically demanding dynamic geometry of Taylor’s “Brandenburgs” (Opus 88, 1988), an exuberant, gallant piece set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 6.
In a somber shift, the company premiere of resident choreographer Robert Battle’s “No Longer Silent” (2007) is a “searing” large-ensemble work — “arguably his strongest” according to The New York Times. The piece’s mechanical, ritualistic movement is intensified with “Ogelala” (Ballettmysterium) Op. 53 by Erwin Schulhoff, a Jewish composer whose work was banned in Nazi Germany. The evening concludes with a sensational new work by critically acclaimed choreographer Pam Tanowitz, “Messengers, Maidens and the End of Something Else,” danced to Franz Schubert’s haunting “Death and the Maiden,” with sets and costumes by visual artist Sarah Crowner.
Top image: Paul Taylor Dance Company members Alex Clayton and John Harnage. Photo © Rachel Neville.
Related Links, Quotes & Reviews
“The American spirit soars whenever Taylor’s dancers dance.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Pam Tanowitz has created dance theater of the highest caliber.” — The New York Times
“One of the most exciting, innovative and delightful dance companies in the entire world.” — The New York Times
“The Paul Taylor dancers are at the top of their form, particularly when dancing his repertory which demands speed, strength and style.” — Theater Scene
“Paul Taylor Dance Company is perhaps the most beloved and respected modern dance company in the world, famous for Taylor’s wit, its sunny expansiveness, its all-American optimism and its occasional forays into darkness and gloom.” — Dallas Morning News
“America’s most magnificent dancing machine performing America’s most deeply communicative and wildly theatrical modern dance.” — San Francisco Examiner
“Beauty is the only word for “Brandenburgs,” … [which] celebrates the good things in life. Such a radiant, seamless flow of invention that the choreography seems an entirely natural way of moving to this music.” — Mary Clarke, The Manchester Guardian
“Arguably Mr. Battle’s strongest piece … Battle echoes the rhythmic complexity of the music in his ritualistic choreography that is reminiscent of the early works of Martha Graham and, in many moments, the theatricality of Paul Taylor, yet this dance retains its taut point of view to the end.” — The New York Times review of “No Longer Silent”
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You might enjoy this performance if you love(d):
- Martha Graham Dance Company
- Limón Dance Company
- Paul Taylor Dance Company (2022)
- Aszure Barton & Ambrose Akinmusire: “A a | a B : B E N D”
This will be Paul Taylor Dance Company’s 15th performance at Northrop; the last was in February 2022.
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Event Information
- Seating: Reserved
- Performance Begins: 7:30 p.m.
- Pick 3 or More Events and Save
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Acknowledgments
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
