Taylor, Paul (Paul Belville Taylor), 1930–2018, American modern-dance choreographer, b. Wilkinsburg, Pa. Taylor trained as an artist before he received scholarships to study dance. In 1953 he made his debut, as a founding member of the Merce Cunningham company, and performed his first dance composition. From 1955 to 1961 he won acclaim with the Martha Graham company as a leading soloist, noted for his power and athleticism, and as the creator of witty and innovative avant-garde dances, often involving everyday movement, for his Paul Taylor Dance Company, which he had formed in 1954. He choreographed 147 works, including Jack and the Beanstalk (1954), Aureole (1962), Orbs (1966), Esplanade (1975), Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal) (1980), Sunset (1983), Company B (1991), The Word (1998), Arabesque (2000), Promethean Fire (2002), Beloved Renegade (2008), Brief Encounters (2009), and Concertiana (2018). His later works are generally less radical than his earlier ones.
See his autobiography, Private Domain (1987); The Paul Taylor Dance Company (video, 1978).
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