Paul Taylor Selects Choreographer Bryan Arias For Taylor Company Commission

Paul Taylor has selected Bryan Arias to create a dance on the Paul Taylor Dance Company as part of the "Taylor Company Commissions" program of Paul Taylor American Modern Dance (PTAMD).

PTAMD seeks to strengthen and expand American modern dance, one of the nation's great home-grown art forms. Mr. Taylor is commissioning the next generation of choreographers to make works on his dancers with a goal of presenting the dances at Lincoln Center, where they can be seen by large audiences at the David H. Koch Theater.

"Taylor Company Commissions give the next generation of outstanding choreographers an opportunity to work with my brilliant dancers," said Mr. Taylor. "The results thus far have been outstanding." Doug Varone has also been commissioned to create a work for the 2018 Lincoln Center Season.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Bryan Arias moved with his family to New York City at the age of nine. While growing up he was exposed to many urban and social dance styles, and received his formal dance training at La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts.

As a dancer, Mr. Arias went on to perform with Complexions Contemporary Ballet before moving to Holland to join Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT), and most recently danced with Crystal Pite's company Kidd Pivot. He has originated roles and performed in works by such notable choreographers as Jiri? Kylia?n, Ohad Naharin and Crystal Pite.

As a choreographer, Mr. Arias is the recipient of the First Place and Audience Choice awards for his work Without Notice at the Sixth Copenhagen International Choreography Competition (CICC). He was nominated for the Rolex mentor and prote?ge? award, and was winner of the Hubbard Street Dance International Commission Project, and is a recipient of the Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship award for a commission with the Charlotte Ballet in 2018. He has choreographed for Hubbard Street 2, Netherlands Dance Theater 2, Ballet Vorpommern (Germany), The Scottish Ballet and Tanz Lucerne Theater, and has upcoming commissions for Ballet Basel and The Juilliard School.

Mr. Arias will work multiple weeks from now until February 2018 to choreograph on the Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Taylor Studios on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Previous Taylor Commission recipients are Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin and Lila York, whose dances - The Weight of Smoke, Rush Hour and Continuum, respectively - were presented in the 2017 Season of PTAMD at Lincoln Center.

Paul Taylor, one of the most accomplished artists this nation has ever produced, continues to shape America's homegrown art of modern dance as he has since becoming a professional dancer and pioneering choreographer in 1954. Having performed with Martha Graham's company for several years, Mr. Taylor uniquely bridges the legendary founders of modern dance - Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey and Ms. Graham - and the dance makers of the 21st Century. Through Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, he presents great modern works of the past and outstanding works by today's leading choreographers alongside his own vast and growing repertoire. And he commissions the next generation of dance makers to work with his renowned Company, thereby helping to ensure the future of the art form. As an integral part of his vision, these dances are accompanied by live music whenever so intended by the choreographer.

Major funding provided by The SHS Foundation. Lincoln Center season made possible by Marjorie S. Isaac. Leadership support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Howard Gilman Foundation. Additional major funding provided by the Shubert Foundation, American Express, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation. Public support also provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. National Touring is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The world-renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company sets the global standard for modern dance excellence. Since the Company's founding in 1954, Paul Taylor has choreographed 146 dances, many of which have attained iconic status and are celebrated throughout the world. Mr. Taylor continues to create at least two new works annually for his 18-member Company. PTDC has performed in some 520 cities in 64 countries. The 2018 Lincoln Center season marks the Company's 64rd performing year. His autobiography, Private Domain, was published in 1987 and the Company was the subject of the documentary film Dancemaker, nominated for an Academy Award in 1999. Mr. Taylor's book of essays "mostly for fun," Facts and Fancies, was published by Delphinium in 2013. He has achieved countless accolades including two of our nation's highest artistic distinctions: the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.

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