On the weekend of October 15 & 16, 2016, Taylor 2 returned to the Schimmel Center at Pace University to bring some of our favorite Paul Taylor pieces to a cozy and intimate setting. Taylor 2 was established in 1993 as a way to ensure Mr. Taylor's work could be seen by all audiences, even in the smallest of venues.

Opening night on August 1st 2016 of a shared week at the Joyce presented by the venerable American Dance Festival got the six-day run off to an auspicious start. Provincial Dances Theatre, a company from Russia, treated dancegoers to two mesmerizing contemporary works by Tatiana Baganova that will also be on the boards August 2nd and 3rd. From August 4th to 6th, the Miami-based Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre will complete the season.

Performing for the first time in more than a decade, the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival welcomed The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO) to the Prospect Park Bandshell on Saturday, June 25th 2016. This evening's program tailored specifically for the festival featured cutting edge choreography by some of the field's leading names such as Ronald K. Brown, Ray Mercer, and Christopher L. Huggins.

Graham 2 opened its 2016 New York season on June 2, 2016 with a special benefit performance honoring the renowned choreographer and former Graham Company alumna, Patricia Birch.

Two very different organizations, the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation (IDDF) and the Nietzsche Circle, came together for a unique collaboration in a program entitled An Affirmation of Life: Friedrich Nietzsche, Isadora Duncan, and the Making of Modern Dance. This partnership brought about a nice blend of performances and lectures as the project sought to explore dance and its connection to philosophy.

This weekend, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance (PTAMD) concluded its 2nd season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center with both old and new choreography. Since the company made its shift from their former name, Paul Taylor Dance Company in 2014, Mr. Taylor has developed a new initiative: To present his own classics and premieres, while presenting great works in the history of modern dance and outstanding works by today's leading choreographers. Another integral part of Mr. Taylor's vision is for the dances to be accompanied by live music, thus sparking the partnerships with the renowned Orchestra of St. Luke's. This particular season seems to be just the beginning of preserving not only his legacy, but the essence of American modern dance.

On the evening of March 20th 2014, as part of the Diamond Anniversary celebration of the Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Koch Theater, the troupe offered a triple bill that included a recent world premiere and an enduring favorite from 1982. The first two offerings, choreographed in 2012 and 2013 respectively, earned only tepid applause from everyone in the audience including me. The closing piece, on the other hand, rightfully received a nearly thunderous ovation and I was clapping as enthusiastically as the rest of the dancegoers. I only hope that this disparity between the work that was choreographed over three decades ago and those more newly created is not an indication that Taylor, at 83, is no longer turning out the top quality dances that secured him a place in the pantheon of great American modern dance pioneers.