Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY unveils world premieres by Lauren Lovette and Robert Battle, expanding its dance vocabulary in the process

• By drediman
• November 13, 2025
• No Comments

This fall, Paul Taylor Dance Company presented two world premieres, both of which were unveiled earlier this week at the troupe’s gala performance at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. These new works are the creations, respectively, of Lauren Lovette and Robert Battle — the company’s two resident choreographers — and on Tuesday night, these notable premieres appeared alongside a Paul Taylor classic (Sunset). Overall, the program saw the storied company striving to maintain its relevance by expanding its dance vocabulary beyond the sphere of its namesake choreographer’s iconic and wholly distinctive dance and storytelling aesthetic.

Opening up the program was the evening’s first world premiere, Lovette’s eye-catching stim. Set to John Adams’ driving pseudo-synth composition Fearful Symmetries, the piece possesses echoing strains of Nijinsky’s groundbreaking ballet The Rite of Spring, as well as references to more contemporary works such as Christopher Wheeldon DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse. The curtain rises on the company in total synchronicity, in essence a well-oiled society of bodies. But as the piece unfolds, Lovette skillfully shows a slow but inevitable disintegration within the dancers’ ranks, which was most potently manifested by Elizabeth Chapa’s emotionally fraught performance as a woman under increasing — albeit vague — duress. There is no doubt that stim is one of the choreographer’s most confident efforts to date. That being said, the piece occasionally loses focus and overarching cohesion, opting at times for silly but unnecessary quirkiness instead of driving the stakes higher.

Then there was a quick foray into the exquisitely suggestive theatricality of Taylor’s Sunset (featuring a striking set by visual artist Alex Katz, a frequent collaborator of the choreographer’s) — in my mind, a sort of somber companion piece to Company B — which was followed by the bill’s second world premiere, Battle’s crowd-pleasing Under the Rhythm. As the first new work created for Taylor by Ailey’s former artistic director, it’s a promising entry, exhibiting clear intent and focus — even if the overall effect is a tad on the nose. Using a tapestry of jazz and blues songs as its musical backdrop, the piece is an homage to the underlying human experiences that inform movement and dance. These were represented by personal and intimate choreographic episodes, in which Battle taps into the soulful Ailey aesthetic with which he is obviously deeply familiar (particularly expressive was the solo by Patrick Gamble). Otherwise, the ensemble-driven choreography is intentionally superficial — punchy and snappy, with flashes of cheeky wit that enthused the audience.

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PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY
Dance
David H. Koch Theater
Approximately 2 hours (with one intermission)
Fall season continues through November 23