Facts and fancies
Subtitle: essays written mostly for fun
By: Paul Taylor ; [foreword by Robert Gottlieb ; introduction by Suzanne Carbonneau]
Publisher: Delphinium Books
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Harrison, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 165
ISBN-13: 9781480413382; 9781883285555
Subjects: Dancers; Modern dance; Essays; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY; Entertainment & Performing Arts; PERFORMING ARTS; Theater; General
Description: "No other dancer ever looked like Paul Taylor, that strapping, elastic, goofy hunk of a guy, and no one else's dance works look like his either--not the deep, dark ones or the zany ones or the uplifting ones. His vocabulary, his tone are unique and unmistakable. The same thing is true, it turns out, about his writing. His style is utterly his own, and like all real style it isn't a calculated voice but a reflection of the way his quirky mind works."--The foreword by Robert Gottlieb "Taylor has not cultivated one writing persona, but has unleashed a raft of voices in a raft of forms: travesty, comedy, fiction, essay, satire, allegory, poetry, fable, epistle. While many of these selections are humorous, as anyone familiar with Taylor's choreography knows, even in the sunniest of his dances, there are often threatening clouds on the horizon. And the canny Taylor recognizes when to swap his Janus masks for maximum emotional wallop."--the introduction by Suzanne Carbonneau. This wonderful new book by one of the preeminent dancers and choreographers consists of a range of pieces of fact and fiction that run from thoughts on friendliness and country living to animosity and city life. Taylor's first book since his autobiography (Private Domain, 1995, Alfred A. Knopf) is a romp through his playful mind, with chapter titles such as: Why I Make Dances, The Redheaded Spiritualist, Martha Close Up, Clytemnestra, How to Tell Ballet from Modern, and In the Marcel Proust Suite of L'Hotel Continental.
Table of contents: title: Cover; Title Page; Contents; Foreword by Robert Gottlieb; Introduction by Suzanne Carbonneau; FACTS; Why I Make Dances; An Early Interview; Letters to Susie:; The Redheaded Spiritualist; A Perplexing Situation; Boat Trip; Aureole; Martha Close Up; Clytemnestra; 911; Two Bozos Seen Through Glass: An Epiphany; The Strange Story of How I Chased and Caught the Guy Who Burgled My House; Art; FANCIES; Foreword to Private Domain, by George H. Tacet, Ph. D.; Reapplication to O.H.E.C.; How to Tell Ballet from Modern; In the Marcel Proust Suite of L''Hotel Continental; Fantasy About Joining the CIA.; title: Death WishTricks of the Trade; There Is a Time; Limerick for Jennifer Tipton; The Last Thump; Love Is a Dog from Hell; Poggie in the Quiet, by Cleave Yarns; The Shirley Temple Murders (first two chapters); Michael, the Medium-Sized Bee; My Dear Dogmatist; Acknowledgments; Copyright.