Paul Taylor Dance Company Residency

Inspired by the enthusiastic response to the Paul Taylor Dance Company the previous year, the first major project sponsored by the newly-established Decatur Area Arts Council’s was to bring them to Decatur for a week-long residency in October 1968.

Half the $8,000 fee for the appearances was paid by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, with DAAC responsible for the other half. With only the hope of anticipated ticket sales revenue to cover its share of the cost, the DAAC committed to the project.

The dance company, including Paul Taylor himself, presented performances, lectures, and demonstrations to students, a master class, and two sold-out public performances in the Eisenhower High School Auditorium.

The project was a huge success!

Related notes:

• Several members of Theatre 7, Decatur's Community Theatre, provided staging and lighting assistance to the company.
• Dancemaker Paul Taylor, one of the seminal artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries, continues to shape the homegrown American art of modern dance that he has helped define since he became a professional dancer and pioneering choreographer in 1954.
• Comments from young students included…
  … that any of the dancers would be good at any sport because of the fine physical shape they are in.
  …that Paul Taylor himself seemed like a football player type.