Trailer for 'Paul Taylor: Creative Domain' Shows a Choreographer at Work

Paul Taylor: Creative Domain offers viewers the chance to see a creator at work. The film mixes interviews with Taylor and those who work with him and clips of him at work. The much-honored dancer and choreographer continues to be busy and productive in his eighties, creating new works. A small sampling of his awards are the National Medal of Arts in 1993, the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1995, three Guggenheim Fellowships, numerous honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award. He was also elected to knighthood by the French government, reaching Commandeur in 1990.

Official Synopsis for Paul Taylor: Creative Domain

Paul Taylor is one of the dance world’s most elusive and admired choreographers. For 60 years he has given only glimpses into his creative process, but for his 133rd dance, ‘Three Dubious Memories,’ the audience is allowed into his studio.PAUL TAYLOR: CREATIVE DOMAIN is an in-depth exploration of how Mr. Taylor creates a single work.

The film begins with Mr. Taylor dancing in his youth, describing the nature of dance, ‘you learn to live day to day, hour to hour.’ We leap to Mr.Taylor present day, now in his 80’s, still living his life in the moment, with his mind intently focused on his next dance. His new work is a Rashomon-inspired exploration of memory, three characters entangled in a relationship, and each believing only in their own dark memory of it.

Through the lens of award-winning cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, we witness Mr. Taylor’s verbal and non-verbal communication with his dancers. Below the surface of this dance and the many works that came before, is his power of acute observation, revealing a side to his choreography that is strangely prophetic. The dominant voice is Paul Taylor’s and between the guarded and unguarded moments we see him with new eyes and new understanding.

Directed by: Kate Geis
Executive Producer: Robert Aberlin
Cinematographer: Tom Hurwitz

Paul Taylor at work