Taylor 2 Dance Company: Residency and public performance at UBCFA

The Center for the Arts, University at Buffalo will present Taylor 2 Dance Company on Thursday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. during the group's upcoming residency (March 7-11). There will be a public performance in the Mainstage Theatre, located at the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

The performance is sponsored by M&T Bank.

Paul Taylor has made some of the most purely romantic, astonishingly athletic, and downright funniest dances ever put on stage. More than a half-century ago, he became the youngest member of the pantheon that created American modern dance. Now in his 80th year - an age when most artists' best work is behind them - Taylor is acclaimed for the vibrancy, relevance and power of his dances.

Taylor established Taylor 2 Dance Company in 1993 to ensure that his works could be seen by audiences all over the world, unhindered by economic or technical limitations. Taylor looked back to the 1954 origins of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for the structure of his new group: six professionals with a particular gift for his style who perform his work throughout the world.

In selecting repertoire for Taylor 2 Dance Company, Taylor chooses dances that span the broad spectrum of his work. Several of the dances performed by Taylor 2 Dance Company have been reworked from the Paul Taylor Dance Company to enable a smaller ensemble of dancers to perform them.

About their performance, The New York Times has said, "Taylor 2 is kind of a miracle. ... All of the dancers are considerable talents who unite fearlessness with skill."

Taylor 2 Dance Company will be in residency at the Center for the Arts March 7-11. Since 1997 the center has conducted more than a dozen professional dance outreach projects to provide arts education for more than 24,000 students at schools primarily in the City of Buffalo. Western New York public school students have been afforded the opportunity to experience a live professional dance performance in their schools, free of charge, by some of the world's finest companies. In addition, UB dance majors benefit from master classes with members of these companies. Residency activities have also been expanded to Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, the partner hospitals in the Center's Arts in Healthcare Initiative.

Tickets for Taylor 2 Dance Company are $23.50 general admission, and $13 students (any school). Tickets are available at the Center Box Office (Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.) and all Ticketmaster locations including ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets, call 1-800-745-3000.

For more information, call 645-2787.