Dance Professor’s Work Reviewed by The New York Times
A lost dance by modern dance master Paul Taylor, reconstructed by Associate Professor of Dance Kim Jones, was recently reviewed in The New York Times by chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay. The reconstruction was the result of an 18-month process and was funded in part by a Faculty Research Grant, a gift from the Wells Fargo Foundation, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tracer (pictured, photo by Jeff Cravotta) is one of seven works by Taylor for which no complete record of the choreography exists. One of 13 dances that Taylor created with the great American artist Robert Rauschenberg, it premiered in Paris in April 1962 and was last performed in 1964. During an extensive research process that culminated in a residency at UNC Charlotte, Jones worked with dancers of the Taylor 2 Dance Company, who premiered the reconstructed Tracer in Robinson Hall on September 30, 2016. A New York Times article on August 26 described her research process.
The Taylor 2 Dance Company performed Tracer in New York City at the 92nd Street Y on December 16 and 17. The Times review praised Jones’s reconstruction work for its “instinct and imagination as well as research.” Paul Taylor has accepted the reconstructed Tracer into the Taylor company repertory.
UNC Charlotte students have also learned Tracer and will perform the work throughout the spring semester in local high schools and on the Spring Dance Concert, April 1-4.