Paul Taylor Dance Company

Choreographer Paul Taylor is an icon of modern dance. He founded the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954, while still dancing himself. Since then, Taylor has made (the term he prefers to choreographed) 137 dances. The Taylor Company has toured the world and gained international acclaim.
 
The Paul Taylor Dance Company began a five-year Repertory Preservation Project funded by the NEA in 1992. The goal was to preserve the history of the company and of Taylor’s work. Winthrop Group became involved in 1996. Winthrop archivists processed the approximately 250 cubic feet of documents, moving images, photos, memorabilia and choreography notes. An NHPRC grant-funded project added an online finding aid.
 
The RPP project was groundbreaking in its scope as the Company set out to capture their intellectual property. To that end, they chose to not only preserve the materials that still existed, but to supplement them by re-staging and filming 65 dances. They hoped that the project would serve as a prototype for other dance companies to preserve their history.
 
Having the collections organized and available has allowed for an interesting variety of uses. These include licensing Taylor’s work to other companies, Taylor Company publicity, television programs and a 50th anniversary book, Dancemaker at Work. Internally, the dancers are able to use the various materials to perfect their movements. A dancer may use a still photograph to study a specific movement as the still image captures a particular moment that may be lost in video. This project should keep the artistry of Paul Taylor accessible and relevant for a very long time.