PHOTO CREDITS (top to bottom | left to right) Header photo of Artistic Director Michael Novak with Rehearsal Director Cathy McCann, Whitney Browne; portrait of Paul Taylor by Jack Mitchell; portraits of Novak, de Jong, and Cathy McCann by Bill Wadman; portrait of Carolyn Adams by Rob Kahn.
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Lauren Lovette
Lauren Lovette personifies the intertwining of dance and choreography, moving seamlessly from one to the other. Her work has been commissioned and performed by leading dance companies and festivals, including the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Vail International Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Nevada Ballet Theatre, as well as a self-produced evening entirely of her own work in which she also danced, Why It Matters.
She began creating dance as a ballet student, for a 2007 choreographic workshop showing at the School of American Ballet (SAB). Another ballet, for the 2008 workshop, was soon followed by her being selected to create a work for the 2009 New York Choreographic Institute.
In 2016, Lovette, then a relatively new principal dancer, was asked to choreograph her first piece, that then premiered at the New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala. In 2017, she choreographed for the Vail International Dance Festival, the NYCB Fall Season Gala, and the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. She was awarded the Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University in fall of 2018, and a year later created a work for the 2019 Fall Fashion Gala at NYCB. Her work at NYCB is noteworthy, forging a path for other female choreographers in an area of dance that has notably been predominantly male.
Born in Thousand Oaks, CA, Lovette began studying ballet at the age of 11 at the Cary Ballet Conservatory in Cary, NC. She enrolled at SAB as a full-time student in 2006. In October 2009, Ms. Lovette became an apprentice with NYCB and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in September 2010. Promoted to soloist in February 2013 and to principal dancer in June 2015, she stepped down from her position at the company in 2021 to embark on a career devoted to dance and choreography in more equal measure. Ms. Lovette received the Clive Barnes Award for dance in December 2012 and was the 2012-2013 recipient of the Janice Levin Award.
John Harnage in Lauren Lovette’s Solitare, photo by Whitney Browne
Lee Duveneck in Lauren Lovette’s Pentimento, photo by Ron Thiele
Portrait of Lauren Lovette by Ruven Afanador
Bettie de Jong
Bettie de Jong was born in Sumatra, Indonesia, and in 1946 moved to Holland, where she continued her early training in dance and mime. Her first professional engagement was with the Netherlands Pantomime Company. After coming to New York City to study at the Martha Graham School, she performed with the Graham Company, the Pearl Lang Company, John Butler and Lucas Hoving, and was seen on CBS- TV with Rudolf Nureyev in a duet choreographed by Paul Taylor. Ms. de Jong joined the Taylor Company in 1962. Noted for her strong stage presence and long line, she was Mr. Taylor’s favorite dancing partner and, as Rehearsal Director, was his surrogate in the studio and on tour for more than 40 years. In 2019, she received the 2019 Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching Award from American Dance Festival for her substantial contributions to the sustainment of the Taylor legacy.
Sharon Kinney, Renee Kimball, and Bettie de Jong in Piece Period, photo by Martha Swope.
Cathy McCann
Cathy McCann was a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for 13 years. Among the 18 dances Mr. Taylor made on her were Mercuric Tidings, Brandenburgs, Musical Offering and Sunset. She was featured in five Taylor television specials, including the 1991 Emmy Award-winning Speaking in Tongues. In 1991, Mikhail Baryshnikov invited her to join the White Oak Dance Project, where she performed works by Mark Morris and Lar Lubovitch. Ms. McCann has staged Taylor dances for American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Washington Ballet, among others, and her own choreography has been presented at New York City Center. She has been a faculty member of Adelphi University, Barnard College and Hofstra University, and has taught at the American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She was appointed Director of Taylor 2 in March 2019, and became Rehearsal Director in May 2020.
Ken Tosti and Cathy McCann in Roses, photo by Jack Mitchell.
Carolyn Adams
Carolyn Adams is a renowned dance educator who has dedicated her life to transforming the lives of dancers, dance-lovers, and students of all interests, abilities and backgrounds. Her insights on modern dance, coupled with a passion for inspiring others to find and nurture their artistry, provides the leadership for Taylor School students to advance. Ms. Adams joined the Paul Taylor Company in 1965. During her 17-year career with the Company, she created roles in such Taylor masterpieces as Esplanade, Airs, ClovenKingdom, ArdenCourt, Polaris, and BigBertha, and distinguished herself in Taylor’s classic Aureole.
Ms. Adams is a life-long dance educator and advocate. With her sister Julie Adams Strandberg, she co-founded the Harlem Dance Studio, Dancing Legacy and the Repertory Etudes Collection. She is a faculty emerita at The Juilliard School and former director of education at Jacob’s Pillow. She is the founding artistic director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Dance. Ms. Adams serves on the Taylor Board of Directors. She chaired Dance/USA’s national task force on dance education and she has also been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and for the New York State Council on the Arts. She holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.S.W. from Fordham University.
“With its amazing body of work, dedicated staff, and talented collaborators, the Taylor School is now positioned to expand all of its educational programs and build new partnerships, both nationally and internationally. Paul Taylor’s work should belong to the world. So, we begin with the children.”
Ms. Adams received the 2019 Martha Hill Award for Lifetime Achievement, a Dance Magazine Award in 2016, an award for Artistic Excellence from the International Association of Blacks in Dance in 2010, and the Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching from the American Dance Festival in 2009.
Carolyn is married to former Paul Taylor dancer, Robert Kahn. They have 2 adult children, Sandra and Vitali and three grandsons: Gunner, Nicholas, and Adam.
Carolyn Adams in West of Eden, photo by Ken Duncan.
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Paul TaylorFounding Director
