To learn what went into bring Paul Taylor Dance Company performances at Lincoln Center to stage, I interviewed choreographer Lauren Lovette ...
To learn what went into bring Paul Taylor Dance Company performances at Lincoln Center to stage, I interviewed choreographer Lauren Lovette about balancing being a new mom and the inspiration for "stem", her seventh World Premiere for the Company.
photo credit: Noah Aberlin
Balancing Being a New Mom & Choreographer
Lauren Lovette: I make one work for Lincoln Center every year. That's my job. I had already created the schedule with my boss, and my due date was right in the middle of my creative time for the whole year.
And so I think there was just a lot of anxiety around just everything about being a mom in general, like just kind of freaking out about what that would mean.
I was going into this season wanting to make something super fierce, sleek and ordered. Something that had a lot of power. I knew I wanted to do something strong and something bold for the season, but after finding out about the pregnancy, just everything inside of me felt like all of my anxiety was heightened.
Lauren Lovette: I'm already a little bit anxious. I struggle with ADHD, pretty severely. It's okay, you know, I think it's what makes me creative, but it's all of those things, just amplified with the baby brain.
I think what was really cool about the process, is I only was given four weeks, or those were the only weeks I could actually do, because of the due date. So I had two weeks before giving birth, and week five and six postpartum.
So I just, I went in and I thought, I don't have any time to doubt myself. I don't have any time to worry about editing the perfect composition, right? I'm here to throw myself into a dance and to use my scattered creative brain whatever form that takes. Just trust it and say, I'm just gonna go.
Lauren Lovette: And I can only really do that at Paul Taylor company, those dancers I know really well. There's a lot of trust and they're wonderful artists. They take things and they make it mean something. They don't just kind of topically dance. They all emote and they love to tell stories.
So I was able to be, like fully pregnant, mostly use my words and like, show a little bit and trust them to have to put the process.
Behind Stim Performance Premiere
Lauren Lovette: So I threw material at them, the two weeks before I gave birth, and got maybe two, not quite two thirds of the way through the material, and then coming back, having my daughter in the studio with me and everything, it was so amazing.
She is so young, I'll bring her to the studio with me. I'm so glad that she can be in the room. She's two and a half months, so she just started coming alive, being aware. I like watching her grow and her move, especially because I right now it's mostly just a lot of sporadic movements.
Lauren Lovette: To be honest, I have used that in this piece I called Stim, and it's about those little ticks that we all have.
I feel everybody does some degree, on some level, has something that they do to stimulate themselves, to stay in the moment. And especially in the time that we're in right now, with so much technology just flooding our brains all the time, we have social media, we have TV, we have all of the streaming platforms.
I feel like we're bombarded with ads constantly and just over stimulated. We all have stuff, whether it's chewing your lip or biting your nails, it's something to stay stimulated in the moment. And for me, I've never felt that more than I felt this year.
Lauren Lovette: And I kind of threw it all in the dance. And instead of it being a negative, to me these dancers are like superheroes. The dance is so dynamic, so exciting and impressive, and it showcases everything these dancers can do.
But underneath it, there are all these stems, and a lot of those come from my daughter.
photo credit: Noah Aberlin
Benefits Introduce Children to Dance Performances
Lauren Lovette: I come from the ballet that was my original life, like I came from Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, the very proper don't bring your child, unless they can be completely still and completely quiet.
What I love about Paul Taylor company is it's such a human organization, like the the audience is flooded with kids because we bring in with our educational program, bring in schools all the time.
So to me, I don't think you can ever have it too young. I don't think that there's any kind of stuffiness involved in Paul Taylor. And what's so cool about that is you have this, like the least stuffy company in one of the most extraordinary theaters in the city.
Lauren Lovette: And so there's the glamor and the wonder of it, like you get to sit in the red velvet seats and you look up at the chandeliers beautiful. I don't care how, how old or young you are, I'm sure you could find wonder there. And the live music with orchestra, St Luke's is just so great.
So I would say, as soon as your kid can sit still for at least 30, minutes, because there are little breaks between, usually after half an hour, so if your kid can be entertained for half an hour, bring them.
Being Inspired & Putting the Movements for Performances
Lauren Lovette: Well, I've got the coolest job, but I didn't know that I was going to have the job that I have now, when I left the ballet. I had no training in modern dance, so I still feel like an imposter in the field, a little bit, this is not my training at all.
I kind of love that, because there's this like reverence that you have. There's a different kind of respect. Every time I walk into the room, it's like this gratitude that I feel that I'm there, and it's also incredibly inspiring, because I don't know the style that they are so well versed in.
Yes, I've been learning curve. Yes, I've watched videos and them dance before, but I think what I've found to be incredibly inspiring, is that I never know what's going to happen when we get in the room together.
Lauren Lovette: I've had to kind of let go of terminology or any kind of preconceived notion that I know what I'm doing, and instead walk into the room like getting underneath the process and meeting the dancers humbly. Because we don't speak the same language, necessarily. I don't know always the right words to say, but I definitely respect what they do.
And so there's this, this fun back and forth that usually happens with the dancers. And I just love that they make different kinds of shapes. It's a different technique, but there are no rules. It feels like there's no stencil or anything.
Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center
The Paul Taylor Dance Company, the only Company to bring modern dance to Lincoln Center since 2012, will return to the David H. Koch Theater for three weeks, November 4-23, 2025.
The repertoire features classics by Paul Taylor that display his extraordinary range, from such timeless audience favorites as Esplanade and Company B to the rarely seen treasure, Speaking in Tongues, a meditation on American religious extremism that won an Emmy Award for its television broadcast.
Other Season highlights include the return of Taylor’s Walt Whitman-inspired Beloved Renegade, Cascade, Diggity, Gossamer Gallants, Offenbach Overtures, Scudorama, Troilus and Cressida (reduced), and Concertiana, the last of Taylor’s 147 dances.
The repertoire also includes World Premieres by Resident Choreographers Lauren Lovette and Robert Battle that are the direct result of 2024’s Taylor Future Dance Initiative to develop outstanding dance makers.
Hope Boykin’s How Love Sounds will have its New York Premiere, and Jody Sperling’s Vive La Loïe! will return for the second Season in a row.
Orchestra of St. Luke’s Live Performance
As it has for all Taylor Lincoln Center performances since 2015, Orchestra of St. Luke’s will perform live, led by Taylor Music Director David LaMarche. The Season also features soprano Devon Guthrie and St. George’s Choral Society.
Expanding Access
The Season continues PTDC’s commitment to welcoming audiences through a range of initiatives:
Opening Night (Nov 4)
Every seat $10, made possible by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown.
$20 Under 40
Anyone 40 and under can purchase $20 tickets with free online registration.
Family Express (Nov 15 & 22)
Two family-friendly matinees featuring 75-minute no-intermission programs for audiences of all ages.
John and Jody Arnhold Tier 3 Dance Education & Audience Education Initiative
10th Anniversary – Celebrating a decade of impact, this landmark program has welcomed more than 30,000 public-school students, teachers, and caregivers to the Koch Theater. In partnership with the Taylor Center for Dance Education, it continues to provide free tickets and introduce thousands of young people to the transformative power of modern dance each year.
Polaris Project
Partnerships with community organizations, schools, and universities offer free/low-cost tickets, educational resources, workshops, and Q&As to deepen engagement with modern dance.
Tickets to the Season are on sale at - www.boxoffice.dance
For more information and full Season details, visit - www.paultaylordance.org
