Bugge retires in rousing Taylor program

Members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company embrace retiring dancer Eran Bugge on Saturday night at PS/21 Center for Contemporary Performance. (Photo by Steven Taylor)

It’s always a special night at PS/21 Center for Contemporary Performance when Paul Taylor Dance Company performs. As regulars at the venue, the audience is thoroughly bonded with the ensemble. It helps too that the troupe performs what can universally be considered today's most well-crafted modern dance pieces.
 
But Saturday night was extra special as the company bid an appreciative and love-filled farewell to Eran Bugge, the company’s senior dancer. The evening featured three works by the late Paul Taylor in which Bugge took center stage and then basked in a rose filled curtain call complete with a stomping audience with a standing ovation. There were hugs all-around including from the company members and its artistic leaders, sending Bugge off with deep gratitude and affection.
 
Since the 1950s, the Taylor company has been number one in the modern dance world. And as such, audiences have seen some amazing dancers fly across its international stage. Many of those artists have gone on to run their own top-notch companies – like David Parsons and Robert Battle. While Bugge's next steps are not public, what is clear is she will be missed as her appearance in the trio of Taylor works: the joyous “Brandenburgs,” the mysterious “Runes” and the simmering “Promethean Fire” were scintillating.
 
As soon as the curtain opened on the gorgeous “Brandenburgs,” the audience roared. The piece, set to selections from Bach’s concerti, is a formal delight with a trio of woman, Bugge in the center, tearing through solos for a princely John Harnage who stands watching, enraptured. The courtly display also included a quintet of men who framed the woman and sparked visceral tickles as they leapt and side skipped over the boards in unison.
 
While many of the moves are signature Taylor – swinging arms with long-striding runs – this was one of his most balletic, especially juxtaposed to “Runes.” The piece, to a foreboding and strident piano composition by Gerald Busby, was miles apart from “Brandenburgs.” This ritualistic work from 1975 was set below a rising full-moon was all angles, scissoring arms and spider-like poses. The dancers – who appeared as unknown forest creatures — stalked and rose in the dim landscape as they looked to fulfill an unseen, and seemingly deadly, purpose. And like all Taylor works, the deployment of the dancers was masterful. At one point, the two groups surround a sole figure, as they walked toward each other and then backed away, a new central figure emerged, a move that was repeated again and again. The eerie work, though not a favorite, showed Taylor’s versatility and skill.
 
The evening concluded with “Promethean Fire,” with Bugge and Devon Louis in the central role. To music by Bach, their duet was a plea for connection that was both heart-breaking beautiful and triumphant. And when Bugge went for it, jumping backward in Louis’ arms, there was a relief and then celebration. It was yet another Taylor masterpiece that lit the flame of its audience and dancers like Bugge. We were lucky to have had the privilege of seeing her.
 
Brava Brugge.