Living in the Master's Shadow: Paul Taylor's Resident Choreographers Premiere New Work at Lincoln Center

Every dance company built around a single towering choreographer eventually faces the same question: what happens when the founder's work is still on the program? For the Paul Taylor Dance Company, that question returned this week at Lincoln Center. The company's two resident choreographers, Lauren Lovette and Robert Battle, each presented a premiere there.

A review in The New York Times summed up the night in its headline, calling it "An Emotional Swing and a Hollow Miss." One new work landed and the other did not. The review's subheading was blunter: "As usual, Taylor's works flattened them to bits."

A Repertory That Casts a Long Shadow

That verdict points to a tension that has followed the company since Paul Taylor's death in 2018. His dances are among the most admired in American modern dance. They are muscular and musical, often joyous, and sometimes darker than they first appear. Presenting them is a way of keeping a legacy alive. Placing new works beside them, though, invites a comparison that few contemporary choreographers can win.

Hanging a new painting in a gallery of acknowledged masterpieces is a risky way to introduce it. Against the Taylor canon, even a strong new work can look smaller than it would on its own.

The company has tried to address this directly by naming resident choreographers who bring different backgrounds. Lovette, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, has built a reputation as a choreographer with a lyrical, emotionally direct style. Battle, who led the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as artistic director before taking on leadership at the Taylor company, comes from a tradition of dance rooted in spiritual and communal expression. Together they reflect an effort to widen the company's identity without abandoning its foundation.

Between Preservation and Reinvention

The mixed critical response shows how hard that balance is. A troupe that only preserves risks becoming a museum. A troupe that reinvents too quickly risks losing the identity that drew audiences in the first place. Commissioning new pieces from in-house artists is a bet that a living company can carry its founder's spirit forward instead of simply reconstructing his steps.

According to the Times assessment, that bet paid off only partly this time. One premiere produced real feeling. The other left the reviewer with little to hold onto. Next to Taylor's own choreography, neither came across as a peer.

Such reactions are not unusual for legacy companies going through a transition. Institutions in similar positions have often needed years for new voices to develop their own standing alongside a founder's catalog. For audiences, the programs offer something useful anyway: a direct look at where the art form has been and where it might be heading.

What Comes Next

For Lovette and Battle, one evening is unlikely to define their tenure. Resident choreographers are usually given room to experiment, and some miss. Still, the review sends a clear message to the company's leadership. Programming new work beside the masterpieces guarantees a hard comparison, and the new work has to be strong enough to survive it.

For now, Paul Taylor remains the clearest presence on his own company's stage. Whether his successors can share that space as equals is a question the company will keep answering, one premiere at a time.