Paul Taylor Dance Company’s Triumphant Return to CFCC’s Wilson Center

The Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College is excited to announce that the world-renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company, which celebrates its 70th Anniversary this year, will return to the Center on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. The Company first graced the Wilson Center stage in 2018 in collaboration with the Folded Flag Foundation to perform the program American Spirit in honor of America’s military service members and their families.

“I am excited to bring the Company back to Wilmington with two of Mr. Taylor’s classic dances,” said Michael Novak, who was chosen by Taylor in 2018 to be only the second Artistic Director in the Company’s 70-year history. The Company will perform Taylor’s Mercuric Tidings from 1982 and The Word from 1998. The program will also include Amy Hall Garner’s Somewhere in the Middle, which Novak commissioned in 2022.

Novak hailed Taylor, who founded the Company in 1954, as “the last of the pantheon of choreographers who defined the American art of modern dance.” In addition to forming his own company, Taylor’s 20-year performing career included stints in the companies of Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. Novak noted that Taylor made 147 dances in a 64-year choreographic career, many of which rank among the greatest and most influential.

“Taylor was a master of light and dark,” said Novak, “and his repertoire covers an unprecedented range. Some of his dances take an unflinching look at war, depravity, and death, while others are charming and witty. Others speak to the poignancy, joy, and heartbreak of love in all its variations and combinations. Astonishingly, many of Taylor’s dances combine these disparate aspects, making them so compelling and profound.”

Tickets will be available online to Wilson Center Members beginning at 10:00 a.m. on February 14, with tickets going on sale online to the general public on Friday, February 16, at 10:00 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at WilsonCenterTickets.com or by contacting the Ticket Central box office. Ticket Central is open for telephone and in-person sales from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday only. Ticket Central may be reached by telephone at 910.362.7999; questions may also be directed to [email protected].