Pi Dance Theatre | Dancers
The mission of Pi Dance Theatre is to build a creative community of individuals composed of the public, its¹ Board members, dancers, designers, visual artists, funders, and presenters using the works of Toni Taylor and the company¹s constituents as a catalyst to deepen our collective humanity via dance and other mediums to further expand the human conversation.Pi Dance Theatre was formed in New York City, October, 1990, by its founder and artistic director, Toni Taylor. Taylor developed the company not only to create a community of dancers to express her esthetic but also to allow younger dancers to present their own dances in the company¹s performances.
The company itself explores the intersection of dance and modern music by contemporary composers as well as the use of folk, jazz, liturgical, and classical music for the dances. It often works improvisationally and in, particular, explores the dynamics between dance and other mediums by collaborating with composers, designers, sculptors, poets, and puppeteers among others. A few of many examples include ³Remaining Vertical² with music by Gazal in collaboration with the dancers & puppeteer Brian Pekarsky, ³updowninout.allaround² in collaboration with sculptor David Judelson and music arrangement by Dave Drinkwater, and ³Dance Sketches² with poetry by Jan McLaughlin. In further exploration of the possibilities of dance and poetry, the company was also involved with the No Chance Ensemble of poets headed by Bruce Weber resulting in collaborative works such as ³Under the Surface² and ³Everything was a Symphony to Him.² Many of the poetry collaborations were performed at such venues as Café Nico, the Alterknit Theater, & Context Studios, among other downtown poetry venues.
While most of the pieces layer and weave topics and themes together, some favorite themes are spirituality, human foibles, and relationships. Good examples of spirituality include ³Empyrean, a reflection on the possibility of beauty in the form of music in the afterlife, ³No, Not God² deals with the existence or lack of a god, and ³String Theory² which looks at the possibility of parallel interconnected universes perhaps created by a god.
Human foibles are explored in pieces such as ³Remaining Vertical² with music by Gazal, where differences between freely made choices and those forced on us are considered. Tensions between individual and collective action are explored in ³updowninout.allaround and ³Bad Habits² with music by Aron Copland where yo-yos are used to consider the futility of changing bad habits. Relationships are an overarching them in ³Peaceful Clan² where the seething tensions under the façade of familial bliss are shown. ³Three Sisters² with music by Dave Drinkwater presents the trials of 3 girls who¹ve been isolated for far too long.
Since Pi Dance Theatre¹s inception, the company has produced ongoing New York City seasons in various venues, showing the modern dances of Taylor as well as works by company members & guest choreographers. Taylor has successfully organized dance concerts throughout 14 seasons in New York and is now working on the company¹s 15th. In that time and with a company of 4 to 6 dancers, the company has presented artistically stronger season, with more performances attended by more people in New York City and Connecticut.
Some of the company¹s primary concerts include ³Remaining Vertical² performed at Williamsburg Arts Nexus (WAX) in 2004 where ³Remaining Vertical² was premiered and ³Dance Sketches² was given a reprise. In 2003 the company performed at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) premiering ³updowninout.allaround.² Two installments of Inclusive Dance, a shared-showcase, were produced at Dance Space where ³Empryean² with music by Northwind and the Modern Jazz Quartet, inspired by a Paul Deo drawing and ³Quiet Persistence² with music by Peter Schulthorpe framed by Hind mantras both premiered. Those shared programs also included the 1985 work ³Ah Geez Easy² with music by Itzhak Perlman.
In 1995, Pi Dance Theatre produced its¹ first evening length collaboration with poets from the No Chance Ensemble and composer Dave Drinkwater ³Ambient Spoken Body,² held in a private loft where the company standards ³Empyrean² and ³Peaceful Clan² with music by the Cool as Grits String Band were performed. In 1992, Pi Dance Theatre has performed at Washington Square Church with Barbara Mahler in 1992 and at Dance Space as part of shared programs produced by the company, and the Madison Avenue Baptist Church at the invitation of Mike Easterling, then pastor
For several years running, the Clinton Community Garden has hosted the company for free performances of the ³Urban Grove Dancing² series. These performances have included such pieces as excerpts from ³updowninout.allaround² and ³Remaining Vertical,² ³Peaceful Clan,² ³Three Sisters,² ³Conversations² with music and poetry by Janis Joplin and Alice Walker, and ³Lucent Lunacy² with music by Nora York among many others. This program always includes a fun piece created by volunteers from the audience, the purpose of which is to provide a light hearted lesson on how dances are created and a way for audiences to appreciate what they¹ve seen. The 2000 installment was favorably reviewed by Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times.
To further expand it¹s reach, PDT has been twice hosted by The Hole in the Wall Theatre in New Britain, Connecticut. While in town, PDT also offers master classes at the local college, high school, and constituents of The Hole in the Wall. In 2003, the company was pleased to participate in New Britain¹s first Trinity-on-Main Fall Arts Festival. In 1996 the company traveled to Philadelphia to be part of ³Aukstruckdanz² for Michael Carson at the Group Motion studio.
For several years in the early to mid 90¹s, the company¹s involvement with Common Ground at the Times Square Hotel had given the company another venue in which to perform an annual series. The company offered a free summer dance season in the lobby for the special needs clients and residents of this flagship subsidized housing facility.
New dance works ultimately presented by the Company in its New YorkCity seasons have been developed and shown at various stages of development in shared-showcases. The shared-showcase process has been vital to developing new work and it allows PDT to present polished, mature works in its self produced seasons. The Performance Zone series sponsored by The Field and Exposures presented by Free Range Arts were the primary sponsors of these showcases. Some of venues hosting these showcases include Free Range Arts, The Vineyard Theatre, Musical Theater Works, and American Theater of Actors, among others. Some of the works presented include ³Our Sisters,² an early solo version of ³Peaceful Clan,² ³Lucent Lunacy,² with music by Nora York and ³Bad Habits². In the early 90¹s, Taylor was co-curator along with Debra Kayton ³Room to Swing a Cat In,² a monthly shared-showcase, where ³Lucent Lunacy² and ³Core of my Sentient Skin² with music by Dave Drinkwater premiered.
Over the last 15 years, Pi Dance Theatre has endeavored to expand the public¹s artistic horizon and contribute to the human conversation through the presentation of dance programs and other activities; while encouraging the creation and presentation of new works by the company¹s constituents.
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