Dancemaker

The Paul Taylor Dance Company is one of the most renowned dance groups of New York. In Dancemaker, filmmaker Matthew Diamond follows the company in the months preceding the première of their latest production Piazzolla Caldera, a dance performance wholly dedicated to and inspired by Astor Piazzolla’s tangos. The production explores the tango as a popular dance form, as a musical expression and as a cultural and historical document. Traditionally, despite its strong machismo associations, the tango is an art form in which man and woman have equal opportunities to lead. Just like their male partners, women can assume the role of the sexual aggressor. Choreographer Paul Taylor uncovers that tradition and gives it a contemporary interpretation, for example by also having couples of the same gender dance the tango. This certainly caused some controversy in the reception of the performance. Completed with archive footage of Paul Taylor in his early years, as an adherent of Martha Graham’s choreographies, Dancemaker has become a pure portrait of an artist. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)