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DANCE NEWS: New In! Robert Battle is Now Resident Choreographer of the Paul Taylor Dance Company
Artistic Director Michael Novak Delivered the Announcement on November 7, 2024
Robert Battle has been named Resident Choreographer of the Paul Taylor Dance Company effective immediately, it was announced on November 7, 2024 by Artistic Director Michael Novak. The former Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and his own Battleworks, Mr. Battle joins Lauren Lovette, who was named Resident Choreographer of the Taylor Company in 2022.
“Robert Battle brings a wealth of talent and knowledge to Taylor,” said Mr. Novak, “and I’m deeply gratified that he accepted this position. His Dedicated to You, in honor of his mentor Carolyn Adams, who is our Director of Education, will have its World Premiere during our season at Lincoln Center in November. The dancers and I look forward to many more wonderful works by him in the coming years.”
Personally selected by Judith Jamison, Mr. Battle served as Artistic Director of the Ailey Company from 2011 to 2023, and after Alvin Ailey and Ms. Jamison was only the third person to head the Company since its founding in 1958. He had been a frequent choreographer and artist in residence at Ailey since 1999. Mr. Battle set many of his works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School. The Company’s repertory includes his ballets Ella, For Four, In/Side, Love Stories finale, Mass, and Unfold. In addition to expanding the Ailey repertory with works by artists as diverse as Kyle Abraham, Mauro Bigonzetti, Ronald K. Brown, Rennie Harris, and Paul Taylor, Mr. Battle instituted the New Directions Choreography Lab to help develop the next generation of choreographers.
Mr. Battle danced with Parsons Dance from 1994 to 2001 and founded his own Battleworks Dance Company in 2002. He was honored as one of the “Masters of African American Choreography” by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005, and received the Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 2007. He is a recipient of the 2021 Dance Magazine Award and has honorary doctorates from The University of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, and Fordham University.
Taylor’s Resident Choreographer position was made possible by the Taylor Future Dance Initiative (TFDI), funded by an initial gift in 2024 of one million dollars from Taylor Board Vice Chair Stephen Kroll Reidy. The new gift builds upon Mr. Reidy’s previous support, which established the Taylor Dancemaker Fund in 2018. TFDI will develop a cohort of resident choreographers who will work with the Company in a framework of mutual commitment over an extended period of years. With multi-year contracts and sustaining financial support, resident choreographers of TFDI will be freed from the challenges of freelancing. In accordance with Founder Paul Taylor’s philosophy and Mr. Novak’s vision, the Taylor Company is providing dancemakers with a home to focus on creating a new era of modern dance.
Said Mr. Novak, “In working with our inaugural Resident Choreographer, Lauren Lovette, I’ve seen the enormous value of the position: a consistent creative force for our dancers, a creative partner for me as Artistic Director, and a focal point for our audience’s experience. The Resident Choreographer is fundamental to all of our efforts and output. This new initiative reinforces Mr. Reidy’s and my belief that dancemakers deserve sustainable work and financial stability.”
