Dance Doc "PAUL TAYLOR: CREATIVE DOMAIN" coming to VOD & DVD November 1st!

CRITIC'S PICK! “Absorbing… approaches the mystical”
- Rachel Saltz, The New York Times

“Engrossing...zeroes in on a mystery. It’s a process that can only be experienced."
-Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post

From Emmy-award-winning director Kate Geis, Emmy-award-winning cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, and executive producer Robert Aberlin, Paul Taylor: Creative Domain is an inside look at a master at work – creating something metaphysical from emotion, inspiration and bodies in action.

Among the most acclaimed choreographers in American history, Paul Taylor reinvented the roles of music, movement and theme in dance for nearly 60 years. In that time he offered only glimpses into his creative process. Paul Taylor: Creative Domain is a rare in-depth documentation of how he creates a single dance – and the last documentary made with him before his death in 2018.

Beginning with Paul dancing in his youth, describing the nature of dance ("you learn to live day to day, hour to hour,") Paul Taylor: Creative Domain features Paul, in his 80s, still living life in the moment, with his mind intently focused on his next dance. His new work is a Rashomon-inspired exploration of memory; three characters entangled in a tragic relationship, each believing only in their own dark memory.

Through the lens of legendary dance cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, viewers see Paul’s distinctive non-verbal communication with his dancers up-close. Below the surface of this dance and the many works that came before is Paul’s power of acute observation, revealing a side to his choreography that is strangely prophetic. The dominant voice guiding the film is Paul’s – and between guarded and unguarded moments, we view him with new eyes and new understanding.

In conjunction with the opening of "Taylor: A New Era," the returning season of the Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center on November 1st, Paul Taylor: Creative Domain illuminates the company's legacy as they now enter a new era following the passing of their founder.

Short Bios

Kate Geis - Director, Producer, Editor

Kate Geis is an Emmy-award-winning documentary producer. She began her career at Saturday Night Live and went on to produce documentary programming for WNET, Channel Thirteen, History Channel, A&E, and Metro TV. Her subject matter has been a diverse exploration of people’s lives: Saturday Night Live’s set design team, the last checker cab driver, whitewater river runners, public school principals, Eric Carle, and Paul Taylor. Previous dance projects include profiles of Miranda Weese, Albert Evans, Patrick Corbin, and Terry Dean Bartlett. Her production company, Resident Artist, focuses on documentaries about artists.

Tom Hurwitz - Director of Photography

Tom Hurwitz, ASC is one of America’s most honored documentary cinematographers. Winner of two Emmy Awards, and the Sundance and Jerusalem Film Festival Awards for Best Cinematography, Hurwitz has photographed films that have won four Academy Awards and several more nominations (for Dancemaker and Killing in the Name). His television programs have won dozens of awards over the last 25 years, including the PBS show Jerome Robbins and the PBS series Franklin, on which Hurwitz directed the photography. Hurwitz co-directed and was Director of Photography on Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters. He is also a founding member of the faculty of The MFA Program in Social Documentary Film at New York’s School of Visual Arts.

Robert Aberlin - Executive Producer

With ballroom-dancing parents and a ballet-dancing sister, Robert Aberlin found himself loving ballet and modern dance from a young age. He has served as a board member of Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island and on the boards of several New York City dance companies, Paul Taylor and Think Dance, and acts as an adjunct adviser to Cora Dance. While working as a banker and then as the business manager and a teacher at a New York private school, he began making documentary films. He co-produced two award-winning documentaries, both of which appeared on WNET the New York City PBS station. Aberlin has also been involved in producing several short pieces on film for The Paul Taylor Dance Company and for Poly Prep Country Day School.