Witty and whimsical writings about the dance of life by the legendary choreographer. This wonderful new book by one of the preeminent dancers and choreographers consists of a range of pieces of fact and fiction that run from thoughts on friendliness and country living to animosity and city life. Taylor's first book since his autobiography ( Private Domain, 1995, Alfred A. Knopf) is a romp through his playful mind, with chapter titles such as: Why I Make Dances, The Redheaded Spiritualist, Martha Close Up, Clytemnestra, How to Tell Ballet from Modern, and In the Marcel Proust Suite of L'Hotel Continental. "No other dancer ever looked like Paul Taylor, that strapping, elastic, goofy hunk of a guy, and no one else's dance works look like his either—not the deep, dark ones or the zany ones or the uplifting ones. His vocabulary, his tone are unique and unmistakable. The same thing is true, it turns out, about his writing. His style is utterly his own, and like all real style it isn't a calculated voice but a reflection of the way his quirky mind works." — From the foreword by Robert Gottlieb "Taylor has not cultivated one writing persona, but has unleashed a raft of voices in a raft of forms: travesty, comedy, fiction, essay, satire, allegory, poetry, fable, epistle. While many of these selections are humorous, as anyone familiar with Taylor's choreography knows, even in the sunniest of his dances, there are often threatening clouds on the horizon. And the canny Taylor recognizes when to swap his Janus masks for maximum emotional wallop." — From the introduction by Suzanne Carbonneau

現代ダンス界の巨星が言葉という舞台で舞う本作は、芸術的な戯れに満ちています。彼の振り付けと同様、文体は独創的で予測不能。日常をユーモアと鋭い洞察で切り取る手腕は、読者を未知の思考へと誘います。光と影を同時に見つめる二面性こそが、彼の文学的な核心です。 本書の白眉は、ジャンルを越境する奔放な形式にあります。寓話や風刺が混ざり合い、著者の風変わりな精神が躍動しています。陽光の中に忍び寄る暗雲を感じさせる独特の感性が、人生というダンスの深淵を鮮やかに照らし出し、読者の心に強烈な余韻を残します。