Piazzolla Caldera

Created in 1997, Paul Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera is a sensual exposé of tango reinterpreted and reimagined in modern dance. Taylor honors the tradition of tango, preserving the essence of the form in his choreography. The music, composed by Astor Piazzolla and Jerzy Peterburshsky, shapes the work into four distinct sections, a complex and electric landscape where dancers sway and swivel.

Taylor created a series of fiery encounters, at turns playful and predatory, in this passionate homage to tango’s Argentinian roots. In a dimly lit club, working class men and women confront each other in sizzling, sexual duets and trios: men with women, men with men, and women with women. Two men too drunk for conquests perform a loopy dance as lamplights sway dizzily overhead. A woman who has searched desperately for a partner but failed to find one collapses as if mortally wounded by a night without passion.