(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to the Mahaiwe for its sixth consecutive summer season on Friday and Saturday, May 24 and May 25, 2013, at 8pm and Sunday, May 26, 2013, at 3pm and 7pm. The performances include the New England premiere of Taylor’s Perpetual Dawn (2013), which depicts young people experiencing the awakening of love, perhaps for the very first time, and the final performance of senior female dancer Amy Young with the Taylor company.

Perpetual Dawn is set to sprightly concertos by Baroque composer Johann David Heinichen. Other repertory favorites to be performed include Cascade (1999, music by J.S. Bach), Kith and Kin (1987, music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), Lost, Found and Lost (1982, music by Donald York), Last Look (1985, music by Donald York), and Offenbach Overtures (1995, music by Jacques Offenbach).

Amy Young made her debut with Paul Taylor  at the Paris Opera House in January 2000. She has been featured in diverse roles in De Sueños que se Repiten (2008), Beloved Renegade (2008), Brief Encounters (2009), and Three Dubious Memories (2010). She is leaving so she can start a family with her husband, Taylor Company member Robert Kleinendorst, and she plans to remain active in the dance community.

Choreographer Paul Taylor is the last living member of the pantheon that created America’s indigenous art of modern dance. At an age when most artists’ best work is behind them, Taylor continues to win public and critical acclaim for the vibrancy, relevance, and power of his creations. As he has since his origins as a

dance maker in 1954, he offers cogent observations on life’s complexities while tackling some of society’s thorniest issues. While he may propel his dancers through space for the sheer beauty of it, he more frequently uses them to illuminate such profound issues as war, piety, spirituality, sexuality, morality, and mortality. If, as George Balanchine said, there are no mothers-in-law in ballet, there certainly are dysfunctional families, disillusioned idealists, imperfect religious leaders, angels and insects in Taylor’s dances.

Tickets are $10 to $75, with 25% off purchases of both programs in one order. The Mahaiwe is located at 14 Castle Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Box office hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 6 pm and three hours before show times. A limited number of $15 tickets are available for patrons ages 30 and younger to performances at the Mahaiwe through Mahaiwe ArtSmart Tix. For tickets and information, visit the Mahaiwe or call 413.528.0100.