Heather McGinley, Paul Taylor Dance Company. Photograph by Paul B. Goode
For the past 60 years, Paul Taylor Dance Company has brought a comic spin to some of life’s most unbroached issues—morality, mortality, sex, gender, and war. The Touhill Performing Arts Center will host a two-night only performance Oct. 2-3, where one of our own will perform alongside her fellow ballerinas.
Heather McGinley grew up in St. Louis and in 2005, graduated with a B.F.A in dance performance from Butler University. She toured with the original cast of Antonio Calenda’s Looking for Picasso with the Martha Graham Dance Company, and in 2011 was the one out of hundreds of ballerinas accepted into the legendary Paul Taylor Dance Company.
How did you start dancing?
My mother signed me up for ballet and tap when I was four years old. Her aim was for me to feel confident standing up in front of people, and it was all the better if I enjoyed the dancing. Little did she know, I would fall in love with both dance and the stage.
When did you know you wanted to have a career as a dancer?
The moment I understood that performing could be a career; I wanted it. I think I was 11 years old.
I read in another interview that you didn’t realize until your later years of college that you wanted to do contemporary dance, rather than ballet. What was it that changed your mind?
Frankly, I was better at it. I realized my body was more suited for contemporary movement and I felt I had more career potential in modern dance.
In the past, you have talked heavily about the Graham and Cecchetti styles of ballet. Explain how they differ, and what draws you to one or the other.
Both Graham technique and the Cecchetti method are very rigorous ways of training the body. I studied the Cecchetti method of ballet first (for a total of ten years). It demanded incredible strength and called for great range of motion and articulation in the upper body as well as the legs. Graham technique has these same demands, but is a completely different way of moving. As a pioneer of American modern dance, Martha Graham aimed to rebel against the pretty lines of ballet and its fairy tale stories. In Graham the feet are bare and often flexed. The shapes are often angular or twisted. Everything about the movement has a different motivation than ballet and is physically initiated from a different place - the pelvis as opposed to the arms and legs.
How old were you when you danced with your first company? What was the experience like?
I was 25 when I started dancing with the renowned Martha Graham Dance Company. A few weeks later on the first day of my first tour, I walked on the Great Wall of China. My first professional performance was at a beautiful new opera house in Beijing accompanied by a live orchestra. It was beyond exciting!
What was the shift like from a Graham-based company to Taylor?
Honestly, it felt seamless. I had studied at summer and winter intensives at the Taylor school before being hired. Not only was I familiar with Paul Taylor's work, I was also familiar with his roots: Cecchetti and Graham. Mr. Taylor's early training included exposure to the Cecchetti method and he danced for Martha Graham before creating his own company. As far as working with the other dancers, I have the utmost respect for these great artists and they took me in without hesitation.
Can you share a little about the audition process?
I should start by pointing out that I auditioned for Paul Taylor five times before landing the job. He only holds auditions on the infrequent occasion of a dancer retiring - sometimes years go by with no openings. Mr. Taylor begins the process by having each dancer walk across the room one at a time. Then in small groups the dancers show an excerpt of a Taylor dance that one of the current company members has taught. You get one chance and then he makes a round of cuts. As the day goes on, you continue learning sections of choreography, perform it once, and hope to stay in the room. At that fifth audition, after hundreds of dancers had been sent home, I was standing with six other dancers when Mr. Taylor stood up and walked towards us. The front of the room, filled with all of the current company dancers and staff, got very quiet. One by one he began telling the other six dancers that they had done a great job. One by one, I thought to myself,"that's a 'no.'" Mr. Taylor then turned to me and said, "Heather, you're the one." I burst into tears of joy and the whole room started cheering. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life.
How is dancing with the Taylor Company different from dancing with other companies?
The Taylor Company is a unique place. We are a very tight knit group - eight men and eight women. Mr. Taylor has woven the company is such a way that we rely on each other a great deal. We have to trust each other in order to do his dances. On tour, we do not choose our own roommates. By design we get to know every dancer and learn to work together.
How is the style of Taylor dances different from others you’ve experienced? What do you like about it? Do you wish anything were different? What?
In Taylor dances, I get to feel the wind in my hair. I get to carve through space in every possible way—sometimes with great speed and attack, sometimes with tenderness, and sometimes with anguish. No matter the subject of the particular dance, Mr. Taylor creates a uniquely palpable connection among the dancers. In the simple gesture of one dancer taking the hand of another, the audience can feel them touch. The movement is full bodied and satisfying.
What advice would you give to aspiring dancers?
The dance world is both extremely competitive and extremely small. Work hard. Be nice to your fellow dancers.
Dance St. Louis presents Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Touhill Performing Arts Center (1 University Boulevard), on Friday, October 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30–$50. For more information, got to dancestlouis.org.
