An excerpt from Paul Taylor’s Scudorama, to be performed at the Durham Performing Arts Center next week. For more information on this ADF performance, visit the American Dance Festival website.

The video clip above is from the 1963 premiere of Paul Taylor’s Scudorama at the American Dance Festival. The piece was performed in silence when the musical score by Clarence Jackson didn’t arrive in time for opening night. The soundtrack that now accompanies the video was taken from a later recording of Scudorama and painstakingly matched to the original film footage by the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 2007.

In the original rehearsals, the dancers performed to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring while Taylor asked Jackson to compose music that would match the tempos of Stravinsky’s work. When the score was complete, Jackson arranged to ship the only copy by bus to Taylor and company, who were already at the American Dance Festival in New London, CT. After the bus arrived, the score was nowhere to be found. Taylor and his dancers decided to perform the piece as scheduled but without music.

Ten years later, a package containing the missing score was found during the demolition of the New London bus station.

For more information on Scudorama, check out this article in the New York Times.

Jasmine Hearn performs a dance of the day at Golden Belt. Music by Manuele Atzeni.

Tonight, the ADF musicians take center stage with a wide range of musical styles at the Musician’s Concert. To celebrate this moving evening, we talked to ADF musicians Shodekah and Michael Wall.

We talk with Jen McGinn and visit her class in the Four Week School for Young Dancers.

Walter Barillas, Christian Morel and Amber Smith perform a dance of the day on the ADF bus. Music by Sic Alps.

Anicka Austin, Rachel Cotterman and Sara Gabrielson perform a dance of the day at Epworth Dorm. Music by Wildbirds and Peacedrums.