In a word, Amy Hall Garner has range. She’s created commissioned pieces for premiere American dance companies but if you ask me, the accomplishment I’d move to the top of her resume is her one-on-one choreography work with Beyonce Knowles-Carter for her 2013 seven-leg Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. As far as I could see, there are no sneaky hints in her 2022 composition “Somewhere in the Middle” that she works with R&B divas on the side.

While culturally popular choreographers like Sean “abookiebookieboo” Bankhead and Laurieann “BOOMKACK” Gibson have signature moves that allow them fame, Amy’s work is impressive in its freshness. I hesitate to write how I’d classify a Garner piece before seeing more of her work, but this particular piece — commissioned as part of the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s New Voices Collection and set to Black music of the Jazz Age — evokes texture. The set design by Donald Martiny consists of 3D brush strokes of chunky acrylic paint that resemble handmade refrigerator magnets that somebody’s baby made in art class. The set complements the playfulness of Mark Eric’s Crayola-colored costumes, and the freedom evoked by the dancers’ loose hair. I found myself most present in this performance during the duet with Maria Ambrose and Devon Louis, which slowed the pace and turned up the heat with its intimate push and pull and hearth-toned costumes. And then the break-up. The duet was directly followed by one lonely heart moving to the heartbreak tune “When Your Lover Has Gone” by Billie Holiday. I found my eyes drawn to Jada Pearman, a Black woman in the company, throughout the entire show. I was relieved of the guilt I felt for not watching the other dancers quite as closely when she was able to take the stage on her own. Her consistent grin and the flex of each graceful movement highlighted another texture in Garner’a vision: joy. There were jumps, twirls, and slides that felt consistent with the musical energy of Ellington and Marsalis without relying entirely on the companioned styles of dance (swing, lindy hop) which might come off like a folksy period piece. The technical aspects of the performance were impressive, but every flexed foot was a reminder that this was not ballet. Garner’s work, like the title of this piece, seem to fall somewhere in the middle and her fluidity between pop, ballet, and modern dance ensures that she’ll continue to excite and surprise audiences. Her future works will be ones to watch starting with the world premiere of her commission for Alvin Ailey on December 8, 2023.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company features a diverse collective of dancers. Following their World Tour in January 2024, they will return to New York in May.