It may be a bit distant to remember, but there was a time when Stravinsky
was hard on first-time listeners, and George Balanchine's many brilliant
works set to his music helped the "medicine" go down - and stay in one's
system forever.

Now that the Paul Taylor Dance Company is hosted once again by San
Francisco Performances for its longest tour stop anywhere (two weeks
at Yerba Buena Center, through April 1), Taylor's new work, "Fiends
Angelical" is noteworthy not only for its dazzling new variation on
animalistic-bacchanalian choreography, but also for what it does to "sell"
George Crumb.  The terse, occasionally grating sound of Crumb's "Black
Angels" may be a piece of cake for new-music enthusiasts, but even after
three decades after its premiere, it poses a challenge for most audiences
- except when packaged so compellingly by Taylor.  With the Kronos
Quartet's brilliant performance playing "in the background," Crumb is
being heard by thousands who otherwise may carefully avoid him.

While the eclectic intercutting of Bach piano concertos in his "Cascade"
and the pulsating drum interruptions of a peaceful Corelli score for
"Cloven Kingdom" may offend purists, Taylor is providing an undeniably
important service for contemporary music by commissioning works from Jan
Radzynski for "Profiles," Donald York for "Syzygy," and - less daringly,
to be sure - using dark symphonic tangos in "Piazzolla Caldera", and
Vaughan Williams' music in "Eventide," among others in his greatly varied
repertory.  Here's a rule you can take to the bank:  a choreographer who
honors and illuminates music is likely to be a good one.  In the case of
Taylor, of course, that is just the value and principle at the base, upon
which are built layers of excellence.

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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