Erotic, hypnotic, and beautifully lit by Clifton Taylor, You Took a Part of Me is a nod to Noh, an ancient form of Japanese dance, choreographed by the always provocative Karole Armitage. The piece was revived in late October 2019 at New York Live Arts with music by Reiko Yamada. "Karole Armitage has been studying Japanese Noh theatre for a very long time, searching for its essential qualities and finding ways to express its tenets in her own work," explains Taylor. "This piece, You Took a Part of Me is her most explicit reference to the Noh in her own choreography. The dance, like many Noh plays, is a ghost story. A woman relives an important and intense relationship from her past and through this telling is able to see the passion and hurt and joy and value of that time in her life and is able then to move on. It is both simple and as complex as our human lives can be."
Taylor, who will be chatting about color with Wendy Luedtke at LDI2019 also designed the installation for You Took a Part of Me, about which he says, "I've been designing more and more scenic installations lately! Its a great joy for me to be able to do this, to craft spaces that are so tightly connected to the light expression." Click through the slideshow to learn more about the lighting design.