Join us for the popular “Lunch and Learn” series, where alumni speakers from a diverse selection of careers reflect back on their journeys and lessons learned. On November 19, Michael Novak '09GS, Artistic Director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, will discuss his time at Columbia, inheriting a modern dance empire, and his best practices for leading creatives, patrons, and Boards into a post-pandemic landscape. Lunch will be served.
Michael Novak '09GS became the second Artistic Director in the history of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation in September 2018, having been chosen by Mr. Taylor to succeed him upon his death. A critically acclaimed Taylor dancer from 2010 to 2019, Novak earned a nomination for the Clive Barnes Foundation Dance Award for his debut season. He performed in fifty Taylor dances and had roles made on him in thirteen of those dances, and performed in several works by Taylor-commissioned choreographers. Under Novak’s direction, the Paul Taylor Dance Company continues to be one of the world’s premier dance companies, with robust domestic and international touring; an ever-expanding repertory that includes the Taylor canon, historical masterpieces, and works he commissions; and an annual engagement at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Raised in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, Novak is an alumnus of Columbia University’s School of General Studies, where he received his BA in dance magna cum laude with Departmental Honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was the Keynote Speaker for the GS Class of 2020.
