Twyla Tharp Dance (Photo by Mark Seliger)
The legendary Twyla Tharp comes to Dallas to open the TITAS season
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com
“It is an honor to have her open the TITAS season,” TITAS/Dance Unbound Executive Director Charles Santos said in a video announcing that T/DU will host dance legend Twyla Tharp and her company as she celebrates her 60th anniversary with a revival and two new pieces.
Twyla Tharp Dance will perform on Sept. 20 for one night only at the Winspear Opera House. The show will feature the revival of “Ocean’s Motion” from 1975 set to music by rock and roller Chuck Berry.
With dancers in vintage fashions performing classic dances like The Bunny Hop and The Twist, the revival homage to Berry’s music showcases Tharps penchant for mixing pop music and classical dance.
“She did something that no one else did so successfully, which was to bring concert dance into ballet and into the Broadway stage,” Santos said. “No one has been as successful.”
And at 81, Tharp continues to create new works.
After a popular run in New York, Tharp brings her new pieces to the Dallas audience. “Brel” celebrates the Belgian singer Jacques Brel.
With a minimalist music approach mixed with Vivaldi, the company will also perform the new work “The Ballet Master.”
“Twyla Tharp is truly one of the living legends of the modern dance world,” Santos said. “She paved the way; she broke the rules; she did a lot of things she wasn’t supposed to do, and she was a great success. She has influenced generations of dance.”
Before the show in Dallas next month, Tharp answered a few questions for Dallas Voice about process.
Dallas Voice: This particular performance had a popular run at the Joyce earlier this year. How does it feel now to present a past work with new works. Does it feel different over the course of your career from the early days to now? Twyla Tharp: Debuting new work is always the same challenge — will it communicate with others or not?
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