At 83, Twyla Tharp Still Creates Work for No One But Herself — She Twirls Into Houston Sept. 28
The inimitable Twyla Tharp, fourth from the left, and her dancers Jake, John, Daisy, Reed and Kaitlyn
CHOREOGRAPHER TWYLA THARP has been celebrating 60 years as a dance-maker with a coast-to-coast tour that brings her company to Texas this month, with performances in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and, on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Wortham Theater Center presented by Performing Arts Houston.
Along with Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Trisha Brown, Tharp belongs to the pantheon of modern-era American choreographers who transcended the limits placed on women in their respective eras and pushed the domain of dance into uncharted territory. That we are the beneficiaries of such innovation is not lost on Tharp. “When I began, you were either a ballet dancer or a modern dancer,” says Tharp. “I helped make it possible to be both.” Now 83, Tharp could certainly rest on her laurels, but she continues to create new works that are as engaging for audiences as they are physically demanding for her dancers.
Saturday’s program includes Ocean’s Motion, a work for five dancers Tharp created in 1975 and set to the music of Chuck Berry. Rock and roll in the 1950s heralded a period of wild rhythmic experimentation, and it was the music Tharp heard as a studious but inwardly rebellious teenager over loudspeakers while working in her parents’ drive-in movie theater. “It’s more the energy and commitment behind the rhythms that drives the movement,” says Tharp when asked if rock provides a unique groove for her choreography. Rock music, specifically the music of The Beach Boys, sound-tracked Tharp’s 1973 breakthrough collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet, Deuce Coupe, which ingeniously amalgamated the steps of classical ballet with the equally demanding movements of modern dance.
But Tharp has always drawn inspiration from a variety of musical genres, including ragtime, minimalism, and for the 2024 Brel, also on the program for Saturday, the gut-wrenching chanson of Belgian singer and provocateur Jacques Romain Georges Brel, better known as Jacques Brel. In Brel, the audience bears witness to a lone, heroic dancer, “no longer young,” yet infused with the fire and wisdom one can only gain with the passage of time. “He is a man who experiences things deeply,” says Tharp. The work is in five parts, each choreographed to a live recording of Brel singing some of his most beloved songs. (And yes, “Ne me quitte pas” is one of them, so bring your hankies.)
“Brel was an extraordinary performer,” says Tharp. “Nobody ever sang his songs with as much intelligence and passion. This is true of Chuck Berry as well and is one of the reasons I like to pair Ocean’s Motion with Brel.”
Rounding out Saturday’s show is The Ballet Master (2024), with contrasting music by the Dutch contemporary composer Simeon ten Holt and Baroque master Antonio Vivaldi used to great effect. The nearly 30-minute theatrical work humorously unpacks the choreographic process and features longtime Tharp dancer John Selya, 54, as a thoroughly seasoned choreographer desperately trying to create a new dance and maintain some control over the creative process. From the very beginning of her career, humor has been an essential element in Tharp’s choreography. So, is it a challenge to get her dancers to be comfortable with looking awkward or goofy onstage? “Humor comes from control,” says Tharp. “Not the opposite.”
In her autobiography, When Push Comes to Shove, Tharp describes the morning after the premiere of her very first dance, Tank Dive (1965), when she raced out to get a copy of The New York Times and was stunned and disappointed to see the work had not been reviewed. Later, she realized this was a good thing.
“There was no financial remuneration and little attention paid to me those first five years,” writes Tharp. “So I simply went on asking myself, ‘Do you want to do this, or don’t you?’” Sixty years later, it’s a question Tharp still asks herself. She’s also just fine with the idea of creating work without the expectations of an audience in mind.
“This is the only way to approach work,” says Tharp. “Meeting expectations can be accomplished through effort and having chops, but ultimately, you judge your own work.”
