Acclaim for Twyla Tharp’s ‘Diamond Jubilee’ Tour

Revolutionary choreographer Twyla Tharp celebrated her 60th year as a dance maker with a 13-week U.S. tour and a new, boundary-pushing program. The Diamond Jubilee celebration featured Tharp’s Olivier-nominated Diabelli, set to Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations, with a live piano performance by Vladimir Rumyantsev. The tour also showcased the highly anticipated premiere of SLACKTIDE, marking the first collaboration between Tharp and Philip Glass since their 1986 work In The Upper Room. The reimagining of Glass’ Aguas da Amazonia was arranged and recorded by Third Coast Percussion in collaboration with Tharp. Third Coast Percussion performed live at select tour stops on a collection of custom-designed percussion instruments, joined by Constance Volk on flute.

“’Slacktide’ asks a lot of its dancers, a young and exceptional ensemble of freelancers whose resumes collectively include Miami City Ballet, Limon, Gibney Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Kansas City Ballet, English Ballet, and the list goes on. Indeed, they are a terrific group —placed in a stunningly rich container by lighting designer Justin Townsend…It’s [Diabelli] quintessential Tharp, exploring the innards of a brilliant piece of music in ways both playful and serious. In moments, it’s literal child’s play: high fives, leapfrog, Red Rover, Ring Around the Rosie, cartwheels and somersaults. Tharp disassociates Beethoven’s rhythmic and melodic structures from their 1820s roots, finding the piece jazzy enough for a jitterbug and folksy enough for a mazurka. And apart from its faux tuxedo unitards, “Diabelli” could be mistaken for having been made yesterday until you place it side-by-side with shiny new “Slacktide.” That’s not to say either piece looks exactly like what other choreographers are making now. Hers is a singular voice. Serious and silly. Classic and contemporary. Rigorous and rule breaking. Tharp is a genre. She is her own category of dance.”
Chicago Tribune

Review: Twyla Tharp Dance’s 60th anniversary show marked by moments of playfulness, surprise
“Beethoven’s composition breaks down Diabelli’s waltz into its structural make-up, then expands on those building blocks. Similarly, Tharp strips waltz dancing and other partner and social dances into their bare elements, using those pieces to construct an austere and dizzyingly complex composition. Tharp’s sleek pattern-making was divinely realized by an ensemble of 10 dancers. When dancing all together, they moved in pristine synchronicity. When broken off into separate groups, they wove in and through each other like a precise machine, fluidly creating complicated shapes, lifts and poses…As in “Diabelli,” Tharp brought moments of playfulness, such as dancers leapfrogging over each other. Tharp also inserted moments of surprise, like a long, perfectly frozen pause, or a short section that seemed to nod to the art of flamenco. You might not normally think of Beethoven as being similar to Glass. Experiencing both composers’ works set to dance by Tharp offered a frame to think of these two composers together. Like Tharp herself, they deconstruct forms and re-assemble them, displaying their mastery in the process.”
Minnesota Star Tribune

“In what is arguably the most anticipated event of the Chicago dance season, the company presented the first of three performances Thursday evening at the Harris Theater…Given Tharp’s standing in the dance world, it is no surprise that she has put together a cohesive ensemble of supremely talented dancers for this tour who exhibit their own strong artistic personalities but also grasp her aesthetic and are totally committed to making it come alive…The intricately interwoven movement can be highly athletic, like a woman swinging high on the arms of two supporting men as another woman twirls frenetically nearby, but also quite simple — a swivel, a swung leg, a bounce. But no matter how complex or basic, in what is another Tharp trademark, there is a sense of ease and fun about everything presented.”
Chicago Sun-Times

“Tharp uses all 33 of Beethoven’s piano pieces, creating dances for various duets, solos, and larger groups. She varies the rhythm and beats, much like Beethoven did to the music, and reverses steps and poses. Indeed, Tharp’s 1998 classic sends dancers to the outer reaches of their capabilities in this piano ballet. As she did in her 1986 exhilarating ballet, “In The Upper Room,” Tharp turned to Philip Glass, Baltimore’s own innovative composer, for her latest work,“SLACKTIDE.” Here is a dance with forward and sideward leaps and backward runs where the company must keep up with the changing tempo. This writer was amazed the dancers accomplished this task with grace and vigor…By the end of the show, my friends and I wanted to jump up from our seats and dance. That’s how you feel after a Twyla Tharp show, and we still felt that way days later.”
MD Theater Guide

“The evening opened with Diabelli, Tharp’s 1998 work to Beethoven’s Diabelli piano variations. Jaunty, humorous, and devilishly difficult to parse, the work is simply delightful. The dancers were utterly absorbed in each other onstage, bouncing like pogo sticks and sassily flicking their feet. They come across as relaxed, casually whipping out quadruple pirouettes before prancing offstage. This fusion of precision and relaxation is classic Tharp, instantly recognizable and utterly her own. The transition from variation to variation were also flawless, seamlessly weaving together, creating just the faintest glimmer of a story while allowing pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev a moment to turn the page.”
BroadwayWorld (Washington, DC)

‘Diamond Jubilee’ Tour is Legendary Choreographer Twyla Tharp at her Tharpiest
“Tharp’s choreography felt symbiotic with Beethoven’s music in tempo, mood, and punctuated notes. It was as if Tharp instructed the dancers to go onto the stage and play, but to do so using every bit of their technical prowess as elite dancers…While “Diabelli” was performed magnificently by the entire cast, several performers stood out, including dancer Miriam Gittens, who wowed the audience in a dizzying chaines turns sequence with the speed and power of a mini-tornado; dancer Alexander Peters who was delightful in partnered duets with Gittens, and petite marvel Nicole Morris dancing with Renan Cerdeiro…Again, the dancers performed skillfully in Tharp’s [SLACKTIDE] choreography, with dancer Marzia Memoli emerging as a clear standout. All in all, the Diamond Jubilee program was Tharp at her Tharpiest. Both works together delivered a cross-section of 60 years’ worth of her genius. That, coupled with the excellent performances by the tour’s dancers and musicians, garnered an enthusiastic standing ovation from the KeyBank State Theatre audience at its end.”
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