CHOREOGRAPHER TWYLA THARP IS ‘MOVIN’OUT’ TO A NEW BEAT

The legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp has been blurring the boundaries between the choreographic disciplines of ballet, modern dance, Broadway and film for nearly four decades.

The 61-year-old dancer/choreographer is tohe creative force behind such disparate dance works as “Nine Sinatra Songs” and Beethoven’s “Seventh Symphony”; the choreography for the films “Hair,” “Ragtime” and “Amadeus”; and the Broadway musical “Singin’ in the Rain.” Her current all-dance musical set to the music of Billy Joel, “Movin’ Out,” has caused a sensation on Broadway and is currently playing to packed houses.

Tharp recently brought her acclaimed Twyla Tharp Dance company to William Jewell’s Harriman Arts Program, performing a trio of works that included the innovative “Surfer at the River Styx,” set to a percussive score by the contemporary composer Donald Knaack. Following the performance, Tharp appeared at a “talk-back” session during which she entertained questions from the crowd. Following are excerpts from that forum:

Q: The performance appeared to be very strenuous in terms of its demands on the dancers. Will they be sore tomorrow?

A: The dancers will get on a bus tonight and drive to the location of our next performance. They will sleep in tomorrow morning, give a master class at mid-day, go to a technical rehearsal, then get in the tub and maybe nap a bit before they have something to eat and do another show tomorrow night. It is very demanding, but that’s a dancer’s life on the road.

Q: What are the criteria you use when selecting dancers?

A: The quality I look for most in selecting dancers is sincerity, which also has to do with their dedication, their discipline and their technique. But sometimes they must be willing to abandon that technique and simply place their trust in me. They’ve also got to be gorgeous, and then I fall in love with them.

Q: How did you come to work with Billy Joel?

A: I didn’t know him at all. I called him up on telephone and said ‘Come here. I have to show you something.’ So I showed him a videotape of some dances I had set to his music and asked him if would be alright for us to continue developing what became ‘Movin’ Out.’ Rarely is it that easy to something off the ground. But I paid for it later. (Editor’s Note: The show received a lukewarm critical reception during its Chicago tryout run in the summer of 2002 and was extensively reworked prior to its triumphant Broadway opening last fall. Tharp won the coveted Tony Award for her choreography.)

Q: Do you often travel with the company as you are doing now?

A: I very rarely travel, but this is a new group of dancers. My company is currently parked on Broadway in “Movin’ Out,” so these guys are second generation. It’s very unusual that the whole company will turn over at once, which is what happened this past year. I’m now working with my fifth generation of dancers, because dancers turn over faster than regular human beings. But it’s a privilege to work with such a talented group of young dancers.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?

A: I’d like to think that I concocted some of them myself. It’s really a combination of what I can do, and what they (the dancers) can do.

Q: Can you tell us about the experience of working with Baryshnikov?

A: That was several lifetimes ago. It was very early in his career, but he was a phenomenal technical dancer. The work we created together has endured and been passed on to a new generation of dancers. That’s as good as it gets, when you create something to pass on.