Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour Concludes Tonight at the Koch Theater

The Twyla Tharp Fiftieth Anniversary Tour concludes its 10-weeks of cross-country performances with a week-long season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, tonight, November 17-22, where it will present a double bill of New York premieres: "Preludes and Fugues" and "Yowzie." Both works were commissioned in part by The Joyce Theater, which is presenting the Tharp season at The Koch.

"Preludes and Fugues" is set to Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" Volumes 1 & 2, and "Yowzie" to a selection of music from "Viper's Drag," a compilation of American jazz music. Each show is introduced by a fanfare, with another introducing "Yowzie;" both are by John Zorn. Santo Loquasto designed the costumes for all the dances, and James Ingalls, the lighting.

In a program note describing the shows, Tharp says: "Simply put, 'Preludes and Fugues' is the world as it ought to be, 'Yowzie' as it is. The 'Fanfares' celebrate both."

The company is comprised of many dancers who have long histories with Tharp, appearing in her Broadway shows, "Movin' Out," "The Times They Are A Changin'" and "Come Fly Away," as well as in her various dance troupes and in the ballet and contemporary dance companies for whom she created new works. They are John Selya, Rika Okamoto, Matthew Dibble, and Ron Todorowski. Newer to Tharp are Daniel Baker, Amy Ruggiero, Ramona Kelley, Nicholas Coppula, Eva Trapp, Savanna Lowery, Reed Tankersley, Kaitlyn Gilliland, and Eric Otto.

Since graduating from Barnard College in 1963, Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than one hundred sixty works: one hundred twenty-nine dances, twelve television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two figure skating routines. She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, nineteen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor. Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In 1992, Ms. Tharp published her autobiography PUSH COMES TO SHOVE. She went on to write THE CREATIVE HABIT: Learn it and Use it for Life, followed by THE COLLABORATIVE HABIT: Life Lessons for Working Together. She is currently working on a fourth book.

Today, Ms. Tharp continues to create.

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