Review: TWYLA THARP DANCE DIAMOND JUBILEE at The Kennedy Center

DC audiences were treated this week to two outstanding companies at the Kennedy Center, the highlight of which was Twyla Tharp Dance celebrating its 60th anniversary. With her signature cool, loose limbs and predilection for challenging music, Tharp’s choreography is intricate and, at times, thrilling. 

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. 

SLACKTIDE, the second work on the program, is a new work set to a percussion and flute arrangement of Phillip Glass’ Aguas da Amazonia. Here Tharp builds on classroom exercises - relevés, prances - to something almost sinister. She’s also not afraid to let her dancers look weird, even ugly; an extended solo for Reed Tankersley has him almost fighting with himself. Built similarly to Tharp muse John Selya with a stocky physique, Tankersley shines in Tharp’s works, where no one expects him to be a cavalier. 

In addition to her singular choreography and deep musicality, Tharp’s superpower is elevating dancers who anywhere else might never rise from the corps de ballet. She has a company of individuals who, released from an expectation of visual homogeneity, move with a shared commitment to unison movement quality. The gesture might look slightly different because the dancers’ bodies are different, but the feeling it evokes is the same. 

While this work did not reach the height of Tharp’s abilities for its cleverness and wit, knocking it feels cruel too, given her mediocre works are more interesting and better constructed than most choreographers’ best efforts. Still, just as she holds high standards for her dancers and musicians, so should we for her. It’s a gift that she is still busy creating. Here’s to many more productive years. 

Runtime: two hours, including one intermission