Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stepping out on tour
Renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp’s 50th anniversary tour on the way.
Despite a distinguished 50-year career choreographing, and a diverse repertoire filled with what now are considered classics of the dance world, Twyla Tharp doesn’t like to be called a pioneer.
“One thing you learn is nobody is ever ‘first,’ and nobody is ever original,” says Tharp, during a recent phone interview. “I’ve always had a kind of humility about what I do. And I always try to do the very best that I could do in any kind of situation.”
Her “Twyla Tharp Dance 50th Anniversary Tour” will make two stops in South Florida — Monday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Friday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts — and will showcase two pieces. “Nine Sinatra Songs,” which premiered in 1982, depicts the relationships of seven couples as they dance to Sinatra classics. In the more recent “Preludes and Fugues,” from 2015, dancers twirl, spin and jump to selections from “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Books I and II, by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Tharp has often looked outside of dance to create new moves, borrowing from yoga, sports, even boxing.
“Sometimes I acknowledge the style, but not always,” she says. “To me, it’s all movement. To me, it’s not about various pots and baskets that contain ballroom, modern, swimming, skiing. I can’t swim or ski, but I stick it in the dancing.”
Tharp started her career as a dancer. She began choreographing because she wanted to explore dance beyond its traditional theater setting.
“I was curious about things that were not being investigated, and I just started doing that. I didn’t know I wanted to be a choreographer. I just started working,” she says.
Her company didn’t do a stage performance for the first five years. Instead, members danced on rooftops and in churches, museums, college rooms, gymnasiums and parks.
“I was just trying to make dance available in as many different kinds of situations and with as many different purposes as I could imagine,” she says. “So I was just having a good time.”
Through the years, she moved from public spaces into theaters, Broadway plays, television shows and film. She choreographed the 1979 film, “Hair,” and the 2002 Broadway musical, “Movin’ Out.” She has worked with Gene Kelly and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has written three books, and her list of awards include a Tony, two Emmys and the 2004 National Medal of Arts.
At 75, Tharp still dances every day.
“It’s called ‘use it or lose it.’ I continue to work. I still work in the gym,” she says. “People tend to be very sentimental and to feel victimized by age. I think that’s ridiculous. I think that’s not a good thing to do.”
She doesn’t perform anymore but has plans to create new choreographies after the tour.
“I’m gonna die and these pieces are going to be around,” she says of her work. “It’s something of service. It’s something with a purpose for people.”
“Twyla Tharp Dance 50th Anniversary Tour” 8 p.m. Monday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Admission starts at $35. Call 954-462-0222 or go to BrowardCenter.org; and 8 p.m. Friday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Admission starts at $20. Call 561-832-7469 or go to Kravis.org.