For the dance history buff, Twyla Tharp Dance at The Joyce Theater (November 14 – December 9) was like getting that very special treat that you’ve wanted for a while. Titled Minimalism and Me, this Tharp gem for 2018 was simply satisfying. Notably “…One of this century’s most acclaimed, renowned, and celebrated artists,” in Minimalism and Me, Tharp put together a program that focused on her early dances recollecting the influence and relationship to minimalist visual art. What follows is a sophisticated beginner’s guide to the time when Tharp and colleagues made dances in this time of protest, naming and reckoning.
The works presented spanned the years 1966 to 1971 and was presented during one of The Joyce’s Family Matinee series, packed with children. Tharp encouraged them the children to laugh, “It’s good for us,” she said, then explained what the afternoon would entail. First up was the three and a half minute dance to Petulia Clark’s 1965 “Downtown” whereby Tharp originally stood on relevé for as long as the music lasted. Films of Tharp and dancers in the early years was the backdrop for other excerpted revivals including Tank Dive (1965), Medley (1969), The History of Up and Down (1971) and more that filled the first half. The evening ended with the fully re-staged tour de force Eight Jelly Rolls (1971) which showed each dancer in their own light. And as Tharp promised before intermission, all the parts introduced in the early works, humor, musicality, playfulness, complex pattering and more, were all there. Sara Rudner, a Tharp dancer from 1965 – 85, helped to reconstruct Eight Jelly Rolls. The beautiful dancers were: Kara Chan, Matthew Dibble, Kellie Drobnick, Mary Beth Hansohn, Reed Tankersley, and Ron Todorowski.
The works presented spanned the years 1966 to 1971 and was presented during one of The Joyce’s Family Matinee series, packed with children. Tharp encouraged them the children to laugh, “It’s good for us,” she said, then explained what the afternoon would entail. First up was the three and a half minute dance to Petulia Clark’s 1965 “Downtown” whereby Tharp originally stood on relevé for as long as the music lasted. Films of Tharp and dancers in the early years was the backdrop for other excerpted revivals including Tank Dive (1965), Medley (1969), The History of Up and Down (1971) and more that filled the first half. The evening ended with the fully re-staged tour de force Eight Jelly Rolls (1971) which showed each dancer in their own light. And as Tharp promised before intermission, all the parts introduced in the early works, humor, musicality, playfulness, complex pattering and more, were all there. Sara Rudner, a Tharp dancer from 1965 – 85, helped to reconstruct Eight Jelly Rolls. The beautiful dancers were: Kara Chan, Matthew Dibble, Kellie Drobnick, Mary Beth Hansohn, Reed Tankersley, and Ron Todorowski.
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