Twyla Tharp Dance

A titan of American dance, Twyla Tharp celebrates 60 years crafting strikingly original, thoroughly accessible, and utterly uncategorizable works with the West Coast premiere of SLACKTIDE, a new collaboration with composer Philip Glass, and the artists’ first partnership in nearly 40 years. Performed live by Chicago’s Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion ensemble, the score is based on Glass’ 1993–99 work Aguas da Amazonia and reflects on the crisis of climate change. And in another West Coast premiere, Tharp revives Diabelli, her 1998 triumph that challenges 11 dancers and a pianist to embody Beethoven’s endlessly inventive Diabelli Variations (performed live by pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev).

“Tharp is America’s crossover dance queen… She melds classical ballet with modern dance, avant-garde experiment with Broadway pizzazz, technical rigor with off-the-cuff attitude, uptown glamor with downtown grit.” —The Guardian

This performance is made possible, in part, by Toni Ratner Miller and Joyce Ratner (February 7), Rockridge Market Hall (February 8).