Monday, December 13, 2010

Controversial Life for the Tharp Company




“In March 1970, at Sullins College in Virginia, Twyla Tharp presented her then all-women company in a dance subtitled “predicted on theories of supply and demand.” As she explains in Push Comes to Shove, the subtitle meant that the work was finished when the commission money ran out, which it did, fast. Not a dime was spent on wardrobe, and to hammer home the point Tharp had one of the solos danced twice, first topless, then bottomless. Within weeks, Tharp disbanded her company.  “We had nothing left,” she explains. 
     Unlike the choreographers most closely associated with the new dance born in the 1960s at New York’s Judson Church, Tharp never subscribed to minimalist, pedestrian movement.  From the start, she emphasized the physicality of dancing; both as a performer and as a choreographer she loved the challenge of technique, “the juice of moving.”  Still, her work embodied many of the radical social concerns of the Judson choreographers.  A number of her early pieces were conceived for nontraditional spaces, like parks and gymnasiums, and involved dozens of performers, most of whom were not professional dancers.  The women of her budding company ran a gamut of physical types; no one’s body was preeminent.  Everyone spent hours together in the studio, forging a feminist community.  They lived together, fed each other, and on the rare occasions they were paid for a performance the money was divided equally. 

     Her goal was professionalism of the highest order.  She wanted her dancers to be the best; she wanted audiences to respond to them as viscerally as she did; she also wanted to pay them enough to live above the poverty line.  So in the 1970s, she went “commercial,” as many thought, including her then husband. 
     Today, as many dance companies teeter on the brink of bankruptcy, Tharp’s story should be read as a cautionary tale.  Talent, drive, decency—she had them all.  What she needed for her community of dancers was something America remains unwilling to give even the best of its choreographers—a home.”
By:Lynn Garafola (article)

3 comments:

  1. Cautionary tale indeed! Its so unfortunate that even the most successful, like Tharp, struggle so much financially. It really makes you wonder how lesser known choreographers and companies even exist.

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  2. I hope that some day I get to perform a latter Twyla Tharp piece! I feel her ambitious fusion of modern and ballet vocabulary would suit me very well. Not only would it be challenging but i feel that it would also add to my overall experience as a dancer.

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  3. I think that I love her choreography so much because she really "emphasized the physicality of dancing." The athleticism that goes into some of her pieces is incredible. I really think she pushes her dances as far as she can and that is why her pieces look so great.

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