Twyla Tharp Dance

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Ruven Afandor

A close-up of Twyla Tharp.

Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Dance is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025…a perfect time to make its Overture Center debut. Renowned for blending classical discipline with modern innovation, Tharp's choreography has continually redefined the boundaries of dance. This performance features works set to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and a new composition by Philip Glass in collaboration with Third Coast Percussion. Expect an evening showcasing the company's signature creativity, wit and technical precision.

media release: Embark on a journey through the unparalleled artistry of Twyla Tharp Dance as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary and Overture Center debut on Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall. Tickets ($40 - $80) are available at overture.org. Be sure to stay after the show for a brief informal Q&A session in the theater with the performers.  

Since redefining the boundaries of ballet and modern dance in 1963, Tharp has crafted more than 160 works spanning dance, film, Broadway and beyond. Beethoven's “Diabelli Variations” and a new arrangement of “Aguas da Amazonia” by Phillip Glass with Third Coast Percussion are the backdrops to the company’s signature creativity, wit and technical precision. 

Twyla Tharp Dance's “Diamond Jubilee Tour” is choreographed by Twyla Tharp. In the ensemble is Renan Cerdeiro, Angela Falk, Zachary Gonder, Oliver Greene-Cramer, Kyle Halford, Daisy Jacobson, Miriam Gittens, Nicole Ashley Morris, Marzia Memoli, Alexander Peters, Molly Rumble and Reed Tankersley. On the piano is Vladimir Rumyantsev. 

Twyla Tharp celebrates her 60th anniversary with a tour featuring her Olivier-nominated “Diabelli,” set to Beethoven’s masterpiece “Diabelli Variations,” and a new dance, “SLACKTIDE,” to a reimagining of Philip Glass’s iconic “Aguas da Amazonia.” Showcasing Tharp’s uncanny and witty use of music to create work of startling originality and beauty, the two dances once again ensure Tharp’s place as one of the great artists of our time. 

The first and only choreographer to take on the intensely demanding and demonically complex “Diabelli Variations,” Tharp makes visible the elegant humor and depth of the composer’s layered genius. With each section of the Beethoven, unique in mood and texture, Tharp’s response—tender, teasing, transcendent, cheeky— commands all of its performers’ technical prowess—and energy—as they change effortlessly from ballet to jazz to modern, with unexpected bits of social and street dance for good measure. 

Almost two centuries later in years and spirit is “SLACKTIDE,” set to Philip Glass’s “Aguas da Amazonia,” arranged and recorded by members of Third Coast Percussion in close collaboration with Tharp and performed on a unique collection of custom-designed percussion instruments. 

This groundbreaking evening is not one to be missed and is sure to dazzle audiences with its stellar dancing and phenomenal musicianship. 

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