PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET PRESENTS

ALL THARP

 
November 5-14, 2010
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center
Seattle, WA 98109
 
November 5-6 at 7:30 pm
November 6 at 2:00 pm
November 11-13 at 7:30 pm
November 14 at 1:00 pm
 
"Her architectural command of stage space becomes handsomely evident...the ways in which Ms. Tharp dramatizes space are constantly striking” — Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times
 
SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet continues its 2010-2011 season with a program of works by American dance icon Twyla Tharp. The three works on this ALL THARP mixed bill each speak with a distinctive voice. Staged together, they offer a striking demonstration of the legendary choreographer’s creative fluency. Opus 111 and Afternoon Ball, commissioned by PNB in 2008 just months before Tharp received Kennedy Center Honors, shed their light from opposite ends of a thematic spectrum: the first is a joyous, folk-influenced ensemble work and the second, an unflinching take on urban alienation and redemption. In Waterbaby Bagatelles, last seen at PNB in 2006, blue-capped women and bare-chested men flirt and flow under the aqueous glow of rows of florescent light tubes, swept up by the musical currents of seven short compositions. ALL THARP runs from November 5 through November 14 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $27 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer St.
 
In his notes at the time of the 2008 world premieres of Opus 111 and Afternoon Ball, PNB artistic director Peter Boal stated that Tharp “has been remarkable, bringing with her discipline, sweat, laughter, and inspiration.  She has given us a gift, or two, with the signature works she created for our Company.”
 
The line-up for ALL THARP will include:
 
Opus 111
Music: Johannes Brahms (String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111, 1890)
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
Costume Design: Mark Zappone
Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli
Premiere: September 25, 2008; Pacific Northwest Ballet
Running time: 28 minutes
 
Brahms composed this string quintet while on a nature retreat in the summer of 1890. The music has a vivacious folk flavor, with the cello featured in the first movement and the viola, Brahms' favorite instrument, carrying the theme in the second. Tharp has choreographed the quintet’s four movements for five couples. “Opus 111 glides along a shimmering path, allowing Ms. Tharp to demonstrate her ability to mirror complicated music seamlessly while diving beneath its surface” (Gia Kourlas, The New York Times).
 
Afternoon Ball
Music: Vladimir Martynov (Autumn Ball of the Elves, 1994)
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
Scenic and Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli
Costume Design: Mark Zappone
Premiere: September 25, 2008; Pacific Northwest Ballet
Running time: 19 minutes
 
Tharp’s Afternoon Ball is a ballet set to Martynov’s Autumn Ball of the Elves, in which he applies a theme and variations structure to a minimalist palette. Afternoon Ball is a piece for two women and three men. “An unexpectedly emotional work that reveals its choreographer’s romantic leanings” (Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times). “A compelling work both for its rich display of movement and for its effective conjuring of a place both mundane and magical. There is evident drama in this eccentric dance that while undeniable, defies explication and yet that haunts the memory” (Robert Greskovic, Dancing Times).
 
Waterbaby Bagatelles
Music: 20th-century bagatelles (Anton Webern: Sehr langsam, excerpt from Six Bagatelles, Op. 9; Kevin Volans: White Man Sleeps #5; John Lurie: Bella by Barlight; David Lang: The Anvil Chorus; Astor Piazzolla: Fear, from Five Tango Sensations; Mickey Hart: The Hunt; John Adams: On the Dominant Divide [Part II of Grand Pianola Music])
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
Staging: Shelley Washington
Lighting Design: Jennifer Tipton
Premiere: April 30, 1994; Boston Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: November 2, 2006
Running time: 28 minutes
 
Bagatelles are short and unpretentious musical compositions. Tharp’s array of ballet bagatelles is danced on the pristine surface of a stage overhung and aqueously lighted by rows of fluorescent light tubes, like those that might illuminate an aquarium. Riding on the music’s pulse and the dance’s momentum, the dancers occasionally scoot in and out as if jogging, backwards as often as forwards. Taking inspiration from a musical range that goes from 12-tone innovator Anton Webern through Tango man Astor Piazzolla, Tharp's dances curvet over the stage as if the dancers were schools of fish. “Idiosyncratic and terrific even by the best Tharp standards...it refreshes simply by washing right over you” (The New York Times).