At 83, choreography pioneer Twyla Tharp’s primary goal has remained the same over her 60-year career.
“It is to work,” says Tharp, whose troupe appears in Berkeley on Feb. 7-9. Cal Performances’ “Twyla Tharp Dance Diamond Jubilee” includes two West Coast premieres: a revival of 1998’s “Diabelli” and 2025’s “Slacktide” set to music by Philip Glass.
Tharp, an innovator whose 1973 crossover piece “Deuce Coupe” set to music by the Beach Boys mixed ballet and modern dance, has choreographed more than 160 works. She cites George Balanchine and Martha Graham, with their “rigor and passion,” as important influences. The dancemaker, who formed her troupe in 1965 in New York City, continues to apply a minimalist approach.
“I have evolved by learning to build dance from a beginning with only myself and no music or other production elements into multifaceted works,” she says.
“Diamond Jubilee’s” four-month national tour, which started Jan. 26 at the University of Minnesota’s Northrop theater, opens with “Diabelli,” set to Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations.” The 1823 composition of 33 fiendishly demanding variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli is performed live by Russian pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev.
Tharp took on the formidable challenge of setting a dance to Beethoven’s complex piece by having the dancers move from classical to jazz to modern styles. She found the experience both helpful and daunting.
“The value of the ‘Diabelli Variations’ lies in Beethoven’s ability to muster an enormous range of transformations on a received, rather pedantic theme,” she says. “Lesson learned: where there is a will there is a way.”
Though “Diabelli” is based on a layered, thought-provoking composition, the roughly one-hour work for 11 dancers, with costumes by Geoffrey Beene, reveals a light-hearted side to Beethoven’s masterpiece.
“The work’s appeal for the audience is its visual representation of Beethoven’s theatrical imagination, including his humor,” Tharp explains.
The “Diamond Jubilee” fast-forwards almost 200 years from Beethoven’s time to the present, with “Slacktide,” set to Glass’ 1999 “Aguas da Amazonia,” which addresses the issue of climate change.
“‘Slacktide’ references the moment of absolute stillness between the incoming and outgoing tides,” Tharp says. “The dance is a meditation on time.”
In contrast to “Diabelli’s” sleek attire by Beene and uniform lighting, the 30-minute “Slacktide” features 12 dancers in costumes designed by Victoria Bek and bathed in colorful lighting by Justin Townsend.
The piece is Tharp’s first collaboration with Glass in nearly 40 years. Her 1986 dance “In the Upper Room” is set to the composer’s iconic “The Upper Room,” which she commissioned. And the first movement of “Slacktide” is taken from the final movement of “In the Upper Room.” (The work premiered as “Untitled” and the title “In the Upper Room” came into print in 1987.)
Glass composed “Aguas da Amazonia” (in Portuguese, “Waters of the Amazon”) as a dance score for a Brazilian ballet company. It was performed by musicians in the group Uakti who created original instruments from Brazilian-sourced materials for the piece.
Like Uakti, the Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion group, which appears in “Diamond Jubilee” performances of “Slacktide” (joined by flutist Constance Volk), also created original instruments, often with ordinary objects like pieces of wood or metal pipes.
Tharp says Third Coast’s arrangement enriches the composition, particularly with variations in certain sections: “The fifth and eighth sections of ‘Slacktide’ are a passacaglia on a single theme, which Third Coast’s arrangement augments.”
Cal Performances presents “Twyla Tharp Dance Diamond Jubilee” at 8 p.m. Feb. 7-8 and 3 p.m. Feb. 9 in Zellerbach Hall, near Bancroft Way and Dana Street on the University of California, Berkeley campus. Tickets are $25-$130 at (510) 642-9988 or calperformances.org.
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