Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Global dance offerings to catch now: TWYLA THARP premieres, the return of GAUTHIER DANCE, and the city-wide FLAMENCO FESTIVAL

• By drediman
• March 13, 2025
• No Comments

This week in New York, dance fans have a wide array of global dance performances at their finger tips. As per usual, read on for my further thoughts on these vibrant offerings.

TWYLA THARP DANCE
New York City Center
Through March 16

Last night marked the opening of Twyla Tharp Dance’s weeklong Diamond Jubilee presentation at New York City Center (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Although the program is billed as boasting two New York premieres, the affair has the air of a triumphant valedictory lap for the iconic American choreographer. First up was the long-awaited debut of Diabelli, which was originally performed in Italy in 1998 but has been rarely performed elsewhere. Set to Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations — sensationally played live by pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev — the reclaimed hourlong masterwork is a crisp and propulsive piece of dance that moves to the fiendishly difficult music with verve and utter virtuosity, drawing from classical ballet and Tharp’s witty brand of contemporary dance. The elaborate choreography for ten paired dancers has been structured with both airtight rigor and breathless kineticism in mind, but not without touches of playfulness. Indeed, there’s stupendous variety within the ballet’s vocabulary of movement — inspired by Beethoven’s composition — and it was thrilling to watch. Then came Tharp’s latest creation SLACKTIDE, which is set to music from Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia, featuring an alluring new arrangement by Third Coast Percussion (the wonderful ensemble also performed live on custom-made instruments). In many ways, the piece can interpreted as a moving and soft-spoken reflection on Tharp’s career, a seeming culmination of her aesthetic and a dreamy companion piece to In the Upper Room — both are intricately yet flowingly constructed for a sizable ensemble and share the same music. It’s also, plainly and simply, a joyous and exhilarating dance. Throughout, Tharp’s terrific dancers performed with undaunted vigor, attacking both pieces with relentless energy, bright personality, and abundant style.

GAUTHIER DANCE
The Joyce Theater
Through March 16

Moving from American contemporary dance to its European and Middle Eastern equivalents, we have Gauthier Dance (RECOMMENDED) — a Stuttgart-based company that champions the works of some of the most exciting and sought after contemporary dance choreographers working today — which has returned this week to The Joyce Theater. The first thing you’ll notice is the wonderful versatility of the company’s dancers, who are at home performing a range of genres, from classical ballet to more avant-garde ways of moving. The current program at the busy Chelsea dance venue features a trio of New York premieres, starting with Sharon Eyal’s Point, a selection from a larger piece conveying the Seven Deadly Sins. Danced in a silky, slinky manner by three women, the piece is vintage Eyal, albeit a softer iteration that emphasizes fluidity and line (finally!); that being said, I didn’t quite get the notion of “envy” from the piece. Then came ABC, a crowd-pleasing solo choreographed by artistic director Eric Gauthier that wittily encapsulates the world of dance via a manic alphabetically-ordered flip through dance terminologies. On opening night, the work was danced with aplomb and winking “can-do” spirit by Shori Yamamoto. The third of the premieres was a very loose riff on Swan Lake created by Hofesh Schecter (who also composed the insanely catchy electronic score, as well as designed the costumes and lighting). Entitled Swan Cake, the piece is a choreographic manifestation of the “swarm” behavior exhibited by swans. Largely drawing from the same relentlessly grim aesthetic as Eyal, it similarly champions organic ensemble work above all else. The closer was Gauthier Dance’s variation on Ohad Naharin’s popular contemporary classic Minus 16. Despite being energetically performed, it seemed a bit redundant following stylistically similar works such as Point and Swan Cake.

FLAMENCO FESTIVAL: COMPAÑÍA EVA YERBABUENA
New York City Center
The Flamenco Festival runs through March 15

Also currently ongoing in New York is the annual Flamenco Festival, a city-wide celebration of the flamboyant Spanish dance and music tradition of flamenco. Taking place at wildly diverse venues such as New York City Center, Joe’s Pub, Roulette, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the festival is an opportunity for audiences to fully immerse themselves in this distinctly visceral, passion-driven art form. Of the many performances on tap, I was able to attend the final performance of City Center’s programming, which showcased the magnetic Eva Yerbabuena, arguably one of the great flamenco dancers of her generation. On the bill was Yerbagüena (Oscuro Brillante) (RECOMMENDED), a thrilling and celebratory encapsulation of the her two decade-long dance career (other appearances at City Center during this year’s festival included Alfonso Losa & Patricia Guerrero, as well as Compañía Manuel Liñán). Alternating between dance and music-making, the balanced and beautifully produced program framed Yerbabuena’s singular talent extravagantly. The musicians were luxuriously made up of four male vocalists, two percussionists, and a classical guitarist (the superb Paco Jarana). Driving the fervor in particular were the vocal performances, which seemingly sprang from deep within the soul and soared outward to the rafters. The sleekly theatrical program found the legendary dancer — ever in-the-moment — at the tense cross-roads between new and traditional styles of flamenco. It concluded ecstatically, however, with a transcendent sequence entitled “Soleá Apolá” — which had the audience on the edge of their seats as they marveled at Yerbabuena’s rhythmic virtuosity and dramatic flourishes. Suffice to say, they were left bewitched and wanting more.