THARP KEEPS COMPANY.

THARP KEEPS COMPANY AMERICAN DANCE FESTIVAL TWYLA THARP DANCE WITH DONALD KNAACK PAGE AUDITORIUM DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA JUNE 29, 30 AND JULY 1, 2000

Twyla Tharp's recent premiere at the American Dance Festival celebrated the presentation of her new company after a dozen years of noteworthy freelancing. The soaring temperatures in Durham couldn't compare to the heat generated by Tharp's impressive troupe and the new work commissioned by the Festival which brought the choreographer together with jazz composer Donald Knaack. Clearly, the choreographer's wit and voracious appetite for movement continue to serve her well.

Mozart Clarinet Quintet K581 highlights Tharp's trademark combination of ballet and modern vocabulary, honed and polished by her many collaborations with some of the world's premier dance companies. She uses this contrast to create an insouciant balance between classicism and comedy in this four-movement gallivant for Keith Roberts, John Selya, Elizabeth Parkinson, Paul Taylor's Andrew Asnes and American Ballet Theatre's Ashley Tuttle. Santo Loquasto designed Harlequin-like silky shirts for the men and short, brightly colored belted tunics for the women.

Surfer at the Styx, Tharp's telling of the transition from life to death, is a powerful combination of the dynamic and the unearthly. Knaack created an exceptional and beautifully textured percussion score, full of multicultural references, providing Tharp with the musical match for one of her finest works to date.

This journey to the underworld begins on a bare space with ladders affixed to the upstage wall. A sleek quartet dressed in black creates a slow-moving frieze reminiscent of hieroglyphs found in Egyptian tombs, interspersed with moments of stillness. Into this shadowy world burst the vibrant figures of surfer John Selya, dressed in loose white T-shirt and Bermuda shorts, and Keith Roberts, in casual pants, belt and shirt. In a series of solos that alternate with sections for the ghostly quartet, they gradually open the spatial structure of the piece. Both Selya and Roberts are outstanding. Tharp pulls out all the stops in choreographing their solos and melds extremely diverse movement into a seamless, breathtakingly energized flow. If you are going to dance your way into the next world, this is the way to go about it.

By the end of the piece the distance between the living and the dead closes. The music changes from driving percussion to an unearthly vibration of gongs. The dancers re-enter, dressed now in shades of blue and gray; their movement is floating, sustained and serene. A shimmery three-tone phrase repeats itself as the dancers exit, one woman lifted in a split over the heads of the group, gently floating home.

Dedicated to the memory of Peggy Evarts Knaack, Mr. Knaack's wife, who died at the beginning of this project, Surfer at the Styx is a fine tribute indeed.