Tharp on the road. (News).

If the term multitasking didn't already exist, it would have to be invented for Twyla Tharp. Her Broadway show Movin' Out, which she conceived, choreographed, and directed, opened on October 24, 2002, to mostly glowing reviews (see Dance Theater, DANCE MAGAZINE, February, page 47). Hardly one to kick back and relax, Tharp continued in high gear, getting back to the book project she had been working on for a while. She also went to work preparing her reassembled company for its current three-month, cross-country tour that continues through April 12.

Since all six members of the most recent edition of Twyla Tharp Dance--which she formed in 2000 and for which she created three new dances--are in the Movin' Out cast, Tharp selected a new group of seven dancers for this tour: Emily Coates, formerly with New York City Ballet and until recently a member of White Oak Dance Project; Matthew Dibble, who danced with The Royal Ballet (where he performed in several Tharp works) before becoming a founding member of the K Ballet in Japan; Charlie Hodges, a former principal dancer with the Sacramento Ballet; Jason McDole, who performed with the Parsons Dance Company before becoming a dancer and assistant to Robert Battle for his new troupe, Battleworks; Lynda Sing, formerly with Dance Theatre of Harlem and recently a soloist with Suzanne Farrell Ballet; Lara Tinari, a member of River North Chicago Dance Company since 1995; and Dario Vaccaro, who danced with Ballet del Teatro Colon before joining Julio Bocca's Ballet Argentino. Alexander Brady, who had been in the cast of Movin' Out, is rehearsal director.

They are performing a program consisting of a new work as well as two dances created for that earlier ensemble: Westerly Round, set to the music of Mark O'Connor, and Suffer at the River Styx, to a commissioned score by Donald Knaack. A premiere is also promised.

Tharp's book, titled The Creative Habit, is scheduled to be published later this year by Simon & Schuster. In one of her pre-opening Interviews for Movin' Out, Tharp mentioned that she had missed two deadlines and thus felt "like a real writer." If so, few other writers have ever had as good an excuse for a delay.