CriticalDance Forum

NY City Ballet has a new work by Twyla Tharp. According to various US commentators it seems as unsuccessful as the piece she did for the Royal Ballet, 'Mr Worldly Wise'. Clive Barnes gives his views in today's NY Post. <BR> <A HREF="http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/22792.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/22792.htm</A>

I have to admit that Twyla Tharp's works that I've seen have not excited me very much. Maybe I need to see more of Tharp.

Sorry to read the "not great" review of Twyla. She has always been one of my favorites. Her "Deuce Coupe II" to the music by the Beach Boys was done on the Joffrey Ballet in the 70's. Just wonderful. Also, Sinatra Suite (you can get it on video), danced by Baryshnikov, among others, is just excellent. And "When Push Comes to Shove" is also great...."Glass Pieces" she collaborated with Jerome Robbins at NYCB several years ago was beautiful..

Oh, wait, Tharp collaborated with Robbins on "Glass Pieces?" I actually like that work a lot, even if some people thought it was too showbusiness.

Glass Pieces was strictly Robbins. You may be thinking of the Brahms/Handel work which was a collaboration of Robbins and Tharp for NYCB in the mid-80's. Tharp seems to be at a loss when choreographing for NYCB, unlike Joffrey and ABT, for whom she has done some wonderful pieces. Her recent ballet for ABT, Known by Heart, includes a duet for Ethan Stiefel and Susan Jaffe that is a knockout.

Ethan Stiefel and Susan Jaffe did the pas de deux from "Known By Heart" in the Royal Ballet's International Choreography programme last month. It was my favourite piece of the whole evening. Stuart, I remember, was not as keen about it. I long to see the whole ballet danced by the ABT!<p>[This message has been edited by Kevin Ng (edited 02-13-2000).]

Joe, I stand corrected. yes, it was "Brahms/Handel". I read a review of the Twyla's new Beethoven piece in The New Yorker. by Joan <BR>Acollela (I think that's how you spell it). The review was pretty negative, except for a duet in the Twyla piece with Wendy Whelan and ? I forget the guys' name. Anyway, Ms. A. was pretty negative about NYCB in general, claiming that they are weaker technically and lack aesthetic direction, or something to that effect. Since I haven't seen NCYB in many years (saw them lots in the 60's-80's, probably their golden era), I can't comment on the veracity of her observations...anybody out there have any insight?

Joan Acocella is not the only New York critic who is negative about the present state of NYCB. I can think of Tobi Tobias' reviews in New York Magazine. Though I have only been watching NYCB since the 1980s, I do feel that the Balanchine repertory is not as well looked after as it should be, to put it mildly.

trina, I haven't seen NYCB enough to pass judgement. It's not in my nature anyway. However, I was a little suprised by a few things I saw recently but then again some people attributed it to the killer schedule in the 50th anniversary season...<P>Kevin, I am also wondering about the standards of the Balanchine estate. I saw Dance Theater of Harlem recently do "The Four Temperaments" and I couldn't believe my eyes. There were only a couple of dancers I think who were... shall we say... comfortable with the Balanchine choreography. The others slipped, missed beats etc. etc. But before I get DTH fans up in arms, let me say also that they were superb in some of the other works.

Speaking of the Balanchine legacy, I saw Pacific Northwest Ballet (Seattle) do "Western Symphony"--it was superb. Indeed, I think their Balanchine reconstructions are one of the strongest things in their rep. Francia Russell (formerly of NYCB) has the rights to reconstruct certain of this ballets, I believe, and she does a good job, in my opinion. Their Four Temperments a few years ago was OK; because my memory of NYCB cast was so strong,(Bart Cook, Stephnie Saland, Maria Calegari, I believe) it was hard to live up to it.

<A HREF="http://www.newyorkmag.com/page.cfm?page_id=2073" TARGET=_blank>http://www.newyorkmag.com/page.cfm?page_id=2073</A> <P>Tobi Tobias of the New York Magazine is not keen about this new work by Tharp.