October 11th, 2009 by soullldiva

“I do everything I know how in a dance.”  Twyla Tharp

Twyla is a really interesting gal, and I love it that she speaks about giving everything in a dance.  If you do something halfway, your communication can’t come through.  You’re left with the audience thinking the dance was “nice”.

Twyla was also the first choreographer to do fusion dancing, combining elements of ballet and modern dance into what is known as a “cross-over” ballet.  I am always a fan of combining the best of both worlds, so to speak, and am amazed when someone can fuse, for instance, hip-hop and good old broadway jazz (as the Jabbawokeez did on Dancing with the Stars the other night–nice).

One of Twyla’s more recent and widely known shows is Movin’ Out, featured on Broadway, combining classical and modern techniques and done with the music of Billy Joel.  An extremely clever and popular combination. She won a Tony Award in 2003 for her choreography of Movin’ Out.

I dug and found the original cast performing on the Tony Awards in 2003.  I would definitely say the dancers don’t hold anything back when they perform: