Word: tharpe
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...tone of the trilogy's first ballet, "Waterbaby Bagatelles," with choreography by the ultra-innovative Twyla Tharp, ranges from hauntingly mechanical to precociously cute. A gigantic grid of flourescent lights dangling at varying angles just inches above the dancers' heads adds to the surreal, Blade Runner-esque mood onstage. No-sweat-showing spandex and stretch velvet seem to be costume designer Santo Loquasto's fabrics of choice for this production--the men don shimmery silver tank tops and billowy white pants, while the women wear either two-color fluttery gowns resembling beach cover-ups, or bathing beauty-style suits...
America leads the world in dance, for instance, and yet an innovative genius like choreographer Twyla Tharp lacks the money to maintain a permanent company. This is a national embarrassment. Such people shouldn't have to go begging in corporate boardrooms. But in America, artists are always on probation...
...Waterbaby Bagatelles" (1994), with its fetish for the aesthetic, is Twyla Tharp's gesture towards more conventional dance. It comes complete with dazzling moves, eclectic jazzy tunes, beautiful aqua bathing costumes and clever florscent scenic effects; it is everything a ballet should...
Unfortunately, considering Tharp's reputation for creating works that challenge the form and direction of dance, a traditional ballet just doesn't cut it. "Waterbaby Bagatelles" is beautiful, but inevitably pointless...
...Tharp produces much more moving work when she doesn't limit herself to the illusionistic world of traditional ballet. "Waterbaby Bagatelles," in contrast with her disturbingly powerful "In the Upper Room," which threatened to bring the relief sculpture down from the rafters of the Wang Center in "American Festival I," demonstrates this all too well...