Berkeley, CA (Aguas da Amazonia)
February 9, 2025
A titan of American dance, Twyla Tharp celebrates 60 years crafting strikingly original, thoroughly accessible, and utterly uncategorizable works with a new collaboration with Philip Glass, the artists’ first partnership in nearly 40 years. Performed live by Chicago’s Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion ensemble, the score is based on Glass’ 1993–99 work Aguas da Amazonia and reflects on the crisis of climate change. Tharp also revives Diabelli, her 1998 triumph that challenges 11 dancers and a pianist to embody Beethoven’s endlessly inventive Diabelli Variations.
“Tharp is America’s crossover dance queen… She melds classical ballet with modern dance, avant-garde experiment with Broadway pizzazz, technical rigor with off-the-cuff attitude, uptown glamor with downtown grit.” —The Guardian
This performance is made possible, in part, by Toni Ratner Miller and Joyce Ratner (February 7), Rockridge Market Hall (February 8).