Point Park to host evening with renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp

Renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp will discuss her six-decade career during an audience participation talk on April 23 at Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse.

“An Evening With Twyla Tharp” will begin at 7 p.m. with the Point Park University Conservatory Dance Co.’s spring concert, a presentation of Tharp’s “Sweet Fields.”

Made for an ensemble of Tharp’s own dancers, the piece was inspired by Pythagorean geometry as a key to godliness. Its recurring patterns include diagonals, spirals, straight lines and circles set to a 10-part “score” of 18th- and 19th-century American religious hymns.

Bringing Tharp to Pittsburgh is a creative coup for the dance program and the university itself, said Garfield Lemonius, dean and artistic director of Point Park’s Conservatory of Performing Arts.

“Our conservatory is renowned nationally and, dare I say, globally. It’s one of the top 10 dance programs in the country,” he said. “For folks coming to the performance, they will see not just the students perform Twyla’s work, they will see that this icon of dance came to Point Park University to see our students and to speak about her creative habits, her journey and her contributions to the arts.

“I think it will signal to folks that Point Park, in their backyard, has something really special going on.”

When asked what informed her decision to visit Point Park, Tharp said, “My respect for Garfield Lemonius.”

Tharp has choreographed 129 dances, 12 television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two figure skating routines. Her honors include Tony and Emmy awards, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor.

She founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance, in 1965. Her dances are known for pushing the boundaries of ballet and modern dance, combining different forms of movement, such as jazz, ballet, boxing and inventions of her own.

In addition to choreographing for her own company, she has created dances for prestigious companies such as The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and The Martha Graham Dance Co.

American icon

At 81, Tharp said she is still inspired by “great dancing,” and is planning a 2024-25 tour to celebrate her long career.

“The 60th anniversary tour will feature a program comprised of the ‘Diabelli Variations’ and a new piece with music by Philip Glass,” she said.

“Twyla Tharp is a giant in the arts community in America, if not the world,” Lemonius said. “To have this American icon in our presence will mean so much not only to our students, faculty and staff but to folks who are in the arts community, and not in the arts community, in Pittsburgh.”

One of Tharp’s repetitors will train the Point Park students to perform “Sweet Fields,” Lemonius said. Prior to the performance and her talk, Tharp will have a sit-down with the students.

Tharp and Lemonius connected last summer through a mutual friend, Charles Santos, executive/artistic director of Titas/Dance Unbound, a dance presentation organization in Dallas, Texas.

“When I told him I was looking to expand the artistry and skill of our dancers in the conservatory at Point Park University, he asked, ‘Have they done a Twyla work?,”” Lemonius said. “I said, ‘I do not believe they have. But how wonderful and intriguing that would be for our students and certainly for the faculty as well.’”

In a series of telephone calls, Tharp decided that “Sweet Fields” would be suitable for the Point Park’s student dancers’ skill levels.

“‘Sweet Fields’ was originally created on students at Julliard to strengthen young artists as performers and dancers,” Tharp said.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Lemonius said. “A major takeaway for the students is to recognize how important those folks are who contribute to the arts globally, and to recognize that they are standing on the shoulders of these giants who have insured that the arts continue to be a major part of society.

“Without folks like Twyla, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.”

Tickets for “An Evening With Twyla Tharp” are $35-$73, available at 412-392-8000 or playhouse.pointpark.edu.