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Diamond Jubilee

featuring Third Coast Percussion

Celebrate 60 years of impeccable dance from this legendary, ever-changing dance company! Kennedy Center Honoree Twyla Tharp is a living legend—she created Twyla Tharp Dance in 1965 and is renowned for technically precise works that expand the boundaries of ballet and modern dance. In the following decades, she’s choreographed Tony^®-winning Broadway shows, Emmy-winning television specials, beloved films like Amadeus and Ragtime, and more.

Now, two ambitious Tharp works arrive at the Eisenhower Theater. An Olivier Award–nominated work, Diabelli takes its title from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and features ten dynamic performers dancing to the composer’s waltz, performed live on the piano. Tharp’s choreography moves effortlessly from ballet to jazz to modern, with unexpected bits of social and street dance for good measure. Almost two centuries later in music and spirit is SLACKTIDE, a piece inspired by Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia, arranged by members of Third Coast Percussion in close collaboration with Tharp. Third Coast Percussion will perform Glass’ ethereal score live on a unique collection of custom-designed percussion instruments.

“Every few years iconic dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp has a new and interesting project. Twyla’s renown is legendary for the work she has made on her own company, as well as for American Ballet Theatre. She has created contemporary works that push the envelope for other ballet and postmodern choreographers. From her beginnings in downtown NYC, to Lincoln Center, to Broadway, and receiving a Kennedy Center Honor, she has journeyed; this year will mark her 60th anniversary as a dance maker. I want Kennedy Center audiences to experience this milestone event with her latest work, and to celebrate Tharp herself.”

—Alicia Adams, Kennedy Center vice president dance and international programming