Tharp Dance Troupe glides into Ham Hall

Marilyn LaRocque

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 | 9:59 a.m.

What: Twyla Tharp Dance.

When: 8 p.m. today.

Where: UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall.

Tickets: $25, $35, $45; discounts for students, seniors, military and persons with disabilities.

Information: (702) 895-2787; TDD 895-4717; UNLVTickets.com

Twyla Tharp has conquered the modern dance world, the Broadway stage, television and Hollywood movies. Tonight her Twyla Tharp Dance Troupe invades Artemus Ham Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, performing three of her recent, original choreographic gems -- "Westerly Round," "Even the King" and "Surfer at the River Styx."

The program begins at 8 p.m.

Each piece is very different in concept and feeling. "Westerly Round" (June 2001) is a playful ballet about the joy and freedom of movement. "Even the King," which premiered on Jan. 11 in Scottsdale, Ariz., is a more classically based dance, romantic and melancholy, with a story loosely portraying a King who, despite his power, is very much alone.

As its name implies, "Surfer at the River Styx" (July 2000) is raw, athletic and powerful, with a percussive beat.

A 1963 graduate of Barnard College, Tharp studied with such greats of 20th-century dance as Martha Graham, Merce Cuningham and Paul Taylor. Tharp joined Taylor's company briefly after college, but left to create her own, which evolved in Twyla Tharp Dance.

Her creative choreography encompasses more than 125 dances, five Hollywood movies, two Broadway shows -- which she also directed, an autobiography ("Push Comes to Shove")... with a second book, about the creative process, in progress.

Her current Broadway hit, "Movin' Out," is a collaboration with Billy Joel, which opened on Oct. 24 after a world premiere engagement at Chicago's Shubert Theatre. This is a musical without spoken words that relies on 24 classic songs and musical compositions by Joel and Tharp's inventive dance movements to tell about the loves and lives of six devoted friends from 1967-1987.

Movies she choreographed are legendary -- "Hair" (1978), "Ragtime" (1980), "Amadeus" (1984) and "White Nights" (1985), the brilliant juxtaposition of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. Her work reflects a wide range of subjects, moods and musical genres, from "Eight Jelly Rolls" (Jelly Roll Morton), "The Bix Pieces," (Paul Whiteman's Orchestra and Thellonious Monk), and "Deuce Coup" for the Joffrey Ballet (Beach Boys).

She has transformed music of Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Haydn and Mozart into ballets. Tharp has also choreographed for such stellar companies as the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Boston Ballet and the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Tharp's genius and Baryshnikov's dramatic dancing meshed in many productions in addition to "White Nights." "Baryshnikov by Tharp," which Tharp co-directed, won two Emmy Awards as well as the Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Director Achievement. Her ballet "Push Comes to Shove" was a showcase for him. In 1992, he joined Tharp's dance company in a smash hit tour "Cutting Up."

Tharp has received 17 honorary doctorate degrees and numerous grants, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship, and has also held an Honorary Distringuished Professiorshp at Hunter College. During her years as Artist in Residence at the Wexner Center at Ohio State University, she created new works, including "The Men's Piece," "'Grand Pas: Rhythm of the Saints," "Octet" and "Sextet." She 'regrouped' Twyla Tharp Dance in 1999.

One of the principal male dancers featured in Las Vegas, Charlie Hodges, was born in Salt Lake City and realized his enthusiasm for dance while growing up in Carson City. He will perform in all three pieces, including the role of "Surfer."

"Carson City was the foundation of all of my dancing," he said. "In my junior year at high school, I realized professional dancing was a wonderful thing. I studied with the Pinkerton Dance Academy and Gina Kaskie."

Hodges subsequently studied in Natick, Mass., and with the San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet.

He joined the Sacramento Ballet as a principal dancer in 1998. In 2001 Twyla Tharp Dance came to town. Hodges remembers the exact date, Nov. 11.

"When the program was finished," he recalled, "I said to myself, 'Before I die, I will perform those pieces.' Fortunately, we are doing some now. I sent them a video resume and a cover letter, and they asked me to come to New York to audition. I joined the company this past December.

"Dancing occupies every facet of living -- emotional, physical, intellectual," he continued. "I guess you could say spiritual and personal, too. It takes up all of those spaces. There is no place I would rather be than dancing and experiencing the growth in all of those arenas."

Isn't it difficult for him to change his creative perspective dancing three ballets in one evening?

"My co-workers, the music, the lighting and the costumes set the stage," he replied easily. "It is like a pool. They give me the pool, and I jump in and go swimming."com