DANCE : Twyla Tharp’s Series Offers Look at Her Latest Heresies

Looking sleek and vital, Twyla Tharp Dance members Elaine Kudo and Richard Colton relaxed at . . . would you believe afternoon tea in the ornate lobby of the Westgate Hotel?

The incongruity of such dancers enjoying the traditional pleasures of high tea cracked against expectations. Why weren’t they out on, say, skateboards, Walkman-wired and shrugging away to a tape of David Byrne and the Talking Heads, Philip Glass or at least the Beach Boys, all of whose music Tharp has choreographed?

Yet the image of avant-garde dancers at tea with crumpets resonated with the unexpected--the same energy and flair that is behind Tharp’s daring inventiveness that today routinely incorporates classical ballet techniques such as pointe work into her distinctively fluid style.

This week’s series of dance concerts by the world-renowned Tharp, at the Civic Theatre through Saturday, offers San Diegans the first chance to see her constantly evolving work since--in typical Tharpian fashion--she dissolved her company into the Broadway version of the movie, “Singin’ in the Rain” in 1985.

It also offered a chance for two of the company members to provide their insider views of the latest Tharp shift.

The “Singin’ in the Rain” period was a nice one to “interact with another 35 people,” said Colton, a stalwart veteran of 12 seasons with Tharp. “As dancers we spend so many years developing our technique. One can forget it’s theater.”

In “Singin,’ ” the dancers gained new experiences such as projecting a character, conveying a sense of story and “connecting with an audience,” he said.

The musical, which in normal Broadway fashion called for dancing a single piece night after night, week after week, month after month, also was a turning point for Tharp, who choreographed it. Before “Singin’ ” her choreography had shifted from the joyous slouch of “Push Comes to Shove” (1976) to the darkly strident “Fait Accompli” in 1983.

Coming off “Singin’ ” the choreographer created Twyla Tharp Dance, a different kind of company composed roughly of half Tharp veterans and half new members with classical backgrounds, such as Kudo.

“She refers to it as having a full range of colors to draw from,” said Colton, adding that the boss compares the mix of modern dancers in tennis shoes and classical dancers in ballet slippers to a full chorus.

The ballerinas en pointe are the sopranos, the modern dance women are altos, the ballet men in slippers correspond to tenors, and the modern dance men in tennis shoes are basses. Tharp’s most recent major work to employ this expanded dance palette is “In the Upper Room,” (1986) a 40-minute sprint to music by Philip Glass that will be danced here.

“It’s based on contemporary film technique--a lot of cutting and splicing,” Colton said.

It also has the rare--for dance--upstage entrances under Jennifer Tipton’s brilliant lighting. The new works clearly challenge the company members, especially those from a classical background.

Kudo defected nine months ago to Tharp’s Modernism after 12 years with the American Ballet Theatre, dancing as a soloist in classics like “Giselle,” “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty.” Even though she did modern pieces with the ABT such as Tharp’s “The Little Ballet,” Kudo is still adjusting to the new style.

“I’m still battling this change in my body,” she said.

The high carriage and rigid presentation are at odds with Tharp’s insistence on a natural look.

Likewise, the shift to a more balletic style of dancing has been a challenge for the Tharp veterans. “In the Upper Room” is a demandingly tricky piece in which coveys of dancers skitter about in a complex series of patterns and subtle costume alterations.

“As a dancer, it’s like being on a tightrope,” Colton said. “It’s like a fun house, where suddenly a trap door opens and you can’t get your balance.”

But those kinds of demands and Tharp’s “totally off-the-wall” choreography are also irresistible to a dancer seeking to fulfill his or her creativity as a performer. There’s also the satisfaction of a “great give and take in the creative process of making these pieces,” Colton said.

Both Colton and Kudo noted that the film aspects of “In the Upper Room” reflect Tharp’s childhood in San Bernardino. Tharp, 47, grew up selling popcorn at her parents’ drive-in theater, ogling Hollywood’s prodigious output during the 1950s on an outdoor screen.

In college, she transferred from Cal Poly Pomona to Barnard College in New York City. Although she studied art history, she gained her dance training apprenticing with the likes of Erick Hawkins, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Anthony Tudor.

Since 1965, when Tharp gave her first public performance, the four-minute “Tank Dive” at the Hunter College art department, she has kept both her dancers and the dance world habitually off balance with her iconoclastic innovations.

Twyla Tharp Dance will perform “The Golden Section” from “The Catherine Wheel,” dance set to a commissioned score by David Byrne, at 8 tonight, along with “Bad Smells,” set in a post-nuclear age, and “Nine Sinatra Songs,” danced to classic recordings by Old Blue Eyes.

Saturday at 2 p.m., the company will dance “The Little Ballet,” choreographed for Mikhail Baryshnikov and the ABT and set to music by Glazunov; “Four Down Under,” premiered last month in Australia; “Bad Smells” and “Nine Sinatra Songs.”