Originally choreographed for a one-time-gala event, this 3-part showcase
for two virtuoso dancers in a non-show-off mood takes the form of
counterpoised double-work and simultaneous solos, with a segment of
non-traditional pantomime in the middle of it all. In a similarly
double-edged mode, the duet stands as an outgrowth of Tharp's choreographic
experiments working with
Mikhail Baryshnikov [see: Push Comes To Shove] and as a precursor of the
future dances the choreographer would create to the singing of Frank Sinatra
[see: Nine Sinatra Songs and Sinatra Suite]. All three of these songs
reappear in future Tharp dances. Here "Something Stupid" cues the opening,
meeting, and greeting nature of his duet's structure, in the process
intermixing the strict academicisms of ballet's basic vocabulary and the
seemingly off-hand physicalities of Tharp's own moves and phrases. "That's
Life," takes the form of side-by-side solos and comings together, leavened
with a witty mimologue detailed with pantomimic gestures of Tharp's own
new-fangled variety. "One More For the Road," climaxes things in a cool-down
mode, as the identically dressed man and woman almost sleepily interrelate,
entwine and melt together in an anti-coda. Their interconnections, including
some unorthodox lifts, emphasize less linkages and configurations and more
the essence of "the void in between," to use Tharp's words.