Generation

Dancers perform in the Wagner College gym in 1968. Photo by Robert Propper.

Rudner, Tupling, Dickinson, Rose Marie Wright* and Tharp in costume for Generation at the studio on 104 Franklin Street in New York City in 1968. Photo by Robert Barry. *Not in premiere cast

Tharp performs in the Wagner College gym in 1968. Photo by Robert Propper.

Dancers perform in the Wagner College gym in 1968. Photo by Robert Propper.

Premiere

Date

9 February 1968

Company

Twyla Tharp with Sara Rudner, Theresa Dickinson, Margery Tupling, and Carol Laudenslager

Venue

Wagner College Gymnasium

Location

Staten Island, NY

Production

Choreographer

Twyla Tharp

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Costume Designer

Robert Huot

Dancers

Theresa Dickinson, Carol Laudenslager, Sara Rudner, Twyla Tharp, Margery Tupling

Number of Dancers

5

Runtime

00:28:00

Description

Generation consists of five simultaneous solos, each dancer in her own separate orbit. The dynamic ebbs and wanes as the movement changes tempo and quality; actions build until the dancers are moving so fast or so slow that the integrity of the original phrases disintegrates.

While no music is ever heard by the audience, one of the dancer’s solos was originally created to Ludwig van Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor (1806).

Generation was made for a gymnasium, or any space where the audience could view the dance from multiple angles.

Pages 0 and 51 out of 57 from Tharp’s original choreographic notes.