Medley

Medley
World premiere date
Premiere location place
New London, CT
Dance sections

6:55pm - 7:09pm 
Prelude
Working Solo: Rudner
Pointe Solo: Wright
Audience Pick-Ups and Individual Videos: Company

7:10pm - 7:20pm
Six Variations
Three themes for six dancers with inserts: Company
Lay-outs (put-downs) for five:  Rudner, Dickinson, Raj, Figueroa, Wright
Volume for four: Rudner, Dickinson, Figueroa, Wright
Street Moves and first mix - for three: Rudner, Raj, Rigueroa
Fast and small - for two: Rudner, Raj
Solo: Figueroa

7:20:35pm 
Margery's Bit
Tupling

7:21pm - 7:32pm
'50's
Coming in and out, with movement of their own making: Raj, Figueroa, Rudner, Dickinson, Wright

7:30pm- 7:32pm
Traveling Phrase For Two Files And Four Ranks
File One: Rudner, Harriet Berg, Dallas Lee Dexter, Gail Weiss, Davida Navarre, Kathy Kline, Helena Rodriguez
Rank One: Tupling with Sherry Enenstein, Laura Fleishman, Dottie Fried, Valerie Vaughan, Linda Welles
Rank Two: Figueroa with Ben Dolphin, Brenda Harvey, Chris Loken, Nancy Steele, Martha Wolf, Stephanie Woodard
Rank Three: Dickinson with Lynne Elze, Lee Harper, Nancy Mimms, Nancy Schieber, Diana Wiener
File Two: Wright with Susan Hamady, Gail Kern, Donna Parsons, Liz Robinson, Bobby van Staten, Kay Wylie
Rank Four: Raj with Irene Jouhet, Andrea Levine, Nancy Mangus, David Roach, Fredica Witzke, 

7:33pm - 7:36pm
Duet
Dickinson and Raj with Movement Machine

7:37pm - 7:51pm
Video Plus Gates
Company with Dolphin, Enenstein, Kline, Rodriguez, Vaughan, Wiener

7:37pm - 10:49pm
Adagio
............. - 8:00pm Ensemble
7:51pm - 8:21pm Tupling
8:21pm - 8:49pm Dickinson
8:49pm - 9:19pm Wright
9:19pm - 9:29pm Figueroa
9:48pm - 10:19pm Raj
10:19pm - 10:49pm Rudner

Ensemble

66 Students from the Connecticut College American Dance Festival including: Harriet Berg, Dallas Lee Dexter, Gail Weiss, Davida Navarre, Kathy Kline, Helena Rodriguez, Sherry Enenstein, Laura Fleishman, Dottie Fried, Valerie Vaughan, Linda Welles, Ben Dolphin, Brenda Harvey, Chris Loken, Nancy Steele, Martha Wolf, Stephanie Woodard, Lynne Elze, Lee Harper, Nancy Mimms, Nancy Schieber, Diana Wiener, Susan Hamady, Gail Kern, Donna Parsons, Liz Robinson, Bobby van Staten, Kay Wylie, Irene Jouhet, Andrea Levine, Nancy Mangus, David Roach, Fredica Witzke

Dancers

Theresa Dickinson, Graciela Figueroa, Sheela Raj, Sara Rudner, Margery Tupling, Rose Marie Wright

Total number of dancers
72
Runtime
01:00:00

Medley marks a shift from presenting dance in abstract space into performances in real-world locations. The Medley event begins an hour before sunset in an open field when a crowd of sixty student performers emerges from the audience and into complex, choreographed formations. In Twyla Tharp's Scrapbook (1983), Tharp remarks that "to exist in a natural surround, we needed the appearance of spontaneity. So, I carefully plotted chaos." There is no designated seating for the audience and performers wear everyday clothing while executing pedestrian actions, blurring the lines between audience and performers.

Six dancers are featured in solos and group dances, and lead two groups of students through "The Movement Machine," wherein the students are arranged into battalions and perform intricate canonic motions in one-second intervals.  


A map of the performance space in Medley. Page 34 of 152.

The final section of Medley is an adagio performed in relay. The company members have half an hour to complete one phrase; one dancer starts just as the other finishes. The shift from movement to movement within the adagio is so subtle as to be almost imperceptible. The last dancer disappears quietly into nightfall as the sun finally sets. 

  


Notes for the "Movement Machine" showing the student battalions. Page 10, 15 and 16 of 152.

  • Adair and O'Day in performance.

    <p>© Marty Sohl</p>
  • American Ballet Theatre dancers perform.

    <p>© Marty Sohl</p>
  • Washington and Moore in performance.

    <p>© Marty Sohl</p>
  • Padovani and Wallace in performance.

    <p>©Marty Sohl</p>
  • Members of the ensemble in performance.

    <p>©Marty Sohl</p>
  • Costume sketches by Isaac Mizrahi.

    <p>©Isaac Mizrahi</p>
Videos
Video URL
Video Description

Rehearsal and performance footage recorded in New York City's Central Park.

Dancing in the Streets - Tank Dive - Disperse - Group Activities - Generation - After 'Suite' - Medley | Twyla Tharp and Dancers
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY
Dancing in the Streets - Tank Dive - Disperse - Group Activities - Generation - After 'Suite' - Medley | Twyla Tharp and Dancers
The Wadsworth Atheneum
Hartford, CT
Medley | Twyla Tharp and Dancers
Central Park
New York, NY
Medley (premiere) | Twyla Tharp and Dancers
Lyman Allyn Museum Lawn
New London, CT