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The Arts Intel Report

Twyla Tharp: In the Upper Room & Nine Sinatra Songs

Dancers costumed for both Nine Sinatra Songs and In the Upper Room.

Oct 19–23, 2022
131 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019, USA

Time travel to Twyla Tharp’s 80s, a decade the choreographer seemed to own. On this program is Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, which premiered in 1982. A sophisticated ballroom work for 14 dancers, costumed by Oscar de la Renta, it captures the weary, seductive, my-way romance of Frank Sinatra. (The following year, Tharp pared it down to Sinatra Suite, a duet for ABT’s Elaine Kudo and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who had a showstopping solo to “One for My Baby.”) The program begins with In the Upper Room (1986). The music is Philip Glass; the vernacular is balletic (pointe shoes) and athletic (sneakers); and the ethos is aggressive, mysterious, and strangely elevated. The “upper room,” after all, is the site of the Last Supper. Tharp has assembled a company of stellar artists, as usual. —Laura Jacobs

Photo: Mark Seliger