Tharp thinks of the two women who initiate In the Upper Room in terms of
ceramic, Chinese temple guard dogs. From the "cells" of their side-by-side
moves, with stretching, kicking and swinging legs, the dramatic, nearly
religious and hypnotic, on-rushing work pours forth as one of the most
popular of Tharp's. (Standing ovations have become a consistent part of
performance history.) An inky yet celestially lighted void frames the
advancing, receding, exploding and imploding activities of the many-layered
work. Beyond her "china dog" markers, the choreographer characterizes the
running-shoe-wearing three couples as "stompers" and two pointe-shoe-wearing
women as a "bomb squad." All work according to their nicknames, stomping,
and "bombing" the space with their finesse, energy and force. The cast of
"participants" builds gradually and, once established, evolves partly
through an altering of costumes and through elaborating their dancing and
their connection to the other dancers. Tharp has described her movements
here as "fierce, driving, and relentless," aiming to make some furiously
fast unison moves "burn the retina." The dancers play with and feed on the
music's driving pulse, much of their locomotion can be seen as jogging,
sometimes nonchalantly backwards. The "bomb squad" amplifies into the
"ballet cadre" and their red costuming stands out with special fire in the
black velvet surround. The music's unwinding, and unskeining character
climaxes in a finale that encapsulates the entire ballet up to that point,
with each recapitulation colored and/or twisted this way or that from its
original presentation. With the first-time appearance of the entire cast,
the piece winds down. In the process, it re-dramatizes the magical void
created as a scenic component by Tipton's innovative lighting plot. The
dancers variously disappear into the dense, rich blackness that stands like
a shadowy infinity behind the more immediate space showered by shafts of
warm light. Two "stomper" men bolt backward into the void by way of throwing
forward a sharp punch as they "disappear." For summary punctuation the
"china dogs" cue the ringing down of the curtain by pulling down their
fists, as if sharply closing shut a window bind.