After 'Suite'

From left to right: Tupling, Tharp and Figueroa at the Billy Rose Theatre in New York in 1969. Photo by Jack Mitchell.

Tharp and Figueroa at the Billy Rose Theatre in New York in 1969. Photo by Jack Mitchell.

From left to right: Tupling, Tharp and Raj at the Billy Rose Theatre in New York in 1969. Photo by Jack Mitchell.

From left to right: Tharp, Rudner, Dickinson, Raj, Tupling, Figueroa and Wright at the Billy Rose Theatre in New York in 1969. Photo by Jack Mitchell.

Premiere

Date

3 February 1969

Company

Twyla Tharp and Dancers

Venue

Billy Rose Theater

Location

New York, NY

Production

Choreographer

Twyla Tharp

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Costume Designer

Robert Huot

Dancers

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

Number of Dancers

7

Description

The title After ‘Suite’ refers to Merce Cunningham’s Suite For Five In Space And Time (1953). In response to Cunningham’s chance operations and random, unpredictable performances, Tharp wanted to create a work with similarly complex spatial arrangements and movement patterns, but that could be replicated exactly. She meticulously mapped out directional movement paths in detailed two-dimensional notations on tracing paper. The actions were scored in one-second increments and the dancers learned and performed the movements verbatim.