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The Catherine Wheel (BBC)

The cover of The Catherine Wheel BBC VHS box.

Excerpt from the BBC taping.

Set of The Catherine Wheel BBC taping. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Tom Rawe and cast and crew on the set of The Catherine Wheel BBC. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Tharp and camera crew backstage during the The Catherine Wheel BBC taping. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Rawe and Way performing during The Catherine Wheel BBC taping. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Tharp watches a monitor while the crew set-up the stage for the first take. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

The cast and crew on the set of The Catherine Wheel BBC taping. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Crew filming during BBC taping. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Tharp and the crew filming. Photo by Paul B. Goode.

Premiere

  • Date

    1 March 1983

  • Company

    Twyla Tharp Dance

Production

  • Choreographer and Director

    Twyla Tharp

  • Producers

    Alan Yentob,

    Rhoda Grauer

  • Composer

    David Byrne (with Brian Eno and John Chernoff)

  • Lighting Designer

    Gregory C. MacPherson

  • Costume and Scenic Designer

    Santo Loquasto

  • Computer Animation by

    Rebecca Allen and The Computer Graphics Laboratory at New York Institute of Technology

Awards

Emmy Award
Nominated:
Outstanding Achievement in Choreography: Twyla Tharp

Dancers

 

Ensemble
Shelley Freydont, Mary Ann Kellogg, Barbara Hoon
Richard Colton, John Malashock, William Whitener, Keith Young

 

  • Number of Dancers

    15

  • Runtime

    01:28:00

Description

Inside a 14th century cathedral in Scotland, dancer Sara Rudner meets the animated form of Saint Catherine, the patron saint of teachers. This computer graphic becomes one of the earliest to perform alongside a live action counterpart on television, as St. Catherine teaches Rudner the first steps of the choreography.

 

The Catherine Wheel (1981) was recorded for television by the BBC and later distributed on VHS. Tharp collaborated with Rebecca Allen, then a member of the New York Institute of Technology – Computer Graphics Laboratory, to create the animated, dancing human figure.

 

Additional special effects and cinematic techniques – a glowing pineapple, film played in reverse, superimposed images of spinning fireworks –  were incorporated to enhance and reinforce the symbolism.