The Raggedy Dances

Rudner performs at Williams College in 1974.

Wright and Rinker perform the closing duet.

From left to right: Rudner, Wright, Tharp, Wiener, Garcia-Lorca and Rinker in performance.

Wright (in air) and Rudner in performance.

Premiere

Date

26 October 1972

Company

Twyla Tharp Dance

Venue

ANTA Theater

Location

New York, NY

Production

Choreographer

Twyla Tharp

Composers

Scott Joplin,

Charles Luckeyth Roberts,

William Bolcom,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Arranger and Live Music by

Joel Sachs

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Costume Designer

Kermit Love

Dancers

Isabel Garcia-Lorca, Kenneth Rinker, Sara Rudner, Twyla Tharp, Nina Wiener, Rose Marie Wright

Number of Dancers

6

Dance Sections

I. Joplin: Fig Leaf Rag
Rudner, Wright, Tharp, Garcia-Lorca

II. Joplin: Scott Joplin’s New Rag
Rudner, Wright, Tharp, Garcia-Lorca, Rinker, Weiner

III. Roberts: Pork and Beans
Tharp, Rinker

IV. Bolcom: Graceful Ghost
Tharp, Wiener

V. Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag
Tharp, Garcia-Lorca, Rudner, Rinker, Wright, Wiener

VI. Joplin: The Entertainer
Tharp

VII. Joplin: The Ragtime Dance
Wright, Rinker

VIII. Joplin: Gladiolus Rag
Tharp, Rudner, Garcia-Lorca, Rinker, Wiener

IX. Mozart: Variations in C Major KV 265 “Ah Vous Dirai-Je Maman”
Rudner, Wright

Runtime

00:20:40

Description

The Raggedy Dances is a much more extensive development of a single theme than Tharp had done before. The choreography has a feeling of simple, playful innocence. False entrances and a tongue-in-cheek striptease in “The Entertainer” give the dance a zany quality. As the six dancers shake, shimmy and roll their way through the movement, the easiness of the ragtime seamlessly transitions into a set of Mozart Variations in C Major KV 265 “Ah Vous Dirai-Je Maman”, popularly known as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. Both the Mozart and Joplin compositions present a world of controlled lightness and naïveté.

The Raggedy Dances premiered during the The City Center American Dance Marathon of 1972.