Twyla Tharp Does Dylan…Again

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Dibble first worked with Tharp in 1995 when she came to London’s Royal Ballet to premiere Mr. Worldly Wise. “She picked me out of the corps de ballet,” he recalls. “I was initially like, ‘Who is this lady from America?’ I had heard of the ‘American style,’ and Twyla has that: Her attack, her energy in the movement — I had never seen it before. And, more importantly, she talked to dancers as equals, unlike what I had mostly experienced. She chooses who to work with based on personality and energy versus just looking at dancers as bodies. That was so new for me, and it has remained in her work to this day.”

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Despite how much Dibble enjoyed that first collaboration, it took years before he became part of Tharp’s crew. After leaving The Royal Ballet, he and some colleagues started “a boy band of sorts” with K-Ballet in Japan for a few years. Then, “out of the blue, Twyla called, asking what I was doing,” he recalls. “She told me she had a job for me. When I hesitated, she simply said, ‘Don’t be stupid!’ That’s Twyla.”

Because of that constant variation, Dibble loves the experience of creating with Tharp. “The work is alive,” he says. “She allows it to depend on the dancers she’s working with. She’s always growing, and she’s very much hands-on, constantly tweaking her work.”

Unsurprisingly, that era was formative for the 76-year-old Tharp, and Dibble says working on Dylan Love Songs has given him a glimpse into her psyche and past. “She grew up to this music,” he says. “She has a deep connection to it, and we can all find inroads to it. It’s easy to do with Dylan. His words are a gift to a dancer to have as the base of a piece.”

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Lauren Kay regularly contributes to TDF Stages..

Top image: Matthew Dibble and Riko Okamoto in Dylan Love Songs. Photos by Nan Melville.

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LAUREN KAY