Vintage Tharp: An early version of The One Hundreds

For many of us, watching Robin Williams briefly imitate Twyla Tharp’s idiosyncratic choreography in 1996’s The Birdcage is as close as we’ll ever get to working with the legendary dancemaker. But on Saturday night in New York City’s Nelson Rockefeller Park, 100 audience members will get to take the stage with Tharp’s dancers as part of her 1970 piece The One Hundreds.

It’s actually all part of the original choreography: Inspired by baseball, Tharp created 11-second phrases for two of her own dancers to perform (in perfect unison and complete silence, without looking at each other). Later, five more dancers join in. And finally, 100 audience members get to participate. At last year’s Dance Teacher Summit, Tharp taught some of the choreography as part of a master class.

The lucky 100 have already been chosen—they’ll rehearse earlier on Saturday—but there is still a waitlist. If you’re interested in performing, send an e-mail to [email protected] with the subject line “Waitlist to participate in The One Hundreds.” And if you’re free, go see this, obviously!

Photo by Tony Russell, courtesy of the River to River Festival