Wayne State University brings Twyla Tharp's groundbreaking work, The One Hundreds, as the Fall 2018 Allesee Guest Artist in Residence in Dance

The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, part of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University, announces the licensing and staging of world-renowned choreographer, Twyla Tharp's ground-breaking work, "The One Hundreds," staged by former Tharp company member, Benjamin G. Bowman as the Fall 2018 Allesee Guest Artist in Residence in Dance.

Twyla Tharp's "The One Hundreds" will also serve as a community engagement event where 100 people from WSU's theatre and dance department, college, university, and alumni along with the Metro Detroit dance community will join our dance majors onstage at the Music Hall for the December Dance Concert to perform one of The One Hundred phrases simultaneously.

Two public performances of the December Dance Concert will take place on Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets for the December Dance Concert are on sale now, starting at $15, and may be purchased online at www.theatreanddanceatwayne.com or by phone at 313-577-2972. For purchases made online, additional ticket and order fees may apply. Ticket prices are subject to change.

"'The One Hundreds' is a hundred eleven-second segments that are performed by two dancers in unison separated by four seconds between each segment...Five people each do twenty different segments simultaneously so that the one hundred are represented one-fifth of the time and then one hundred each do one in eleven seconds, right? You follow me? Let's go through it again. Five people do twenty representing all the phrases in one fifth of the time. And then one hundred people each do one simultaneously. In eleven seconds." - Tharp, as quoted in "Ballet Review," Vol. 4:1 in September 1971.

Since graduating from Barnard College in 1963, Ms. Tharp has choreographed more than one hundred sixty works: one hundred twenty-nine dances, twelve television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two figure skating routines. She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, nineteen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor. Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In 1965, Ms. Tharp founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance. Her dances are known for creativity, wit and technical precision coupled with a streetwise nonchalance. By combining different forms of movement - such as jazz, ballet, boxing and inventions of her own making - Ms. Tharp's work expands the boundaries of ballet and modern dance.

In addition to choreographing for her own company, she has created dances for The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Boston Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Today, ballet and dance companies around the world continue to perform Ms. Tharp's works.

In 1992, Ms. Tharp published her autobiography "Push Comes to Shove." She went on to write "The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life," followed by "The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together."

Today, Ms. Tharp continues to create.

Benjamin G. Bowman was introduced to dance through an outreach program instituted by the North Carolina School of the Arts' (UNCSA) Ballet department, studying under Sonja Tyven and, later, with Duncan Noble, Melissa Hayden, Gina Vidal, Frank Smith and Gyula Pandi. He attended multiple summer sessions at both the San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet (SAB), while continuing training with the staff of the Kansas City Ballet. Mr. Bowman was accepted to SAB as a full-time student, following his sophomore year at UNCSA and joined the Kansas City Ballet in 1986. He then joined the Fort Worth Ballet in 1988, where he became a Principal Dancer in 1990. He joined the New York City Ballet in 1993, performing with the corps de ballet and in many soloist and principal roles, until leaving the company in the spring of 2000. After NYCB, Mr. Bowman was invited to join a select group of dancers that Twyla put together to create two new works for the American Dance Festival. The group continued to tour and create work for the next two years, while generating the material that formed the basis of "Movin' Out", Twyla's hit Broadway show set to the music of Billy Joel, in which Mr. Bowman originated the role of "James". Post- "Movin' Out", Mr. Bowman worked freelance for a number of choreographers, and wrapped a long career working with Martha Clarke on the revival of her Obie award-winning show, "The Garden of Earthly Delights". Mr. Bowman lives in New York City and freelances as a teacher, choreographer, and both acts and is represented by Access Talent as a voice-over artist. He has been setting work for the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation since 2010.

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