ARENA: THE CATHERINE WHEEL (TV)
Summary
One in this innovative arts series. This program includes a performance of American dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp's piece, "The Catherine Wheel." It is prefaced by interviews with Tharp and featured dancers, as well as by scenes from rehearsals. First, Tharp comments on the following: the legend of the medieval martyr St. Catherine; her own dance interpretation of the legend; the incorporation of computer images into the piece; Tharp's approach to leading a dance troupe; the related symbols of the Catherine wheel and the pineapple in the dance; and the meaning and the choreography of the final "golden section." The dancers also discuss some of the challenges of the piece. "The Catherine Wheel" begins with scenes of a woman walking to a castle situated on a windy coast. When she walks inside, a computer image of a female figure floating in the dark beckons to her, and they begin to dance. Black-clothed dancers wearing red blindfolds then dance through the dark toward a huge light source and extract a small ball of the fiery light; as they share the light it becomes a brilliant pineapple.
Next, a family consisting of a mother, father, sister, brother, maid, and pet is introduced. They wear garish clothing and express the drama of a dysfunctional family through wild and violent movement. The dance continues to unfold, with alternating scenes based on three themes. One theme consists of the increasingly chaotic family drama, as the members fight over a pineapple and act out their emotions to the fullest; the second theme concerns the ruthless competition that grows between the lead female dancer and the computerized figure; and the third theme concerns the relation of the chorus to both the woman leader and the wild family. Eventually, the mayhem created by the family comes to a climax when the pineapple -- which has grown to five times its original size -- is torn apart, and the family's household is strewn all across the stage. The leading woman also reaches a crisis when the competition with the computerized figure drives her insane, and she is reduced to a twitching, tortured form. In each instance, the chorus steps in to stabilize the situation. The piece concludes as the entire troupe, dressed in gold clothing and placed against a gold backdrop, moves together in an energetic and exuberant dance that, as Tharp explains, resolves conflicts by bringing them back to a primeval source.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: November 30, 1999
- RUNNING TIME: 1:27:45
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T90:0170
- GENRE: Dance; Arts Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Dance
- SERIES RUN: BBC (England) - TV series, 1975-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Rhoda Grauer … Executive Producer
- Bob Marsland … Coordinating Producer
- Alan Yentob … Producer
- Steve Dennin … Direction (Misc.), Executive Director
- Twyla Tharp … Director, Choreographer, Directed and Choreographed by
- David Byrne … Composer, Music by
- Sara Rudner … Cast, the Leader
- Jennifer Way … Cast, the Mother
- Tom Rawe … Cast, the Father
- Katie Glasner … Cast, the Sister
- Raymond Kurshals … Cast, the Brother
- Shelley Washington … Cast, the Maid
- Christine Uchida … Cast, the Pet
- John Carrafa … Cast, the Poet
- Richard Colton … Cast, a chorus member
- William Whitener … Cast, a chorus member
- John Malashock … Cast, a chorus member
- Mary Ann Kellogg … Cast, a chorus member
- Shelley Freydont … Cast, a chorus member
- Keith Young … Cast, a chorus member
- Barbara Hoon … Cast, a chorus member