‘Do you know how much I could deadlift in my 50s? Guess!” Twyla Tharp implored Wayne McGregor, in a post-show interview at the Venice Dance Biennale. McGregor, the festival’s artistic director, didn’t dare venture a figure. “Two-hundred and twenty-seven pounds!” she told us all, delightedly.
Never underestimate Twyla. The slight, white-haired 84-year-old is as sharp as ever, and a force in the dance world. She’s been choreographing for 60 years, for ballet companies and Broadway, dance both experimental and accessible, art and pop. And she is honoured this year with the biennale’s Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
