An Evening of Dance Masterpieces is Feb. 29 and March 1

When the USC Dance Company presents Deuce Coupe during An Evening of Dance Masterpieces Feb. 29 and March 1, audience members may dance in the aisles. After all, the Beach Boys' sound does that to people.

An Evening of Dance Masterpieces, which will take place at the Koger Center, will feature Twyla Tharp's Deuce Coupe and Martha Graham's Diversion of Angels. USC is one of only two university dance companies to perform Deuce Coup; the Julliard School is the other.

In the reconstruction of Deuce Coupe, School of Music Artist-in-Residence Kyra Strasberg worked with Tharp Foundation choreographer Christine "Chris" Uchida. Uchida, who performed in the original cast of Deuce Coupe in 1973, traveled to campus from her home in Vermont to work with USC dance students.

"Twyla Tharp is a prolific choreographer who has choreographed more than 135 dances, 5 Hollywood movies, and directed and choreographed 3 Broadway shows," said Strasberg. "She is known for merging 'stompers' and ballet dancers. Deuce Coupe stands as the first 'cross-over ballet,' meaning it combines pop music, contemporary dance, and classical ballet. That had never been done before."

Graham's Diversion of Angels was first performed in 1948. The dance, originally called Wilderness Stair, is a lyric dance about the loveliness of youth, and the quick joy and quick sadness of being in love for the first time.

Graham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer who died in 1991, opened the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in 1927 and the school continues to thrive today. Directing USC's production of Diversion of Angels will be Miriam Barbosa, an assistant professor in the School of Dance and a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

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