White Bird soars into new season

Dance company welcomes choreographer Twyla Tharp

White Bird, the presenters of great national and international dance companies that take the stage in Portland, has the honor of welcoming one of the world’s great choreographers as part of its 18th season.

Twyla Tharp will be celebrating her 50th anniversary, and she’ll bring her work to Portland for one night only, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14, at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway. Tickets are still on sale (www.whitebird.org).

It’ll be all new work for Tharp, 74 and hailing from Portland, Ind. She has worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the New York City Ballet and in theater and film, including “Hair.” She’s also authored books.

Her first choreographed dance was “Tank Dive” in 1965, and a year later she formed Twyla Tharp Dance. She last appeared in Portland more than 10 years ago.

“She’s decided to pull together a brand new company for her 50th anniversary of work,” says Walter Jaffe, co-founder and administrator of White Bird along with Paul King. “She’ll feature 13 dancers, some ballet, some modern, and she has worked with them all. They’re pretty amazing dancers.

“Typically with an anniversary show you do a retrospective and one new piece. For her, everything’s about the new. She wanted to be creative as possible.”

The show, with Tharp’s dances accompanied by trumpet player John Zorn, J.S. Bach, musician Henry Butler and trumpeter Steven Bernstein, opened its 10-week tour in Dallas, and it visits Portland before New York City at the Lincoln Center. “It’s going to be a big deal,” Jaffe adds.

Then again, are not most White Bird shows big deals?

The 18th season will continue White Bird’s “Discover a World of Dance” unofficial slogan. There’ll be 12 companies stopping here as part of the White Bird Dance Series (the more established), White Bird Uncaged (the more adventurous) and the Exclusive Events (the more broadly appealing).

Before Tharp’s big show, White Bird opens its Dance Series season with Momix and its “Alcehmia” work (7:30 p.m. Oct. 8-10, 2 p.m. Oct. 10, Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway), in which artistic director Moses Pendleton has combined the classic elements of earth, air, fire and water to generate powerful imagery.

“It’s about illusion and imagery — strong and diverse imagery — and there’s always a theme,” Jaffe says. “Last time it was botanica, about flowers and trees and plant life. This time it’s based on alchemy, the magical properties.

“We always like to open our season on a strong note that’ll generate a lot of excitement.”

Other highlights:

• Grupo Corpo from Brazil (7:30 p.m. March 30, 2016, Schnitz), which incorporates seductive movement, scintillating music, and vibrant costumes, sets and lighting, returns for a fifth time. “We often do it in the wintertime when it’s cold,” Jaffe says, “because there’s lots of heat and passion on stage. They’re coming back with a whole new program.”

• Malpaso Dance Company of Cuba (7:30 p.m. May 4, 2016, Schnitz) brings Cuban contemporary dance into the 21st century, and Jaffe says it’s intriguing that people can now more easily visit Cuba — “there’s a lot more interest in Cuba.” There’ll be the work of Osnel Delgado, as well as famous choreographer Trey McIntyre.

• The Uncaged series is highlighted by L-E-V of Israel (8 p.m. Oct. 15-17, Lincoln Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.), a confluence of movement, lighting, fashion, art and technology, from Sharon Eyal, as well as Compagnie Herve Koubi (8 p.m. Jan. 28-30, 2016, Lincoln Hall), from the French-Algerian choreographer Herve Koubi making his White Bird debut, using 12 French-Algerian/African male dancers who combine capoeira, martial arts, urban and contemporary dance with Orientalist painting and Islamic architecture imagery.

• The Cirque Alfonse of Montreal, Quebec, brings “Timber!” (7:30 p.m. April 19-20, 2016, Schnitz) as part of the Exclusive Events, and it’s a timber-themed show as performers use natural raw materials from the forest and everyday farm equipment for a spectacle of agility and strength. “As soon as we saw it, we thought it’d be perfect for Portland and our region,” Jaffe says. “It’s more circus, and live music adds element, and it also has lots of humor.”

For tickets and more info: www.whitebird.org.