Dance Moves

TITAS taps legendary choreographer for milestone dance tour that starts in Dallas

Twyla Tharp will launch her Fiftieth Anniversary Tour in Dallas with two dates at Winspear Opera House, September 18 and 19.

Photo by Richard Avedon

A performing arts milestone event that has been years in the making will finally hit a Dallas stage this fall. Legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp is celebrating her 50th anniversary in the dance profession in 2015, and Dallasites will get the first chance to see her latest creation when her Fiftieth Anniversary Tour launches at Winspear Opera House in the AT&T Performing Arts Center on September 18 and 19.

The event is being co-commissioned by TITAS Presents, the organization that has been bringing national arts groups to Dallas for more than 30 years. Tharp’s work also will mark the beginning of TITAS Presents’ 2015-2016 season.

This will be the first time since 2002 that Twyla Tharp has toured with a group of dancers.

To make it happen, TITAS joined forces with the Joyce Theater in New York City and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., who initiated the commissioning, as well as the Ravinia Festival Association/Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.

The world premiere of the Fiftieth Anniversary Tour, which honors Tharp’s five decades of choreographing for stage, TV and film, will start in Dallas before heading out to at least 15 North American cities over 10 weeks. It will be the first time since 2002 that Tharp has toured with a group of dancers.

Tharp has done more than 160 works across a variety of media, for which she has been honored with a Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, a National Medal of the Arts, a Kennedy Center Honor and many others.

“This commissioning project has been years in the making,” said Charles Santos, executive and artistic director of TITAS Presents, in a release. “The national partnership and commissioning of an artist as important as Twyla Tharp, with the world premiere taking place here in Dallas, is enormously important for the missions of TITAS Presents, the AT&T Performing Arts Center and our city.”

Tickets for Tharp’s Fiftieth Anniversary Tour will go on sale closer to the performance dates. To stay up-to-date, go to attpac.org/on-sale/2015/twyla-tharp-dance/.

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politics in paint

George W. Bush unveils new book and exhibit of political prisoner portraits

Photo courtesy of Crown Publishing

A signed, deluxe edition of George W. Bush's new book of portraits, "The Call of Freedom," will be available.

Former President George W. Bush has a new book of oil paintings coming out in March 2027 that features portraits of political prisoners and dissidents.

The Penguin Random House imprint Crown announced Wednesday, September 16 that The Call of Freedom: Portraits of Political Prisoners and Dissidents will be released March 9 and coincide with an exhibition of Bush's art at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

The new book will include Bush's portraits of such symbols of oppression as the late Mahsa Amini, whose death in 2022 while in the custody of Iranian authorities led to nationwide protests, and the imprisoned Nicaraguan bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos.

The Call of Freedom, the third collection of Bush's art, will include 44 paintings and biographical sketches of each subject. Former Soviet Union dissident Natan Sharansky is contributing a foreword.

Former President George W. Bush painting in his Dallas studio.Photo courtesy of Crown Publishing

“This book, coupled with our work at the Bush Institute, is a chance for me to send a message that the United States cares deeply about people seeking freedom,” Bush writes in the book. “And hopefully these stories will remind us that we who live in liberty have a duty to stand with those who do not.”

The book champions human rights even as Bush's own record as president has led to frequent criticism, whether the CIA’s use of waterboarding or the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Bush took up painting after leaving office in 2009. His previous books include Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors and Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.

The Call of Freedom ($42, hardcover) is available for pre-order now through Amazon.com, Penguin Random House, and the Bush Presidential Museum ($37 for museum members). A deluxe, signed edition is also available.

The accompanying exhibition, "The Call of Freedom: Portraits of Political Prisoners and Dissidents," will open on March 9, 2027, at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum on the SMU Campus in Dallas.

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Stephanie Allmon Merry contributed to this story.

george w bush paintings book art george w. bush presidential center George W. Bush Presidential Center