American Ballet Theatre dancers Luciana Paris and Marcelo Gomes were invited to perform for the 31st Annual Kennedy Center Honors held on December 7, 2008 in Washington, D.C. The annual Gala, to be broadcast on Tuesday, December 30, honored this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. Paris and Gomes performed an excerpt from Sinatra Suite in tribute to this year’s honoree, choreographer Twyla Tharp.

“It was a thrill to perform for an audience filled with so many luminaries,” said Gomes. “I was particularly pleased to represent ABT in honoring Twyla’s genius and her extraordinary contributions to the dance world.”

Choreographer Twyla Tharp has created more than 135 dances for stage, film, television and the Broadway stage. She is the recipient of a Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the MacArthur Fellowship and numerous honorary doctorates. Tharp founded Twyla Tharp Dance in 1965 and went on to choreograph for companies around the world. For American Ballet Theatre, she has created 16 works, beginning with Push Comes To Shove in 1976 to her most recent work, Rabbit and Rogue in 2008.

CBS will broadcast the 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors as a two-hour prime time special on December 30 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

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