Twyla Tharp Quotes - Page 7

There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anything.

I feel I can handle the architecture of dance as well as anybody.

That's what improvising is like for me. There's no tollbooth between my impulse and my action.

You double your intensity with skill.

Every dance I make is a dive into this well of ancient memory.

My mother was a dominant force in my life. She had a very specific idea about education, which was: you should know everything about everything. It was quite simple. There was no exclusivity, and there really was no judgment, which is a good thing for someone who still thinks of themselves as a very basic American.

With each piece I've completed I have worked to make it intact, and each of them has been an equal high. It's like children. A mother refuses to pick out one as a favorite, and I can't do any better with the dances.

In the end all collaborations are love stories.

Our guys have a vision of something bigger.

Everything that happens in my day is a transaction between the external world and my internal world. Everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable. Everything feeds into my creativity. But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it. Without the time and effort invested in getting ready to create, you can be hit by a thunderbolt and it'll just leave you stunned.

This is not a pleasant route for many young people to consider. You have to be either hopelessly passionate, or very stupid.

In the not-for-profit world, there can be wastefulness because there's not the desperate urgency of when you're on a clock.

Nobody likes to see that which they've invested in disappear from the face of the earth before they've even died. This is not cool. We can now see what the landmarks, in fact are.

I can't emphasize this idea enough. Getting involved with your collaborator's problems almost always distracts you from your own. That can be tempting. That can be a relief. But it usually leads to disaster.

Just when you arrive at the apex of your skills, it's time to retire. But as it turned out, I decided that since it was the thing that I felt I did best, I owed it to all that be to pursue it.

It's very difficult to justify a profession as a dancer.

I've always had to keep the walls in place, and the only way to do that is to keep yourself constantly occupied... From the time I was 8 years old, until I went to college, I worked... There was no social life.

Never worry that rote exercises aimed at developing skills will suffocate creativity. At the same time, it's important to recognize that demonstrating great technique is not the same as being creative.

I was valedictorian. Did I enjoy going to school? I hated it. It wasn't a choice on my part, it was expected.

Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.

Easily acquired. Inexpensive. Perfectly functional. Portable. Identifiable. Disposable. Eternal enough. These are my criteria for the perfect storage system. And I’ve found the answer in the simple file box.

A young person has to start making decisions for themselves at a much earlier age than an overbearing parent allows one.

Any comic is a tragic soul. Comedy is one of the things that allows one to survive. Particularly if one has been in the process of separating off the emotions, it's one place you can process them.

In order to be creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative.

I do believe that when dancing is right, the movement possesses a logic common to us all.