110+ Twyla Tharp Quotes On Friendship, Education And Aging

Twyla Tharp is an American dancer, choreographer, and author. She is considered one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century, having created more than one hundred and fifty works for stage and screen. She is also the founder of the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation, which is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of dance. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Twyla Tharp on friendship, love, education.

Top 10 Twyla Tharp Quotes

1. Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
2. I have not wanted to intimidate audiences. I have not wanted my dancing to be an elitist form. That doesn't mean I haven't wanted it to be excellent.
3. Ultimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.
4. If you only do what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won't fail. You'll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that's failure by erosion
5. Life is about moving, it’s about change. And when things stop doing that they’re dead.
6. Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature – all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you’ll find out how big a prize you’ve won.
7. Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.
8. You have to believe there's something at the other side. And you have to have faith in yourself. You have to think that you have the tools to accomplish it.
9. I'm not one who divides music, dance or art into various categories. Either something works, or it doesn't.
10. I think that anyone who's pushed to do the very best that they can is privileged. It's a luxury.

Twyla Tharp Short Quotes

• Perfect practice makes perfect.
• It is extremely arrogant and very foolish to think that you can ever outwit your audience.
• Over time, as the daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit.
• The art of these Fifties movies was in sustaining forever the moment before sex.
• I'm willing to be regarded as a tyrant to keep my vision intact.
• Limits are a secret blessing, and bounty can be a curse.
• Energy and time are finite resources; conserving them is very important.
• Without the little ideas, there are no big ideas.
• Whom the gods wish to destroy, they give unlimited resources.
• I think of music as fuel, its spectrum of energy governed by tempi, volume, and heart.

Twyla Tharp Quotes About Love

I had received my first establishment grants in response to applications filed the year before. To the pages of baffling forms I had simply attached a handwritten note saying, 'I make dances, not applications. Send the money. Love, Twyla. — Twyla Tharp

When it all comes together, a creative life has the nourishing power we normally associate with food, love and faith. — Twyla Tharp

I was fortunate to love men, so I could put them on stage and make roles for them, and move through their bodies in a way that they enjoy doing... — Twyla Tharp

A commission is an invitation to fall in love. — Twyla Tharp

If you're speaking of love, you really must include the element of uncertainty - and perhaps it's best approached as the art of constant maintenance. — Twyla Tharp

In the end all collaborations are love stories. — Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Quotes About Education

The formal education that I received made little sense to me. — Twyla Tharp

Everyone has a talent. It's simply a question of good discipline, of the good fortune to have an education that meshes with that talent, and a lot of luck. — Twyla Tharp

My mother was the first woman in the county in Indiana where we were born, in Jay County, to have a college degree. She was educated as a pianist and she wanted to concertize, but when the war came she was married, had a family, so she started teaching. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Quotes About Creativity

Every work of art needs a spine – an underlying theme, a motive for coming into existence. It doesn't have to be apparent to the audience. But you need it at the start of the creative process to guide you and keep you going. — Twyla Tharp

The thing about creativity is, people are going to laugh at it. Get over it. — Twyla Tharp

Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits. — Twyla Tharp

Creativity is an act of defiance. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

It's vital to establish some rituals-automatic but decisive patterns of behavior-at the beginning of the creative process, when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way. — Twyla Tharp

You're only kidding yourself if you put creativity before craft. — Twyla Tharp

In order to be creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative.....A lot of habitually creative people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to start their day. By putting themselves into that environment, they begin their creative day. — Twyla Tharp

While most people in the arts think they have to be constantly looking forward to be edgy and creative....the real secret of creativity is to go back and remember. — Twyla Tharp

I don't think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity. — Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Quotes About Dancing

I often say that in making dances I can make a world where I think things are done morally, done democratically, done honestly. — Twyla Tharp

Dancing is like bank robbery, it takes split-second timing. — Twyla Tharp

A lot of people insisted on a wall between modern dance and ballet, that the two disciplines were totally separate, and if you did one, you couldn’t do the other. I’m beginning to think that walls are very unhealthy things. — Twyla Tharp

Dancers are allowed, indeed encouraged, to remain children forever. — Twyla Tharp

I would have to challenge the term, modern dance. I don't really use that term in relation to my work. I simply think of it as dancing. I think of it as moving. — Twyla Tharp

The content and thematic materials of dance is, of itself, like boxing. You play tennis and baseball. But boxing is not a sport you play: you stand up and do it. — Twyla Tharp

I also had a will that let me eliminate everything that stood in the way of my becoming the best dancer I could be. By a gradual process... (I) had invested every bit of my dreams, my hopes, my energies in defining myself as a dancer. — Twyla Tharp

Dance has never been a particularly easy life, and everybody knows that. — Twyla Tharp

Playwrights have texts, composers have scores, painters and sculptors have the residue of those activities, and dance is traditionally an ephemeral, effervescent, here-today-gone-tomorrow kind of thing. — Twyla Tharp

A lot of people insisted on a wall between modern dance and ballet. I'm beginning to think that walls are very unhealthy things. — Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Quotes About Dance

I started formal piano training when I was 4. From there I had little violas, and I had dancing lessons of every sort and description, and painting lessons. I had German. And shorthand. — Twyla Tharp

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

when dancing is right, the movement possesss a logic common to us all, an inevitability that takes it beyond the personal and egocentric and makes of it classical art. — Twyla Tharp

The way I enjoyed spending time most was dancing. That's from the time I was a very small child, When I was 4 or 5 years old, I remember already having a regime. It was the way I always identified myself. — Twyla Tharp

dance is simply the refinement of human movement - walking, running, and jumping. We are all experts. There should be no art form more accessible than dance, yet no art is more mystifying in the public imagination. — Twyla Tharp

I always, somehow, knew that I was going to dance. — Twyla Tharp

I have always felt one of the things dance should do - its business being so clearly physical - is challenge the culture's gender stereotypes. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

I walk into a large white room. It's a dance studio in midtown Manhattan. The room is clean, virtually spotless if you don’t count the thousands of skid marks and footprints left there by dancers rehearsing. Other than the mirrors, the boom box, the skid marks, and me, the room is empty. — Twyla Tharp

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

Twyla Tharp Quotes About People

In terms of individuals who actually inspired me, very few of the academic people that I had access to had that power over me. Maybe it's simply because I wasn't that committed to geometry. — Twyla Tharp

I think people want very much to simplify their lives enough so that they can control the things that make it possible to sleep at night. — Twyla Tharp

As people who have commitments and obligations, we try to blockade emotions and go on our course towards excellence, and that's a lie. I've definitely paid a price. Everything is an exchange. — Twyla Tharp

I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things: the people you meet and the books you read. — Twyla Tharp

I always find that the best collaborations are when you work with people that know what they're doing, and you leave them alone to do it. — Twyla Tharp

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

When I'm in the studio, when I'm warm, when I'm what people call improvising, I feel a very special connection. I feel the most right. I don't want to become too mystic about this, but things feel as though they're in the best order at that particular moment. — Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Quotes About Life

Later in life, one of the compensations is gliding effortlessly into focus in a thing. Since it is who we are, anything that is not the focus or supportive thereof is just not us. Even outside issues, when they arise, are interesting in that they only help define the focus more clearly. — Twyla Tharp

In the future, I will make certain that I commit to projects so there's enough breathing space for me to have an emotional life. — Twyla Tharp

I have the wherewithal to challenge myself for my entire life. That's a great gift. — Twyla Tharp

when the time came I would do battle with my mother for the right to sit at the center of my own life. — Twyla Tharp

A dancer's life is all about repetition. — Twyla Tharp

I've always thought my creative life began the moment my mother called me Twyla. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

The blank space can be humbling. But I've faced it my whole professional life. It's my job. It's also my calling. Bottom line: Filling this empty space constitutes my identity. — Twyla Tharp

Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life. — Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp Famous Quotes And Sayings

To make real change, you have to be well anchored - not only in the belief that it can be done, but also in some pretty real ways about who you are and what you can do. — Twyla Tharp

In dreams, anything can be anything, and everybody can do. We can fly, we can turn upside down, we can transform into anything. — Twyla Tharp

The ballet needs to tell its own story in such a way it can be received without having to be translated into language. — Twyla Tharp

There are as many forms of memory as there are ways of perceiving, and every one of them is worth mining for inspiration. — Twyla Tharp

When you stimulate your body, your brain comes alive in ways you can't simulate in a sedentary position. — Twyla Tharp

By making the start of the sequence automatic, they replace doubt and fear with comfort and routine. — Twyla Tharp

The necessity to constantly turn in an excellent performance, to be absolutely wedded to this dedication and this ideal means that as a child you're going to pay for it personally. — Twyla Tharp

I had to become the greatest choreographer of my time. That was my mission, and that's what I set out to do. — Twyla Tharp

Mastery is an elusive concept. You never know when you achieve it absolutely and it may not help you to feel you've attained it. We can recognize it more readily in others than we can in ourselves. We have to discover our own definition of it. — Twyla Tharp

In those days, male dancers were a rarer breed than women. as they are still today, A good male dancer, one as strong as we were, was very difficult to come by if you couldn't afford to pay them. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

You may wonder which came first: the skill or the hard work. But that's a moot point. The Zen master cleans his own studio. So should you. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

It was not until I had graduated from college that I made a professional commitment to it. Frankly, I didn't think it wise. I was my own interior parental force, and it's very difficult to justify a profession as a dancer. — Twyla Tharp

Traveling the paths of greatness, even in someone else's footprints, is a vital means to acquiring skill. — Twyla Tharp

Generosity is luck going in the opposite direction, away from you. If you're generous to someone, if you do something to help him out, you are in effect making him lucky. This is important. It's like inviting yourself into a community of good fortune. — Twyla Tharp

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

I am fairly concise when I work and I work quickly because I think work is done better in a high gear than done our in a gear when everyone's exhausted. Get focused, do it! — Twyla Tharp

You can keep on chewing gum for ten hours, but after about a minute and a half you've got all the good out of it. — Twyla Tharp

Whenever I feel I'm working in a groove it's invariably because I feel I am being the benefactor in the situation rather than the beneficiary. I am sharing my art with others, lending my craft to theirs, interest-free with no IOU. — Twyla Tharp

Once you accept the power of spine in the creative act, you will become much more efficient in your creativity. You will still get lost on occasion, but having a spine will anchor you. — Twyla Tharp

I repeat the wake-up, the workout, the quick shower, the breakfast of three hard-boiled egg whites and a cup of coffee, the hour to make my morning calls and deal with correspondence, the two hours of stretching and working out ideas by myself in the studio ... That's my day, every day. A dancer's life is all about repetition. — Twyla Tharp

Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits. That's it in a nutshell ... In order to be creative you have to know how to prepare to be creative. — Twyla Tharp

The notion of the hero as outsider, as alien, is forget it, over, done with. It's not about being against society anymore. It's about standing there, holding something up. It's not pulling away. — Twyla Tharp

if you want to create art, you'd best have a deep belief in yourself and no ulterior motives. — Twyla Tharp

When creativity has become your habit; when you've learned to manage time, resources, expectations, and the demands of others; when you understand the value and place of validation, continuity, and purity of purpose, then you're on the way to an artist's ultimate goal; the achievement of mastery. — Twyla Tharp

I began to discriminate between fear and excitement. The two, though very close, are completely different. Fear is negative excitement, choking your imagination. Real excitement produces an energy that overcomes apprehension and makes you want to close in on your goal. — Twyla Tharp

Art is running away without ever leaving home. — Twyla Tharp

Well, Mozart is extraordinary not only in that he became virtuoso along the lines of his father, but that he had that compositional gift, that melodic gift. By the time he was four, he was doing piano concertos with harmony in the background. — Twyla Tharp

More often than not I've found, a rut is a consequence of sticking to tried and tested methods that don't take into account how you or the world has changed. — Twyla Tharp

I cannot overstate how much a generous spirit contributes to good luck. Look at the luckiest people around you, the ones you envy, the ones who seem to have destiny falling habitually into their laps. If they're anything like the fortunate people I know, they're prepared, they're always working at their craft, they're alert, they involve their friends in their work, and they tend to make others feel lucky to be around them. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

Men and women are very different athletes, and frankly, I didn't want to deal with the male potential. — Twyla Tharp

We get into ruts when we run with the first idea that pops into our head, not the last one. — Twyla Tharp

Usually kids who are talented have the brashness to think they can do anything, but they don't often get the chance to see how close they can come. — Twyla Tharp

Skill is how you close the gap between what you can see in your mind's eye and what you can produce; the more skill you have, the more sophisticated and accomplished your ideas can be. With absolute skill comes absolute confidence. — Twyla Tharp

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

I’m much stronger than most women. Consequently, when I work with men, or when I’m partnered by men... We can actually go into kinds of movement that haven’t been available before, simply because I’ve strengthened myself as a woman, not because I’ve weakened him. — Twyla Tharp

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

Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art. — Twyla Tharp

To embrace luck, you have to enhance your tolerance for ambiguity. — Twyla Tharp

There's an energy that comes through the release of tension that is laughter. — Twyla Tharp

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

Living had little use for me other than how it could be funneled into dance. — Twyla Tharp

Whether it's a painter finding his way each morning to the easel, or a medical researcher returning daily to the laboratory, the routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightning bolt of inspiration, maybe more. — Twyla Tharp

The last two - distractions and fears - are the dangerous ones. They're the habitual demons that invade the launch of any project. No one starts a creative endeavor without a certain amount of fear; the key is to learn how to keep free-floating fears from paralyzing you before you've begun. When I feel that sense of dread, I try to make it as specific as possible. — Twyla Tharp

The first steps of a creative act are like groping in the dark: random and chaotic, feverish and fearful, a lot of busy-ness with no apparent or definable end in sight. — Twyla Tharp

Life Lessons by Twyla Tharp

1. Twyla Tharp has taught us that creativity and collaboration are essential to creating something unique and special.
2. She has also shown us that it is possible to take risks and push boundaries in order to create something new and exciting.
3. Lastly, her work has demonstrated that hard work and dedication can lead to success and recognition in the field of dance.