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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

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Twyla Tharp
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: July 1
Ballet Dancer
Choreographer
Dancer
Writer
Portland
Indiana
Beginning
Insisted
Couldn
Unhealthy
Wall
Ballet
Modern
Walls
Things
Dancer
Think
Separate
Thinking
Totally
People
Dance
Disciplines

More quotes by Twyla Tharp

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I think that probably the moments of discovery do come from a place that is not totally organized. Order is something that we already know about. Discoveries are in a place we don't already know about.
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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.
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I'm willing to be regarded as a tyrant to keep my vision intact.
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Men and women are very different athletes, and frankly, I didn't want to deal with the male potential.
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We're a machine and we have to be worked in the same way we have to be fed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Dancers are allowed, indeed encouraged, to remain children forever.
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I think that anyone who's pushed to do the very best that they can is privileged. It's a luxury.
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That's what improvising is like for me. There's no tollbooth between my impulse and my action.
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Limits are a secret blessing, and bounty can be a curse.
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In dreams, anything can be anything, and everybody can do. We can fly, we can turn upside down, we can transform into anything.
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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.
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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.
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Obligation is a flimsy base for creativity, way down the list behind passion, courage, instinct, and the desire to do something great.
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Dance is the stepchild of the arts.
Twyla Tharp
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Miloš Forman is a great director Jim Brooks is a wonderful writer and director.
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I think Tolstoy had an unbelievably complicated relationship with women.
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Solitude is an unavoidable part of creativity. Self-reliance is a happy by-product.
Twyla Tharp