Quote

I never studied with Balanchine, but his work was very important to me.

Twyla Tharp

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Twyla Tharp
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: July 1
Ballet Dancer
Choreographer
Dancer
Writer
Portland
Indiana
Important
Work
Never
Studied

More quotes by Twyla Tharp

Image
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
Image
I learned very early that an audience would relax and look at things differently if they felt they could laugh with you from time to time. There's an energy that comes through the release of tension that is laughter.
Twyla Tharp
Image
The art of these Fifties movies was in sustaining forever the moment before sex.
Twyla Tharp
Image
Every dance I make is a dive into this well of ancient memory.
Twyla Tharp
Image
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
Image
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft.
Twyla Tharp
Image
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
Image
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
Image
I have a sort of tactility about music. I go into record stores and just run my fingers over it, the spines.
Twyla Tharp
Image
The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts.
Twyla Tharp
Image
You double your intensity with skill.
Twyla Tharp
Image
Without the little ideas, there are no big ideas.
Twyla Tharp
Image
You don't have a really good idea until you combine two little ideas.
Twyla Tharp
Image
There are so few people who can really take hold of art and sort of eat and chew it up. Somehow it's got to be held special, sacred in a corner, and if you don't do the same thing with it, if you're not equally reverential, serious, and pompous about it, well, then you're not a great artist. Who needs that?
Twyla Tharp
Image
Ultimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.
Twyla Tharp
Image
It is extremely arrogant and very foolish to think that you can ever outwit your audience.
Twyla Tharp
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.
Twyla Tharp
Image
Dance has never been a particularly easy life, and everybody knows that.
Twyla Tharp