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I understand things that are American, for better or worse.

Twyla Tharp

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Twyla Tharp
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: July 1
Ballet Dancer
Choreographer
Dancer
Writer
Portland
Indiana
Understand
Better
Things
Worse
American

More quotes by Twyla Tharp

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The more you fail in private, the less you will fail in public.
Twyla Tharp
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There's a paradox in the notion that creativity should be a habit. We think of creativity as a way of keeping everything fresh and new, while habit implies routine and repetition. That paradox intrigues me because it occupies the place where creativity and skill rub up against each other.
Twyla Tharp
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Energy and time are finite resources conserving them is very important.
Twyla Tharp
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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.
Twyla Tharp
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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
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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
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You don't get into the mood to create – it's discipline.
Twyla Tharp
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Creativity is an act of defiance.
Twyla Tharp
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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
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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.
Twyla Tharp
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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
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I was interested in becoming a show dancer, for which I tried, but I'm not tall enough.
Twyla Tharp
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Our ability to grow is directly proportional to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable.
Twyla Tharp
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When it all comes together, a creative life has the nourishing power we normally associate with food, love and faith.
Twyla Tharp
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Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art.
Twyla Tharp
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You double your intensity with skill.
Twyla Tharp
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In order to be creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative.
Twyla Tharp
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In creative endeavors luck is a skill.
Twyla Tharp
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Creativity requires quite a lot of faith - not just in yourself but also in the knowledge that you have the right to proceed, even when you may not know exactly what you're doing.
Twyla Tharp
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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