Twyla Tharp quotes

Art is running away without ever leaving home. (Twyla Tharp)

Creativity is not just for artists. It's for businesspeople looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.

Twyla Tharp

Creativity is an act of defiance.

Twyla Tharp

Life is about moving, it's about change. And when things stop doing that they're dead.

Twyla Tharp

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.

Twyla Tharp

Before you can think out of the box, you have to start with a box.

Twyla Tharp

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

Twyla Tharp

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

Twyla Tharp

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

Twyla Tharp

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

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)

I thought I had to make an impact on history. I had to become the greatest choreographer of my time. That was my mission. Posterity deals with us however it sees fit. But I gave it 20 years of my best shot.

Twyla Tharp

I was privileged to be able to study a year with Martha Graham, the last year she was teaching.

Twyla Tharp

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

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

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

The rewards of dancing are very different from choreographing.

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

I don't think politicians should be allowed into power who are not familiar with their bodies, because that's where our bottom line is. And I know that they would make totally different decisions if they felt responsible simply for their own bodies.

Twyla Tharp

Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.

Twyla Tharp

The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts. (Twyla Tharp)

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.

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

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

Twyla Tharp

It is extremely arrogant and very foolish to think that you can ever outwit your audience.

Twyla Tharp

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Twyla Tharp

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Occupation: American Dancer
Born: July 1, 1941
Quotes count: 72

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