Twyla Tharp Quotes
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I never studied with Balanchine, but his work was very important to me.
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Balzac loved courtesans. They were independent women, and in the 19th century, that was a breed that was just evolving.
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Nobody worked harder than Mozart. By the time he was twenty-eight years old, his hands were deformed because of all the hours he had spent practicing, performing, and gripping a quill pen to compose. That's the missing element in the popular portrait of Mozart.
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I'm obviously always interested in the dancer who's an athlete and vice versa. I expect dancers to be in condition like an athlete is and to challenge themselves in the same way, to the same physical degree.
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I don't hate language. I have my own language, but I also enjoy the English language. Obviously, you don't read a lot of literature and not care about language.
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It's always a problem, getting the curtain in at the end of the first act; having enough of a resolve so that you can bring the curtain in and then opening the show a second time is a little bizarre as a tradition. I've always preferred to go straight through.
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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.
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I'm not one who divides music, dance or art into various categories. Either something works, or it doesn't.
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I feel I can handle the architecture of dance as well as anybody.
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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.
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It's very important to work myself physically as hard as I can.
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The ultimate point of a piece for me is that it drives the next one. Does it open new doors? That's the success of a piece.
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Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.
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A commission is an invitation to fall in love.
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There's the tradition of the 19th-century ballets, and the 20th century has had a difficult time with that tradition. And it's had a difficult time with many components of the Romantic imagination because of modernism.
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My own physicality, not an abstract idea, makes me a choreographer.
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Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.
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Art is an investigation.
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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.
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I look for dancers who have all the technique in the world. But they must be dancers who are open-minded, who are willing to forget that they know anything. They also have to be gorgeous; they must have a clear image of themselves and strong personalities.
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I don't mean this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I don't really think of pop art and serious art as being that far apart.
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I have a sort of tactility about music. I go into record stores and just run my fingers over it, the spines.
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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.
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The artist doesn't really think about consequences - he or she does the work, stands back and looks at and thinks, 'Hmm, that could have worked better like this.' But as a person who needs to sell tickets to do the next work, one needs to analyze how it does or does not hit its mark.