Twyla Tharp Quotes

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Twyla Tharp

Profession : Dancer

Birth : July 1, 1941

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.

Twyla Tharp

Judgment is not my business. Existing is my business.

Twyla Tharp

A dancer's life is all about repetition.

Twyla Tharp

I feel I can handle the architecture of dance as well as anybody.

Twyla Tharp

In dreams, anything can be anything, and everybody can do. We can fly, we can turn upside down, we can transform into anything.

Twyla Tharp

Dance should not just divide people into audience and performers. Everyone should be a participant, whether going to classes or attending special events or rehearsals.

Twyla Tharp

Critics should be looked at simply as commentators.

Twyla Tharp

You either entertain an audience or you don't.

Twyla Tharp

I see dance as glue for a community.

Twyla Tharp

A lot of people insisted on a wall between modern dance and ballet. I'm beginning to think that walls are very unhealthy things.

Twyla Tharp

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

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.

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

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 have the wherewithal to challenge myself for my entire life. That's a great gift.

Twyla Tharp

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

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 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