Quotes by Twyla Tharp

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

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.

Creativity is an act of defiance.

In every situation, at the beginning or end of the workday, you have a choice. You can look back or you can look forward. My advice: look forward. Always think about the next day. Dont go into the studio thinking, Hmmm, lets see what I was doing yesterday? It takes more energy to twist yourself around and look back that it does to face forward.

If art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees, then skill is how you build that bridge.

Reading is your first line of defense against an empty head.

You don’t get lucky without preparation, and there’s no sense in being prepared if you’re not open to the possibility of a glorious accident.

Here’s how I learned to improvise: I played some music in the studio and I started to move. It sounds obvious, but I wonder how many people, whatever their medium, appreciate the gift of improvisation. It’s your one opportunity in life to be completely free, with no responsibilities and no consequences. You don’t have to be good or even interesting. It’s you alone, with no one watching or judging. If anything comes of it, you decide whether the world gets to see it. In essence, you are giving yourself permission to daydream during working hours.

When youre in a rut, you have to question everything except your ability to get out of it.

Creativity is more about taking the facts, fictions, and feelings we store away and finding new ways to connect them. What were talking about here is metaphor. Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art, if it is not art itself. Metaphor is our vocabulary for connecting what we are experiencing now with what we have experienced before. Its not only how we express what we remember , its how we interpret it - for ourselves and others.

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.

Without passion, all the skill in world wont lift you above your craft

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

I think a sense of humor will help get a girl out of a dark place.

Ultimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.

Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.

To survive, youve got to keep wheedling your way. You cant just sit there and fight against odds when its not going to work. You have to turn a corner, dig a hole, go through a tunnel - and find a way to keep moving.

This is the strange thing: Dancers dont age.

People often say to me, I dont know anything about dance. I say, Stop. You got up this morning, and youre walking. You are an expert.

I always tell students that youve got to be practical. You do not need a dream. You need a purpose, something you can wake up to in the morning when the dream is dissipated.