01UndatedLife is about moving, it’s about change. And when things stop doing that they’re dead.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
02UndatedReading, 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 / quote ↗
04UndatedIn 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. Don't go into the studio thinking, 'Hmmm, let's see what I was doing yesterday?' It takes more energy to twist yourself around and look back that it does to face forward.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
05UndatedIf art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees, then skill is how you build that bridge.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
07UndatedYou 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.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
08UndatedHere’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.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
09UndatedWhen you're in a rut, you have to question everything except your ability to get out of it.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
10UndatedCreativity is more about taking the facts, fictions, and feelings we store away and finding new ways to connect them. What we're 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. It's not only how we express what we remember , it's how we interpret it - for ourselves and others.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
12UndatedWithout passion, all the skill in world won't lift you above your craftTwyla Tharp / quote ↗
13UndatedIn dreams, anything can be anything, and everybody can do. We can fly, we can turn upside down, we can transform into anything.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
15UndatedUltimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
16UndatedCreativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
17UndatedTo survive, you've got to keep wheedling your way. You can't just sit there and fight against odds when it's not going to work. You have to turn a corner, dig a hole, go through a tunnel - and find a way to keep moving.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
19UndatedPeople often say to me, 'I don't know anything about dance.' I say, 'Stop. You got up this morning, and you're walking. You are an expert.'Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
20UndatedI always tell students that you've 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.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
22UndatedOptimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
24UndatedSchubert had arguably the same melodic gift as Mozart, but even less support. He didn't have the early exposure, never got to travel anywhere, and yet generated and amassed a body of work that grew and developed and is very profound.Twyla Tharp / quote ↗
