Twyla Tharp

“After so many years, I've learned that being creative is a full-time job with its own daily patterns. That's why writers, for example, like to establish routines for themselves.”

“I had always seen myself as a star; I wanted to be a galaxy.”

“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.”

“I see dance as glue for a community.”

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

“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; th...”

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

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

“When I look at the people who are the guiding figures in modern dance, I think, 'This does not look to me like the way I want to spend my days.'”

“Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.”

“We don't need to illustrate music; music illustrates itself.”

“Everything present is included in the past somewhere; nobody's present pops out of nowhere.”

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

“It was not until I had graduated from college that I made a professional commitment to it. Frankly, I didn't think it wise. I was my own interior parental force, and it's very difficult to j...”

“Art is an investigation.”

“Work is work; wherever I'm working, I do the best I can. If the actual dollars come from investors as opposed to taxpayers and patrons, what's the difference?”

“What I do remember is visualization of the sound of music, seeing bodies in movement in relation to how music sounded, because my mother practiced at the keyboard a lot and I also went to he...”

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

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

“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.”