T Tharp Quotes & Sayings

His wife isn't attractive in any official way, but she is beautiful. It's awesome when she shows up at the store - her face beams, his face beams, and I'm sure my face beams just from watching the two of them. — Tim Tharp

Schubert 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

Here in the realm of books she's self-assured. She has some of the control she doesn't have anywhere else. — Tim Tharp

Just bring some roses, then. Tell her you were wrong. But don't go into all sorts of promises about how you'll never do it again. Instead, tell her you've been thinking about how she must have felt when she saw that other girl hugging you. That way you can start her talking about her feelings. Then you've got to listen, hard. Let her know that her feelings are important to you. That's all she wanted from you in the first place. — Tim Tharp

You just go around acting like you're saving other people so you don't have to deal with your own problems. — Tim Tharp

When you stimulate your body, your brain comes alive in ways you can't simulate in a sedentary position. — Twyla Tharp

But obligation, I eventually saw, is not the same as commitment, and it's certainly not an acceptable reason to stick with something that isn't working — Twyla Tharp

Your eyes are a blue universe, and I'm just falling into them. No parachute. I don't need one because I'm never going to hit the ground. — Tim Tharp

She might be the only girl I've ever met who still hasn't learned to sacrifice bodily comfort for fashion's sake. — Tim Tharp

She's still smiling her little smile, and it strikes me that, actually, she is drunk, not on alcohol, but on her St. Louis hopes and dreams. I wouldn't sober her up for anything, but she doesn't need me anymore. She can hang on to her dreams by herself now. — Tim Tharp

Have you ever started to wave at someone and then realized they weren't really waving at you, so you abort and go for a head scratch instead? That's how I felt. — Tim Tharp

Cassidy brings something beautiful to me from the outside. Aimee brings something beautiful up from the depths of my insides.
"I can't dance like Cassidy," she says.
"Yeah, but you dance like Aimee. And that's perfect. — Tim Tharp

It's superb to be out in the early, early morning before the sun comes up. There's this sense of being super-alive. You're in on a secret that all the dull, sleeping people don't know about. Unlike them, you're alert and aware of existing right here in this precise moment between what happened and what's going to happen. — Tim Tharp

I don't believe in rushing and saying this is done and over with. That form of rebellion doesn't make sense to me. I've always attempted to familiarize myself with the traditions, and consider that a responsibility of the artist. — Twyla Tharp

You either entertain an audience or you don't. — Twyla Tharp

Desire is the first thing a modern dancer should have. Skill can be developed. But if you don't have desire as a modern dancer, forget it. — Twyla Tharp

What is music about? You can't listen to one era, one composer, and know what music is about. — Twyla Tharp

I don't think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity. — Twyla Tharp

Now, thinking back on my exes is like looking at a flowerbed on the other side of a window. They're beautiful, but you can't touch them. — Tim Tharp

I can't emphasize this idea enough. Getting involved with your collaborator's problems almost always distracts you from your own. That can be tempting. That can be a relief. But it usually leads to disaster. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

See, this is the other side of the coin. This is a girl's downfall. The guy goes soft in the head and starts talking to her like a moron and she wants to take care of him. He's just cuddly fool who can't make it without her. — Tim Tharp

There is obviously a power and a truth in action that doesn't lie, which words easily can do. — Twyla Tharp

I don't believe in that - the husband and wife having to be just alike. I think it's better if they kind of offset each other. Like if they have these different dimensions they can bring to each other. — Tim Tharp

More often than not I've found, a rut is a consequence of sticking to tried and tested methods that don't take into account how you or the world has changed. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

She's different from the girls I'm used to dating. She doesn't get tired of my stories and jokes or expect me to start reading her mind. She doesn't want me to dress better or put highlights in my hair or serious up. I'm not a lifestyle accessory to her. I'm a necessity. I'm the guy that's going to crack open her cocoon. She doesn't need to change me - she needs me to change her. At least until her little butterfly wings get strong enough to fly away. — Tim Tharp

There really is nothing I ever had access to that I didn't appreciate. — Twyla Tharp

In those days, male dancers were a rarer breed than women. as they are still today, A good male dancer, one as strong as we were, was very difficult to come by if you couldn't afford to pay them. — Twyla Tharp

Without passion, all the skill in world won't lift you above your craft — Twyla Tharp

I was used to dancing, but only when someone told you what to do. So in the nightclub I was all over the place, I combined everything. Street dance, modern dance, a bit of jazz and ballet, I was Twyla Tharp, I was Alvin Ailey, I was Michael Jackson. I didn't care, I was free. — Madonna Ciccone

Men and women are very different athletes, and frankly, I didn't want to deal with the male potential. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

Those colors of hers really begin their attack on me now, ripping through my skin, electrifying my bloodstream, sending sparks zapping around in my stomach. I take a long pull on my whisky but I can't keep a hard-on from starting. I only mention this because I have a theory that the hard-on is the number one reason for sexism down through history. I mean, it is seriously impossible to really soak in a girl's ideas, no matter how deep or true, when you have a stiffy coming on. — Tim Tharp

I was valedictorian. Did I enjoy going to school? I hated it. It wasn't a choice on my part, it was expected. — Twyla Tharp

Collaboration is how most of our ancestors used to work and live, before machines came along and fragmented society. Time to plant the fields? Everybody pitched in and got it done. Harvesttime? The community raced to get the crops in before the rains came. Where were those crops stored? In barns built by teams of neighbors. In the cities, the same spirit applied. Anonymous craftsmen spent their lives building cathedrals that wouldn't be completed for generations. — Twyla Tharp

I'm much stronger than most women. When I work with men, or when I'm partnered by men, we can actually go into kinds of movement that haven't been available before, simply because I've strengthened myself as a woman, not because I've weakened him. — Twyla Tharp

Destiny, quite often, is a determined parent. Mozart was hardly some naive prodigy who sat down at the keyboard and, with God whispering in his ears, let music flow from his fingertips. It's a nice image for selling tickets to movies, but whether or not God has kissed your brow, you still have to work. Without learning and preparation, you won't know how to harness the power of that kiss. — Twyla Tharp

I walk into a large white room. It's a dance studio in midtown Manhattan. The room is clean, virtually spotless if you don't count the thousands of skid marks and footprints left there by dancers rehearsing. Other than the mirrors, the boom box, the skid marks, and me, the room is empty. — Twyla Tharp

If I didn't believe in myself as a dancer, I wouldn't choreograph. — Twyla Tharp

There are so few people who can really take hold of art and sort of eat and chew it up. Somehow it's got to be held special, sacred in a corner, and if you don't do the same thing with it, if you're not equally reverential, serious, and pompous about it, well, then you're not a great artist. Who needs that? — Twyla Tharp

We don't need to illustrate music; music illustrates itself. — Twyla Tharp

Finally, she's like, I know it looks bad right now, but parents are just people. They don't always know what to do. That doesn't mean they don't love you. — Tim Tharp

You know how when you see someone day in, day out, year after year, you don't really notice him getting taller or wider or older or whatever? It can be like that with the way people are on the inside too. — Tim 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 think that probably the moments of discovery do come from a place that is not totally organized. Order is something that we already know about. Discoveries are in a place we don't already know about. — Twyla Tharp

Concentrate: you can't have it all. — Twyla Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

My father always said, 'I don't care if you're a ditch digger, as long as you're the best ditch digger in the world.' — Twyla Tharp

With each piece I've completed I have worked to make it intact, and each of them has been an equal high. It's like children. A mother refuses to pick out one as a favorite, and I can't do any better with the dances. — Twyla Tharp

My job is okay. You know what an okay job is, don't you? It's a job you only hate some of the time instead of all of the time — Tim Tharp

That type of dream just kind of wears out with time like a favorite old T-shirt. One day, it's nothing but tatters and all you can do is throw it over on the rag pile with the others. — Tim Tharp

Uh, sure, if it doesn't take too long. I'm supposed to be at a big police banquet in about thirty seconds. They'll probably send a car by for me if I'm late. — Tim 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

Cassidy is the best girlfriend ever. I've dated her for a full two months longer than anyone else. She's smart and witty and original and can chug a beer faster than most guys I know. On top of that, she is absolutely beautiful. I mean spanktacular. Talk about pure colors. She's high-definition. Scandinavian blond hair, eyes as blue as fiords, skin like vanilla ice cream or flower petals or sugar frosting - or really not like anything else but just her skin. It makes my hair ache. Of course, she does believe in astrology, but I don't even care about that. It's a girl thing. I think of it like she has constellations and fortunes whirling around inside her. — Tim Tharp

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. — Twyla Tharp

At the ballet classes I took when I first came to New York, I would see great dancers like Cynthia Gregory and Lupe Serrano. I would look at them and study what they could do, and what I couldn't do. And then I'd think maybe they should try what I could do. — Twyla Tharp

When I'm in the studio, when I'm warm, when I'm what people call improvising, I feel a very special connection. I feel the most right. I don't want to become too mystic about this, but things feel as though they're in the best order at that particular moment. — Twyla Tharp

This is the strange thing: Dancers don't age. — Twyla Tharp

To 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

I would have to challenge the term, modern dance. I don't really use that term in relation to my work. I simply think of it as dancing. I think of it as moving. — Twyla Tharp

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 justify a profession as a dancer. — Twyla Tharp

If you only do what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won't fail. You'll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that's failure by erosion — Twyla Tharp

Don't sign on for more problems than you must. Resist the temptation to involve yourself in other people's zones of expertise and responsibility. Monitor troublesome situations if you need to, but don't insert yourself unless you're running out of time and a solution is nowhere in sight. In short, stifle your inner control freak. — Twyla Tharp

You don't have a really good idea until you combine two little ideas. — Twyla Tharp

Besides, it doesn't matter if it's real. It never does with dreams. They aren't anything anyway but lifesavers to cling to so you don't drown. Life is an ocean, and most everyone's hanging on to some kind of dream to keep afloat. — Tim Tharp

Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life. — Twyla Tharp

Usually kids who are talented have the brashness to think they can do anything, but they don't often get the chance to see how close they can come. — Twyla Tharp

People 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

Don't worry," says Ricky. "I'm sure everyone isn't bringing a present. You can just think of paying the cover charge as your gift."

"What? A cover charge? Presents? What are these people, a bunch of capitalists? — Tim Tharp

I'm not one who divides music, dance or art into various categories. Either something works, or it doesn't. — Twyla Tharp

I like you so much, she says between kisses. And I can tell she wants to say love instead of like, not because she really does love me but because she just wants to say it. Of course, she can't, though. Not when I haven't said it first. — Tim Tharp

The irony of multitasking is that it's exhausting: when you're doing two or three things simultaneously, you use more energy than the sum of energy required to do each task independently. You're also cheating yourself because your're not doing anything excellently. You're compromising your virtuosity. In the words of T. S. Elliot, you're 'distracted from distractions by distractions'. — Twyla Tharp

Don't worry about who has the power in the relationship all the time. If you make her happy, then that's the biggest power you can have. — Tim Tharp

They've drummed the miraculous out of you, but you don't want it to be like that. You want the miraculous. You want everything to still be new. — Tim Tharp

No,' I say l. 'It's not all right. But I couldn't help it — Tim Tharp