413 Quotes by 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.

As people who have commitments and obligations, we try to blockade emotions and go on our course towards excellence, and that’s a lie. I’ve definitely paid a price. Everything is an exchange.

The way I enjoyed spending time most was dancing. That’s from the time I was a very small child, When I was 4 or 5 years old, I remember already having a regime. It was the way I always identified myself.

I’ve always had to keep the walls in place, and the only way to do that is to keep yourself constantly occupied. From the time I was 8 years old, until I went to college, I worked. There was no social life.

Doing is better than not doing, and if you do something badly you’ll learn to do it better.

I have always felt one of the things dance should do – its business being so clearly physical – is challenge the culture’s gender stereotypes.

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.

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

The necessity to constantly turn in an excellent performance, to be absolutely wedded to this dedication and this ideal means that as a child you’re going to pay for it personally.