I started formal piano training when I was 4. From there I had little violas, and I had dancing lessons of every sort and description, and painting lessons. I had German. And shorthand. – Twyla Tharp
Well, Mozart is extraordinary not only in that he became virtuoso along the lines of his father, but that he had that compositional gift, that melodic gift. By the time he was four, he was doing piano concertos with harmony in the background. – Twyla Tharp
I’m not one who divides music, dance or art into various categories. Either something works, or it doesn’t. – Twyla 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
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
There’s this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anything. – Twyla Tharp
I often say that in making dances I can make a world where I think things are done morally, done democratically, done honestly. – 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 favorite audience is everybody. I worked in a drive-in theater from the time I was 8 years old until I went to college, and I’m accustomed to everybody can buy a ticket and everybody should be taken into account. – 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
Let me put it this way: I would like to direct a successful film. An unsuccessful film I would not like to direct. Films are very difficult. – Twyla Tharp
The content and thematic materials of dance is, of itself, like boxing. You play tennis and baseball. But boxing is not a sport you play: you stand up and do it. – Twyla Tharp
It’s very difficult for me to do fund raising for my own organization if I’m working for other companies because sponsors will say, ‘Well, hey, man, if she’s doing a ballet for Ballet Theatre, we’ll give money to Ballet Theatre.’ – Twyla Tharp
I think people want very much to simplify their lives enough so that they can control the things that make it possible to sleep at night. – Twyla Tharp