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Quote by Twyla Tharp

“I thought I had to make an impact on history. I had to become the greatest choreographer of my time. That was my mission. Posterity deals with us however it sees fit. But I gave it 20 years of my best shot.”

Quote by Twyla Tharp

Author

Twyla Tharp, born on July 1, 1941, is an outstanding American dancer, choreographer, and director. Her dance works are known for their unique style and innovative arrangements, which have had a profound impact on the development of modern dance. more

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“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.”

Thinking Use Moving Term Challenges Modern Relation Dancing Dance Modern Dance

Author: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.”

Ifs Stills Today Strong Difficult Pay Males Dancer Strong Women

Author: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.”

Thinking Made Force Difficult My Own Wise College Commitment Profession Dancer Justify Interiors Parental

Author:Twyla Tharp

“My mother was a dominant force in my life. She had a very specific idea about education, which was: you should know everything about everything. It was quite simple. There was no exclusivity, and there really was no judgment, which is a good thing for someone who still thinks of themselves as a very basic American.”

Knows Should Ideas Mother Force Simple Education Judgment Dominant Exclusivity

Author:Twyla Tharp

“My mother was the first woman in the county in Indiana where we were born, in Jay County, to have a college degree. She was educated as a pianist and she wanted to concertize, but when the war came she was married, had a family, so she started teaching.”

Firsts War Wanted Mother Born Teaching College Degrees Married Educated County Pianist Indiana College Degree

Author:Twyla Tharp

“Playwrights have texts, composers have scores, painters and sculptors have the residue of those activities, and dance is traditionally an ephemeral, effervescent, here-today-gone-tomorrow kind of thing.”

Inspirational Kind Today Gone Tomorrow Activity Dance Painter Score Composer Playwright Sculptors Ephemeral Here Today Gone Tomorrow

Author: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.”

Kind Mean Modern Stupid Expression Silly Postmodernism Postmodern Good Words Perfectly Good

Author: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.”

Wells Father Lines Four Harmony Extraordinary Backgrounds Piano Virtuoso

Author:Twyla Tharp

“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 her lessons. As a two year old, three year old I remember seeing things in movement.”

Years Two Body Remember Mother Three Sound Seeing Movement Lessons Relation Two Years Three Years Visualization Keyboards Three Year Olds Two Year Olds Sound Of Music

Author: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.”

Children Has Beens I Can Mother Pieces Equal Picks Refuse

Author:Twyla Tharp