Twyla Tharp Quotations

Do I watch dancers as people? Yes, absolutely. Do I watch really good dancers for specifically who they are? Absolutely, because how they move best and how they look best is going to be most familiar to them, and not necessarily to me.

There is a moral dimension, for me, in anything that's any good.

There are very few critics who have historical context or authority.

The only way to know the truth of a movement is to do it on your own body.

I've read probably 25 or 30 books by Balzac, all of Tolstoy - the novels and letters - and all of Dickens. I learned my craft from these guys.

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.

Critics should be looked at simply as commentators.

Counterpoint is a component that gives real energy, and it is about optimism.

Broadway has some very tight expectations as to what a show is.

Balzac loved courtesans. They were independent women, and in the 19th century, that was a breed that was just evolving.