Quotes from Twyla Tharp

There is nothing wrong with fear; the only mistake is to let it stop you in your tacks.

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.

Judgment is not my business. Existing is my business.

I'm obviously always interested in the dancer who's an athlete and vice versa. I expect dancers to be in condition like an athlete is and to challenge themselves in the same way, to the same physical degree.

'The Creative Habit' is basically about how you work alone, how you survive as a solitary artist. 'The Collaborative Habit' is obviously about surviving with other people.

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.

You either entertain an audience or you don't.

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.

Obligation is a flimsy base for creativity, way down the list behind passion, courage, instinct, and the desire to do something great.

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.

In circuses, there is a lot of magic. Things become other things.

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 only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts.

By making the start of the sequence automatic, they replace doubt and fear with comfort and routine.