Twyla Tharp

Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, the daughter of Lecile Tharp, née Confer, and William Tharp.^[1] She was named for Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair.

As a child, Tharp spent a few months each year living with her Quaker grandparents on their farm in Indiana. She would attend Quaker services three times a week.^[3]

Tharp's mother insisted she take lessons in dance, various musical instruments, shorthand, German and French. In 1950, Tharp's family—younger sister Twanette, twin brothers Stanley and Stanford, and her parents—moved to Rialto, California.^[4] William and Lecile operated Tharp Motors and Tharp Autos in Rialto.^[5] They opened a drive-in movie theater, where Tharp worked.^[3] The drive-in was on the corner of Acacia and Foothill, Rialto's major east–west artery and the path of Route 66.^[6] She attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino, studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance, and studied ballet with Beatrice Collenette.^[7] A "devoted bookworm",^[8] Tharp has said her schedule left little time for a social life.^[9] She attended Pomona College but transferred to Barnard College, where she graduated with a degree in art history in 1963.^[10] In New York City, she studied with Richard Thomas, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham.^[11] In 1963, Tharp joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Dances and ballets

In 1965, Tharp choreographed her first dance, Tank Dive,^[12] and formed her own company, Twyla Tharp Dance.^[13] Her work often utilizes classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. From 1971 to 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance toured extensively around the world, performing original works.

In 1973, Tharp choreographed Deuce Coupe to the music of The Beach Boys for the Joffrey Ballet. Deuce Coupe is considered the first crossover ballet. Later she choreographed Push Comes to Shove (1976), which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov and is now thought to be the best example of crossover ballet.^{[citation needed]}

In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre, since which time ABT has premiered 16 of Tharp's works. In 2010 it had 20 of her works in its repertory. Tharp has since choreographed dances for Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance and Martha Graham Dance Company. She also created the dance roadshow Cutting Up (1992) with Baryshnikov, which went on to tour and appeared in 28 cities over two months.^[14]

In 2000, Twyla Tharp Dance regrouped with entirely new dancers. This company also performed around the world, and with it Tharp developed the material that became Movin' Out, an award-winning Broadway musical featuring the songs of Billy Joel and starring many of the dancers in the company.^[15]

In 2012, Tharp created the full-length ballet The Princess and the Goblin,^[16] based on George MacDonald's story The Princess and the Goblin. It is her first ballet to include children, and was co-commissioned by Atlanta Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet and performed by both companies.

Tharp was the first Artist in Residency (A.I.R.) at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. During this time she created and premiered Waiting At The Station, a work with music by R&B artist Allen Toussaint and sets and costumes by longtime collaborator Santo Loquasto.

A number of prominent fashion designers have designed costumes for Tharp, including Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, and Norma Kamali.^[3]

Broadway

In 1980, Tharp's work first appeared on Broadway with Twyla Tharp Dance performing When We Were Very Young, followed in 1981 by The Catherine Wheel, her collaboration with David Byrne at the Winter Garden. Wheel was broadcast on PBS and its soundtrack released on LP. Her dance piece Fait Accompli was set to music by David Van Tieghem as released on the These Things Happen LP (1984).

In 1985, her staging of Singin' in the Rain played at the Gershwin for 367 performances.^[17]

Tharp premiered her dance musical Movin' Out, set to the music and lyrics of Billy Joel, in Chicago in 2001.^[18] The show opened on Broadway in 2002.^[19] Movin' Out ran for 1,331 performances on Broadway. A national tour opened in January 2004. It received 10 Tony nominations and Tharp won Best Choreographer.^[20]

Tharp opened a new show, The Times They Are a-Changin', to the music of Bob Dylan in 2005 at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. The Times They are A-Changin' set the records for the highest-grossing show and highest ticket sales as of the date of closing (March 2006).^[21] It was also the first show to receive a second extension before the first preview. After its run in California, the New York show ran for 35 previews and 28 performances.

In 2009, Tharp worked with the songs of Frank Sinatra to mount Come Fly with Me, which ran at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and was the best-selling four-week run as of the date of closing in 2009.^[22] Renamed Come Fly Away, the show opened on Broadway in 2010 at the Marquis Theatre and ran for 26 previews and 188 performances. Come Fly Away, was retooled and opened under the title Sinatra: Dance with Me at The Wynn Las Vegas in 2011. Come Fly Away National Tour opened in Atlanta in August 2011.

Film and television

Tharp collaborated with film directors Miloš Forman on Hair (1978), Ragtime (1980) and Amadeus (1983); Taylor Hackford on White Nights (1985); and James Brooks on I'll Do Anything (1994).

Television credits include choreographing Sue's Leg (1976) for the inaugural episode of the PBS program Dance in America; co-producing and directing Making Television Dance (1977), which won the Chicago International Film Festival Award; and directing The Catherine Wheel (1983) for BBC Television. Tharp co-directed the award-winning television special "Baryshnikov by Tharp" in 1984.

Author

Tharp has written four books: an early autobiography, Push Comes to Shove (1992; Bantam Books); The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (2003, Simon & Schuster), translated into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Thai and Japanese; The Collaborative Habit (2009, Simon & Schuster), translated into Thai, Chinese and Korean; and Keep It Moving (2019). She has said that The Creative Habit is about cybernetics, especially in the several Greek-themed creative exercises, such as the Coin Drop; the Coin Drop, as an exercise in extracting ordered meaning from chaos, is derived from the astrological muse Urania, in that random coins falling onto a flat surface can be used to develop pattern analysis skills. The astrological theme is an etymological underpinning of cybernetics' tradition of "guiding a boat" by sighting stellar references according to ancient Greek navigation.

Dances/ballets/theatre

Collaborative work

• Brahms/Handel with Jerome Robbins 6/7/84

• Hair3/12/78
• Ragtime 1980
• Amadeus 9/19/84
• White Nights 12/6/85
• I'll Do Anything1994

Video

• Scrapbook Tape 10/25/82
• The Catherine Wheel3/1/83
• Baryshnikov by Tharp / Push Comes to Shove10/5/84
• Twyla Tharp: Oppositions 4/24/96

Television

• The Bix Pieces (series of productions)1973
• Making Television Dance10/4/77
• Dance Is A Man's Sport Too 1980
• Confessions of a Cornermaker 10/13/81
• Catherine Wheel, PBS 3/1/83
• "The Golden Section" from Dance in America: Miami City Ballet 10/28/11

• Tharp, Twyla (December 1992), Push Comes to Shove, Bantam Books, ISBN 0553073060
• Tharp, Twyla (September 29, 2003), The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9780743235266
• Tharp, Twyla (November 24, 2009), The Collaborative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9781416576518
• Tharp, Twyla (October 29, 2019), Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9781982101305

Tharp has received two Emmy Awards, 19 honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, and numerous grants, including a MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society,^[23] and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

At the 1982 Barnard College commencement ceremonies, Tharp's alma mater awarded her its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction.

She received the Tony Award for Best Choreography and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for Movin' Out. She received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Choreography for Singin' in the Rain.

Tharp was named a Kennedy Center Honoree for 2008.^[24] She was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 1993.^[25]

From 2013 to 2014, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery featured Tharp in the critically acclaimed "Dancing the Dream" exhibition as a pioneer of American modern dance.^[26]

On May 24, 2018, she was awarded the Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.^[2]

Awards by year

Until 1972 Tharp was married to painter Robert Huot,^[27] by whom she has a son, Jesse Huot, who acts as her business manager. She also has a grandson.^[28][29]

• List of dancers

• Siegel, Marcia B. Howling Near Heaven. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2006.

• Official website
• Twyla Tharp at the Internet Broadway Database
• Twyla Tharp at IMDb
• Archival footage of Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs in 1993 at Jacob's Pillow
• Twyla Tharp performing The One Hundreds in 2001 at Jacob's Pillow
• Alvin Ailey performing a ballet by Twyla Tharp
• Twyla Tharp Biography and Interview on American Academy of Achievement
• American Masters (S35 Ep3) Twyla Moves