1. Twyla Tharp is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City.
30 Facts About Twyla Tharp
1. 2.
From 1971 to 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance toured extensively around the world, performing original works.
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In 1973 Tharp choreographed Deuce Coupe to the music of The Beach Boys for the Joffrey Ballet.
4.
On May 24,2018, Twyla Tharp was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.
5.
Twyla Tharp was named for Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair.
6.
Twyla Tharp would attend Quaker services three times a week.
7.
Twyla Tharp's mother insisted she take lessons in dance, various musical instruments, shorthand, German and French.
8.
Twyla Tharp attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino, studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance, and studied ballet with Beatrice Collenette.
9.
Twyla Tharp attended Pomona College, but transferred to Barnard College after being caught making out with her boyfriend and threatened with expulsion.
10.
Twyla Tharp graduated from Barnard with a degree in art history in 1963.
11.
From 1971 to 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance toured extensively around the world, performing original works.
12.
In 1973, Twyla Tharp choreographed Deuce Coupe to the music of The Beach Boys for the Joffrey Ballet.
13.
In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre, since which time ABT has premiered 16 of Tharp's works.
14.
Twyla 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.
15.
Twyla Tharp created the dance roadshow Cutting Up with Baryshnikov, which went on to tour and appeared in 28 cities over two months.
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In 2000, Twyla Tharp Dance regrouped with entirely new dancers.
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In 2012, Twyla Tharp created the full-length ballet The Princess and the Goblin, based on George MacDonald's story The Princess and the Goblin.
18.
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.
19.
Twyla Tharp premiered her dance musical Movin' Out, set to the music and lyrics of Billy Joel, in Chicago in 2001.
20.
In 2009, Twyla 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.
21.
Twyla Tharp collaborated with film directors Milos Forman on Hair, Ragtime and Amadeus ; Taylor Hackford on White Nights ; and James Brooks on I'll Do Anything.
22.
Twyla Tharp co-directed the award-winning television special "Baryshnikov by Twyla Tharp" in 1984.
23.
Twyla Tharp has written four books: an early autobiography, Push Comes to Shove ; The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, translated into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Thai and Japanese; The Collaborative Habit, translated into Thai, Chinese and Korean; and Keep It Moving.
24.
Twyla Tharp 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.
25.
Twyla 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.
26.
Twyla Tharp is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
27.
Twyla Tharp received the Tony Award for Best Choreography and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for Movin' Out.
28.
Twyla Tharp received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Choreography for Singin' in the Rain.
29.
Twyla Tharp was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 1993.
30.
Until 1972 Twyla Tharp was married to painter Robert Huot, by whom she has a son, Jesse Huot, who acts as her business manager.