Twyla Tharp
I consoled myself by listening to a radio interview Tharp did with Krys Boyd on KERA. You can hear the interview and read a thoughtful review of the Nasher event here. Boyd does a good job of not being steamrolled by Tharp but I wish she would have delved a little deeper after some responses rather than just going to the next prepared question. I love Tharp’s pointy-elbows attitude, she makes no attempt to cover her first-impulse sarcasm. I also appreciate the comfort with ambiguity, first stating that “action doesn’t lie”, like words do, and then a minute later admitting that that was a lie itself.
Highlights of the interview come around minute 10, talking about risk and art-making: “If what I’m working on is something I already know how to do, the only reason I’m doing it is because somebody is paying me a lot of money.” Minute 19, as Boyd asks an insensitive (to a dancer) question about aging and Tharp gives a quick smackdown: “Is there a grieving process? Well, what does it sound like? (a mild yes in response) Well, there you go!” Around minute 34, Tharp talks about not being interested in getting to an arrival point, because that means a kind of stasis, and stasis means you’ve stopped moving. “A certain kind of success is not really desirable.” Lastly in my personal highlights, Tharp is saying that she’s never formally studied whirling like the dervishes, but she could “probably rotate around the room longer than most people you would run into on the street.” Probably true!
