Twyla Tharp
| Twyla Tharp | |
|---|---|
2004
|
|
| Born |
July 1, 1941 Portland, Indiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Choreographer, dancer |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Awards |
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography, 2003 Movin' Out Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography 1985 Baryshnikov by Tharp With American Ballet Theatre Tony Award for Best Choreography 2003 Movin' Out |
| Website | www.TwylaTharp.org |
Twyla Tharp (/ˈtwaɪlə θɑːrp/; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966, she formed her own company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses 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 to be 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 the crossover ballet.
In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre, since which time ABT has held the world premieres of 16 of Tharp's works.
Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, the daughter of Lucille and William Tharp. She was named for Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana as related in her own book The Creative Habit:Learn It and Use It for Life (2007).
As a young child, Tharp spent a few months each year living with her Quaker grandparents on their farm in Indiana. Her mother insisted she take lessons in dance (ballet, tap, jazz, and modern), and piano, drum, viola, violin, shorthand, German, and French. In 1950, Tharp's family—younger sister Twanette, twin brothers Stanley and Stanford, and her parents—moved to Rialto, California. Her parents opened a drive-in movie theater, where Tharp worked. The drive-in was on the corner of Acacia and Foothill, the major east–west artery in Rialto and the path of Route 66. She attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino and studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance. Tharp, a "devoted bookworm", admits that her schedule left little time for a social life. Tharp attended Pomona College in California but later transferred to Barnard College in New York City, where she graduated with a degree in art history in 1963. It was in New York that she studied with Richard Thomas, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. In 1963 Tharp joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
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