K.L. Tharp Quotes

The rewards of dancing are very different from choreographing.

I never studied with Balanchine, but his work was very important to me.

I don't mean this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I don't really think of pop art and serious art as being that far apart.

I was privileged to be able to study a year with Martha Graham, the last year she was teaching.

I have a sort of tactility about music. I go into record stores and just run my fingers over it, the spines.

In order to be creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative.

I think Tolstoy had an unbelievably complicated relationship with women.

I was interested in becoming a show dancer, for which I tried, but I'm not tall enough.

Art is running away without ever leaving home.

I was fortunate to love men, so I could put them on stage and make roles for them, and move through their bodies in a way that they enjoy doing...

In the end all collaborations are love stories.

There really is nothing I ever had access to that I didn't appreciate.

Just when you arrive at the apex of your skills, it's time to retire. But as it turned out, I decided that since it was the thing that I felt I did best, I owed it to all that be to pursue it.

Our guys have a vision of something bigger.

This is not a pleasant route for many young people to consider. You have to be either hopelessly passionate, or very stupid.

Nobody likes to see that which they've invested in disappear from the face of the earth before they've even died. This is not cool. We can now see what the landmarks, in fact are.

In the not-for-profit world, there can be wastefulness because there's not the desperate urgency of when you're on a clock.

I've survived inattention. I hope to God I survive attention.

Alone is a fact, a condition where no one else is around. Lonely is how you feel about that.

Reading is your first line of defense against an empty head.

You have to stop thinking that way. Don't worry about who has the power in the relationship all the time. If you make her happy, then that's the biggest power you can have.

You don’t get lucky without preparation, and there’s no sense in being prepared if you’re not open to the possibility of a glorious accident.

Her voice is so soft. If it were a food item, it’d be a marshmallow.

We’re toasting the chlorophyll rising in our bodies, catching the energy from the universe. Nobody’s ever been young like we are right at this moment.

When you’re with a girl, it’s always best to act like you’re an old hand at everything—not to impress her, but just to make sure she feels safe.

who cares about all the problems and barriers, nothing matters but the Spectacular Now.

The best thing about now, is that there's another one tomorrow.

Are you sure you have enough sweetener in that? I could offer to conscript the rest of the cubes from the galley for you.

That’s what the prom is—St. Patrick’s Day for the young.

Without passion, all the skill in world won't lift you above your craft

Tammaru’s office looked like NASA’s control room designed by Donald Trump.

Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.

This is the strange thing: Dancers don't age.

People often say to me, 'I don't know anything about dance.' I say, 'Stop. You got up this morning, and you're walking. You are an expert.'

I always tell students that you've got to be practical. You do not need a dream. You need a purpose, something you can wake up to in the morning when the dream is dissipated.

What we want from modern dance is courage and audacity.

'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.