Master the Creative Process | Twyla Tharp

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  The 'spine' of a work is its center of focus

  Tharp defines spine as focus and concentration, the center that coordinates left and right, top and bottom. Until you know where you are grounded, you are 'at sea'. Huberman likens it to a scientific paper having one main conclusion despite 50 interesting threads. Tharp points to Agatha Christie and John le Carré, who know the single conclusion from the start and whose craft lies in keeping the reader away from it for as long as possible.

• 02

  Start with intention: why are you doing this?

  She frames the creator–audience question as a spectrum from total manipulation of the audience to total disregard for it, and admits she does both depending on whom she works for. A signed contract to deliver a result is 'a sacred bond'; unpaid work frees you to pursue what you think is important. She notes artists could live cheaply in the 1960s, which shaped how freely they worked.

• 03

  The more you know, the bigger the challenge

  Tharp rejects the idea that your best work comes early, before feedback. Her example is Beethoven: he dismissed the Diabelli theme as too simple when young, returned to it about 15 years later, recognized that its simplicity was useful, and produced arguably the greatest set of keyboard variations ever written. With accomplishment come more options, so selectivity becomes essential. Early in her career she went to see everything; now she sees almost nothing, by choice.

• 04

  Success is harder to follow than failure

  After a two-year 60th-anniversary tour that was 'unfortunately very successful', Tharp faced the question 'you've done it all, now what?'. She says you cannot ask others for the answer; you have to reroute without abandoning who you are.

• 05

  In the studio there is no good or bad, only useful

  Echoing her book's advice to fail often in private, Tharp says that while working you cannot tell whether something is a failure, only whether it is exciting and generates the next question. A set schedule, including what time people arrive and what shoes to bring, makes choices for you; 'whatever' is not her favorite word. Testing ideas in real time and space 'eliminates a lot of fantasy very quickly'.

• 06

  Work when you don't want to, or you won't be able to when you do

  Asked about her years of 5 a.m. two-hour gym sessions followed by three hard-boiled eggs, Tharp says it was never a ritual and she never enjoyed it. You need a grounded instrument before you can challenge it. She traces her discipline to a mother who scheduled practice for everything and to Quaker grandparents' farms in Amish country without electricity or phones, where 'you work or you don't eat'.

• 07

  Ritual, practice and habit are different

  In Tharp's terms, ritual is done for a purpose, to accomplish an end or a kind of control. Practice is consistent ongoing activity aimed at getting the job done, whichever way works. Habit is dangerous because it must be done the same way every time. She works seven days a week ('What's a weekend?') and says honors like a Harvard honorary degree matter more to the people giving them.

• 08

  Commitment is shown by desire, not suitability

  Tharp auditions dancers but screens mainly for who wants to work with her and will 'go through the wall' when needed. She objects that dancers' pay is 'not even on the highway to the ball game' compared with athletes, and tells would-be dancers to choose something else if they possibly can, noting that the best performers often have the worst nerves.