The content and thematic materials of dance is, of itself, like boxing. You play tennis and baseball. But boxing is not a sport you play: you stand up and do it.
Interpretation
Dance, like boxing, requires engagement and presence rather than just playfulness.
In this quote, Twyla Tharp draws a parallel between dance and boxing, highlighting that both art forms require a profound level of engagement and commitment. Unlike traditional sports that may be experienced in a playful manner, dance, similar to boxing, demands a fully present and active participation, emphasizing the deeper emotional and physical investment involved in the art of movement.
In practice
During a dance workshop, the instructor referenced this quote to emphasize the seriousness of engaging with the art form.
Do I watch dancers as people? Yes, absolutely. Do I watch really good dancers for specifically who they are? Absolutely, because how they move best and how they look best is going to be most familiar to them, and not necessarily to me.
I am still pushing the edge of what my body can do.
No one is born with skill. It is developed through exercise, through repetition, through a blend of learning and reflection that's both painstaking and rewarding. And it takes time.
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.
I grew up in a drive-in theater, from the time I was 8, working in a snack bar watching four features every week. It was silent theater in the sense that this was a drive-in, which meant that I often saw the films going with no sound. But I learned to tell stories through action.
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft.
A scientist worthy of his name, about all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist; his pleasure is as great and of the same nature.
There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.
Then you develop a kind of critical sense about what you write. You can tell when something is good, but it would be just as good in somebody else's work too. You want to hold out for those things only you can say.
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.... Writing is seduction. Good talk is part of seduction.
Other dances are like languages, like French or Spanish, but my steps are slang, and slang is always changing.
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