Usually kids who are talented have the brashness to think they can do anything, but they don't often get the chance to see how close they can come.
Interpretation
Talented kids often believe they can achieve anything, but they lack opportunities to explore their potential fully.
This quote by Twyla Tharp emphasizes the confidence and boldness that often accompany talented youth, suggesting that while they may have the aspiration and self-belief to achieve great things, they frequently miss out on the crucial experiences that allow them to test and understand their capabilities. It reflects on the importance of providing opportunities for young talents to explore their abilities and learn from their efforts.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a presentation about nurturing young talent in schools.
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.
Telling purposeful stories is interactive. It's not a monolog. Ultimately, purposeful tellers must surrender control of their stories, creating a gap for the listener(s) to willingly cross in order to take ownership. Only when the listener(s) own the tellers' story and make it theirs, will they virally market it.
I cannot imagine life without books any more than I can imagine life without breathing.
To have a vision of the cosmic plan, in which every form of life depends on directed movements which have effects beyond their conscious aim, is to understand the child's work and be able to guide it better.
To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.
Nature and education are somewhat similar. The latter transforms man, and in so doing creates a second nature.
Avoid demonizing television, computer games, and new technologies. Electronic media may compete for kids' attention, but we're not going to get kids reading by badmouthing other entertainment. Admit that TV and games can do things books can't.
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