Twyla Tharp

Her work often uses classical, 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 the first "crossover ballet", a mix of ballet and modern dance. Later she choreographed Push Comes to Shove (1976), which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov and is now thought to be the best example of crossover ballet. On May 24, 2018, Tharp was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.

Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, the daughter of William Tharp and Lecile (Confer) Tharp. She was named for Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair. As a child, Tharp spent a few months each year living with her Quaker grandparents on their farm in Indiana. Tharp's mother insisted she take lessons in dance, various musical instruments, shorthand, German and French. In 1950, Tharp's family—younger sister Twanette, twin brothers Stanley and Stanford, and her parents—moved to Rialto, California. William and Lecile operated Tharp Motors and Tharp Autos in Rialto. They also opened a drive-in theater, where Tharp worked. She attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino, studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance, and studied ballet with Beatrice Collenette. A "devoted bookworm", Tharp has said her schedule left little time for a social life. She attended Pomona College, but transferred to Barnard College after being caught making out with her boyfriend and threatened with expulsion. She graduated from Barnard with a degree in art history in 1963. In New York City, she studied with Richard Thomas, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. In 1963, Tharp joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

In 1965, Tharp choreographed her first dance, Tank Dive, and formed her own company, Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often utilizes 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 the first crossover ballet. Later, she choreographed Push Comes to Shove (1976) for American Ballet Theatre and Mikhail Baryshnikov; the work has been described as a groundbreaking crossover ballet integrating classical ballet and modern dance. In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre, since which time ABT has premiered 16 of Tharp's works. In 2010 it had 20 of her works in its repertory. Tharp has since choreographed dances for Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance and Martha Graham Dance Company. She also created the dance roadshow Cutting Up (1992) with Baryshnikov, which went on to tour and appeared in 28 cities over two months. In 1995, Twyla Tharp held auditions globally to find new talent, forming what would become the three-year touring project Tharp! During this time, she set over six new works on the troupe, including Heroes featuring music by Philip Glass, Diabelli to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Roy’s Joys set to the music of Roy Eldridge, and Sweet Fields, set to 19th century Shaker hymns. In 1998, her piece Yamayá, infused with the sounds of the Buena Vista Social Club, premiered at Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University. After completing its third year of touring internationally, Tharp! was discontinued at the end of 1998. Several of its members went on to prominence in the dance world, including principals at the Royal Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as launching the career of notable choreographer Jessica Lang, who made her professional debut in Tharp! after being recruited directly out of the Juilliard School. In 2000, Twyla Tharp Dance regrouped with entirely new dancers. This company also performed around the world, and with it Tharp developed the material that became Movin' Out, an award-winning Broadway musical featuring the songs of Billy Joel and starring many of the dancers in the company. In 2012, Tharp created the full-length ballet The Princess and the Goblin, based on George MacDonald's story The Princess and the Goblin. It is her first ballet to include children, and was co-commissioned by Atlanta Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet and performed by both companies. Tharp was the first Artist in Residency (A.I.R.) at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. During this time she created and premiered Waiting At The Station, a work with music by R&B artist Allen Toussaint and sets and costumes by longtime collaborator Santo Loquasto.

In 1980, Tharp's work first appeared on Broadway with Twyla Tharp Dance performing When We Were Very Young, followed in 1981 by The Catherine Wheel, her collaboration with David Byrne at the Winter Garden. Wheel was broadcast on PBS and its soundtrack released on LP. Her dance piece Fait Accompli was set to music by David Van Tieghem as released on the These Things Happen LP (1984). In 1985, her staging of Singin' in the Rain played at the Gershwin for 367 performances. Tharp premiered her dance musical Movin' Out, set to the music and lyrics of Billy Joel, in Chicago in 2001. The show opened on Broadway in 2002. Movin' Out ran for 1,331 performances on Broadway. A national tour opened in January 2004. It received 10 Tony nominations and Tharp won Best Choreographer. Tharp opened a new show, The Times They Are a-Changin', to the music of Bob Dylan in 2005 at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. The Times They are A-Changin' set the records for the highest-grossing show and highest ticket sales as of the date of closing (March 2006). It was also the first show to receive a second extension before the first preview. After its run in California, the New York show ran for 35 previews and 28 performances. In 2009, Tharp worked with the songs of Frank Sinatra to mount Come Fly with Me, which ran at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and was the best-selling four-week run as of the date of closing in 2009. Renamed Come Fly Away, the show opened on Broadway in 2010 at the Marquis Theatre and ran for 26 previews and 188 performances. Come Fly Away, was retooled and opened under the title Sinatra: Dance with Me at The Wynn Las Vegas in 2011. Come Fly Away National Tour opened in Atlanta in August 2011.

Tharp has written four books: an early autobiography, Push Comes to Shove (1992; Bantam Books); The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (2003, Simon & Schuster), translated into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Thai and Japanese; The Collaborative Habit (2009, Simon & Schuster), translated into Thai, Chinese and Korean; and Keep It Moving (2019). She has said that The Creative Habit is about cybernetics, especially in the several Greek-themed creative exercises, such as the Coin Drop; the Coin Drop, as an exercise in extracting ordered meaning from chaos, is derived from the astrological muse Urania, in that random coins falling onto a flat surface can be used to develop pattern analysis skills. The astrological theme is an etymological underpinning of cybernetics' tradition of "guiding a boat" by sighting stellar references according to ancient Greek navigation.

Brahms/Handel with Jerome Robbins 6/7/84 In the Upper Room with Philip Glass 1986

Hair 3/12/78 Ragtime 1980 Amadeus 9/19/84 White Nights 12/6/85 I'll Do Anything 1994

Scrapbook Tape 10/25/82 The Catherine Wheel 3/1/83 Baryshnikov by Tharp / Push Comes to Shove 10/5/84 Twyla Tharp: Oppositions 4/24/96

The Bix Pieces (series of productions) 1973 Making Television Dance 10/4/77 Dance Is A Man's Sport Too 1980 Confessions of a Cornermaker 10/13/81 Catherine Wheel, PBS 3/1/83 "The Golden Section" from Dance in America: Miami City Ballet 10/28/11

Until 1972 Tharp was married to painter Robert Huot, by whom she has a son, Jesse Huot, who acts as her business manager. She also has a grandson.

Siegel, Marcia B (2006). Howling Near Heaven. New York: St. Martin's Press. Tharp, Twyla (1992). Push Comes to Shove: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam. ISBN 978-0553073065.