I Took It As It Came And

I Think Twyla [tharp] Has A Lot To Say. The Great Thing About Twyla Is That She Continues To Explore.

The Only Time I Feel Pressured Is When Some Woman's Husband Comes Over And Says, "will You Go Ask My Wife To Dance? She's A Great Dancer And Would Just Love To Dance With You."suddenly There's A Crowd Of People Standing Around Us And They Expect That They're About To See Fred And Ginger. Here The Woman And I Have Just Met, And These People Think That It's Showtime. That Is The Only Time I Think It Is Really Embarrassing.

Things Danced On The Screen Do Not Look The Way They Do On The Stage. On The Stage, Dancing Is Three-dimensional, But A Motion Picture Is Two-dimensional.

In The 1930s There Was This Tendency In Hollywood To Portray Everyone As Rich. Even If They Were Doing A Poor Man's Dance, They Were All So Nicely Clothed, Gowned, Coiffured. That's Why I Decided To Wear White Socks, Loafers, T-shirts, And Blue Jeans. I Had A Sociopolitical Context In Front Of Me: I Was A Child Of The Depression Who Danced In A Way That Would Represent The Common Man.

It Fit Into My Scheme Of Things For Many Reasons. At The Time It Was True That Male Dancers Were Looked Down Upon, And It Was True That A Lot Of The Male Dancers Were Effeminate. But What I Was Really Trying To Do Was Develop Something That Would Be American.