Twyla Tharp and Justin Peck: High Priests of Creative Movement

What It Takes®

Academy of Achievement

Film, Politics, Arts, Self-help, Sports, Society & Culture, Success, Literature, Humanitarian, Military, Social Justice, Technology, Podcast, Achievement, Music, Science

4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

These two choreographers have pushed dance in bold new directions and brought it to a much wider audience. Both Twyla Tharp and Justin Peck are classically-trained dancers who have created works for the ballet, for Broadway, and for the movies. Twyla Tharp, who is about to turn 80, is an icon of the dance world. She has spent six decades challenging ideas about how the body can move. In 1973 she created what is considered the first "crossover" piece, combining ballet and modern dance, but she says she is not interested in categories; dance is dance. Justin Peck, at 33, is still in the early days of his career, but he is already choreographer-in-residence at the New York City Ballet and choreographer for the new film version of "West Side Story," directed by Steven Spielberg (coming out in December, 2021). They both talk here about how their childhoods shaped their intense passion for movement and music, and they both describe beautifully how it feels when they are dancing. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2021

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello again, it's Alice.
0:02.0	Do you know where the expression pushing the envelope comes from?
0:10.0	It does not refer to the thing you stick a note in and take to the mailbox.
0:15.0	Where would you be pushing one of those and why?
0:18.0	No, the expression actually comes from aeronautics,
0:22.0	where an envelope refers to a set of performance limits, things like
0:27.0	the maximum speed of a plane or the maximum weight or altitude that the aircraft has been built to withstand, but no more.
0:36.4	Pushing that envelope makes a lot more sense.
0:40.5	So why am I starting the episode with this little language lesson?
0:44.0	Well, when I tell you that today we have two envelope pushers,
0:49.0	I'm not just tossing off a cliche.
0:51.0	I want you to think about space and movement and the physical boundaries
0:56.9	that are featured guests have stretched to the limits and then gone beyond.
1:02.3	I often say the only thing I fear more than change is no change,
1:06.0	that the business of being static makes me nuts.
1:10.0	Twyla Tharp is one of the best known choreographers and dancers in, well ever, the person who tore down the walls between ballet and modern dance and Broadway and movies, and is still at it six decades later
1:25.0	as she turns 80 on July 1st.
1:28.0	I have to be feeling that each thing that I've learned
1:32.0	I can push to another point next time.
1:35.1	I'm not very good with repetition.
1:38.0	I would rather not work than feel that repetition is the order of the day.
1:43.0	And consequently, I think that the challenge is always
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Academy of Achievement, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Academy of Achievement and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.