Born on July 1st, 1941 in Portland, Indiana, Twyla Tharp was born as the daughter of

Lecile and William Tharp. Her midwestern origin was also enriched by the fact that both
sides of her grandparents were born as quakers and farmers. Her interesting name
came from a pageant queen Princess of the eighty-ninth Annual Muncie Fair named
Twila Thornburg. She grew up as the oldest of four children. She had two brothers,
who were twins, and a sister. From a very early age, just after Twyla began to start to
speak, her mother introduced her to art. Lecile, being a piano teacher, started giving
Twyla lessons when she was about one and a half years old.
When Twyla was eight, she began her dance training after her family moved to
Rialto, California, where her father built a house complete with a large dance studio with
all of the facilities needed for tap, acrobatics, ballet, and even matador routines. Twylas
life quickly began to become very scheduled out with her beginning dance lessons at
the Vera Lynn School of Dance in San Bernardino with the Mraz sisters. To add on to a
busy schedule she also learned several instruments, such as violin, piano, and drums.
She began studying ballet when she was twelve.
Moving into her later years in young adulthood, Twyla continued her dance
training with Wilson Morelli and John Butler at Pomona College near Los Angeles,
California, but quickly transferred to Barnard College in New York City where she
studied Art History. While in New York, Twyla studied ballet with Igor Schwezoff at the
American Ballet Theatre, then with Richard Thomas and wife Barbara Fallis. She
studied dance closely while still attaining her degree in art history, seeing many dance
concerts and studying with the great Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and the
creator of the Luigi technique, Eugene Louis Facciuto.
Twyla Tharp graduated from Barnard College with a degree in Art History in
1963. Two years later, in 1965, she founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance at
23 years old. To quote her person bio on her website, Her dances are known for
creativity, wit and precision coupled with a streetwise nonchalance. Her style within her
company combines many different types of movement, like jazz, ballet, and modern
dance. The choreography she put into the world used music that spanned many genres
like classical, jazz, and even pop music. Though the company struggled at first, the
Twyla Tharp Dance Company made it into the dance world with its work in the early
1970s, with works like Time Goes By (1973); Dance Coupe (1973) which was
choreographed for the Joffrey Ballet and has been noted to be considered the crossover
ballet; and All About Eggs (1974). In the later 70s, Tharp choreographed Push Comes
to Shove (1976) which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov which is one of the best examples
of a crossover ballet today.

In 1980, Tharp made her Broadway debut as choreographer with We Were Very
Young. Later the next year, she collaborated with musician David Byrne of The Talking
Heads on The Catherine Wheel (1981) onstage. Her other stage work includes Singin
in the Rain (1985), Movin Out (2002) set to the songs of Billy Joel, The Times They Are
a-Changin (2005) set to the songs of Bob Dylan, and Come Fly With Me (later Come
Fly Away) (2009). Her work in Movin Out earned her her first Tony Award for Best
Choreographer as well as nine other nominations. Along with her stage contributions,
Tharp has worked on films such as Hair (1978), Ragtime (1981) which was based on
the 1975 novel by the same name, and Amadeus (1984).
Twyla Tharps work has won her much praise within the dance world as well as
the educational world. Since 1969, Tharp has received some type of award every year
(excluding 1994 and 1995), including 19 honorary doctorates, one Tony Award, and two
Emmy Awards for Baryshnikov by Tharp. She was also an honoree at the 2008
Kennedy Center Honors alongside Morgan Freeman, Barbra Streisand, George Jones,
Pete Townshend, and Roger Daltrey.