Twyla Moves

American Masters and legendary dancer, director, and choreographer Twyla Tharp provide an inside look at the way she approaches her work. Tune in or stream Twyla Moves on American Masters starting Fri, Mar 26 at 9/8c.

Twyla Moves explores the life of legendary dancer, director and choreographer Twyla Tharp. Jumping from historical footage to the present day, the film traces her influential career while providing an intimate look at her famously rigorous creative process.

Choreographer Twyla Tharp comes up with new dance ideas not by writing them down but by dancing them out first herself. Her process, as she shows here, is very physical.

Archival footage shows one of Twyla Tharp's dances in Central Park amongst football games, bicyclists, police on horseback, and picnickers. The location made it impossible to have a separation between audience members and performers. And Tharp learned some valuable things about choreography and distance from the experience.

In 1981, Twyla Tharp commissioned David Byrne of the Talking Heads to write music for a Broadway show featuring Tharp's modern choreography. Not only did Tharp push the well-trained dancers to their limits, she pushed David Byrne, he says, more than anyone had before.

In the 1970's, choreographer Twyla Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov collaborated, resulting in a dance that was "totally unexpected" for the classically trained ballet star from Russia. Archival footage shows Baryshnikov in "Push," which starts in a modern "slouch" style and continues with "all he's got." "It can only have happened between the two of us at that moment in time," Tharp recalls.

When choreographer Twyla Tharp arrived at Barnard College she was immediately disappointed with their dance offerings. So she directed her own dance studies using New York City as her classroom. In addition, a second concentration the college turned out to be "very valuable" for Tharp's career.

Choreographer Twyla Tharp choreographed a new dance specifically for Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic while most people were advised to stay at home. Tharp, along with dancers Misty Copeland and Herman Cornejo discovered an unexpected technical challenge in trying to communicate virtually that made this project even more difficult.

Choreographed by Twyla Tharp in 1971 'Eight Jelly Rolls' has become a canonical work in American dance history. The style exhibited in the performance combines elements from classical ballet, jazz, tap, athletics, hip-hop, and also includes music by Jelly Roll Morton.