The ultimate point of a piece for me is that it drives the next one. Does it open new doors? That's the success of a piece.
Interpretation
The success of a creative work lies in its ability to inspire future creations.
Twyla Tharp emphasizes that the true measure of success for an artistic piece is not just its immediate impact but its potential to inspire and lead to new ideas and works. A successful piece should act as a catalyst that opens up new possibilities and avenues for exploration in art and creativity.
In practice
During a discussion on a recent art exhibition, I shared this quote to illustrate how artists build upon each other's work.
Do I watch dancers as people? Yes, absolutely. Do I watch really good dancers for specifically who they are? Absolutely, because how they move best and how they look best is going to be most familiar to them, and not necessarily to me.
I am still pushing the edge of what my body can do.
No one is born with skill. It is developed through exercise, through repetition, through a blend of learning and reflection that's both painstaking and rewarding. And it takes time.
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.
I grew up in a drive-in theater, from the time I was 8, working in a snack bar watching four features every week. It was silent theater in the sense that this was a drive-in, which meant that I often saw the films going with no sound. But I learned to tell stories through action.
Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft.
The moment a man begins to talk about technique that's proof that he is fresh out of ideas.
Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.
Poems are rough notations for the music we are.
Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loved anything that moved up there and I didn't miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.
β¦I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes theyβre lies of character. Sometimes they are lies of writing the most beautiful sentence in the world that has nothing to do with the story.
There is no reason why a serious film, one about life, can't be enjoyable, maybe even fun. Emotions can be very entertaining, you know. I try to use them generously in my films.
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