If you only do what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won't fail. You'll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that's failure by erosion
Interpretation
Sticking to what you know can lead to stagnation rather than growth.
Twyla Tharp's quote emphasizes the importance of stepping outside one's comfort zone. While excelling at what you already know can lead to a sense of security, it may ultimately result in a lack of innovation and engagement, creating a slow decline in the quality of your work, which she describes as failure by erosion.
In practice
A motivational speaker might use this quote to encourage a room full of professionals to pursue new skills.
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.
Everybody on a championship team doesn't get publicity, but everyone can say he's a champion.
It is not enough to be a hardworking person. Equally important is the job you are working at.
I never had a plan. I have to say, I'm very shocked when people start a company and say, 'In five years I want to launch a perfume, or in 10 years I want to have this.' How can you know?
It's the best thing that can happen to a player. Being able to play at the World Cup is already the best, but then to raise the trophy to the sky is a dream.
Our net worth is ultimately defined not by dollars but rather by how well we serve others.
My songs are the door to every dream I've ever had and every success I've ever achieved.
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