Twyla Tharp

At Pomona College she met Peter Young who eventually became a painter. The couple got married in 1962. This marriage however did not last long and ended in a divorce.

She later on married Bob Huot, an artist. The couple had one son, Jesse, who was born in 1971. This marriage too ended in a divorce.

She was born on July 1, 1941 as the eldest daughter of Lucille and William Tharp. She has one younger sister and two brothers.

Her mother was a piano teacher who started teaching music to Twyla when the little girl was eighteen months old. Her mother had big dreams for her daughter and ensured that she also learnt to play violin and drums. She was also taught German and French.

Her parents operated a drive-in theater and she worked there from the time she was eight.

She was an eager learner and received dance lessons in different forms of the art and studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance where she studied with the Mraz sisters. In addition to her interest in music and dance, she also loved to read books in her spare time.

She enrolled at Pomona College in California but transferred to Barnard College in New York City at midterm of her sophomore year. She graduated with a degree in Art History in 1963.

In 1963, Tharp joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Married to Peter Young by that time, she made her professional debut billed as Twyla Young.

She choreographed her first dance, ‘Tank Dive’ which was presented at Hunter College a couple of years later in 1965. Her love for dance spurred her to open her own company, Twyla Tharp Dance, in 1966.

In 1970, she choreographed a piece called ‘The Fugue’ which displayed her creativity and innovation. She set up the floor with microphones and the four performers danced to the percussive beats of their own feet on the floor.

She choreographed ‘Eight Jelly Rolls’ to music by Jelly Roll Morton in 1971. The same year she also choreographed ‘The Bix Pieces’ to music by Bix Beiderbecke.

She rose to nation wide acclaim in the 1970s with her pieces like ‘Deuce Coupe’ (1973), ‘Push Comes to Shove’ (1976), and ‘Baker’s Dozen’ (1979). Her unique style of combining dance forms made her a very popular choreographer.

She became the proud recipient of The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for Baryshnikov by Tharp With American Ballet Theatre in 1985.

Twyla Tharp, along with Jennifer Tipton, was awarded The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for their production, ‘In the Upper Room’ in 1991.

She was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 1993

She won the Tony award for Choreography for the musical ‘Movin’ Out’ in 2003.

She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.