Leonard Lopate at Large: Twyla Tharp

One of the most important dancers and choreographers of the last century, Twyla Tharp has been pushing modern dance forward for more than 60 years. With her latest show, “Minimalism and Me,” currently in the midst of a three-week run at the Joyce Theater, Twyla revisits the creation of her influential early works and their relationship to the minimalist art movement of that era. Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 160 works: 129 dances, 12 television specials, 6 Hollywood films, 4 full-length ballets, 4 Broadway shows, and 2 figure skating routines. Tharp has received 1 Tony Award, 2 Emmy Awards, 19 honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the National Medal of the Arts (2004), the Jerome Robbins Prize (2008), and a Kennedy Center Honor (2008). Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Tharp published her autobiography, Push Comes to Shove (1992), as well as two instructional books, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life (2003) and The Collaborative Habit:  Life Lessons for Working Together(2009). Tharp continues to create.