{"id":1712,"date":"2012-11-09T03:00:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2014-02-09T15:10:10","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T20:10:10","slug":"run-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/2012\/11\/09\/run-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Run away."},"content":{"rendered":"

“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

~ Twyla Tharp<\/p>\n

Do y’all know Twyla Tharp<\/a>?\u00a0 I find it hard to believe you’ve never heard the name\u2014and once heard, it’s likely to be remembered, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

But, not everybody pays attention to certain things, so it’s possible that you don’t know that Ms. Tharp has been one of our most eminent choreographers for over 40 years.\u00a0 She has studied with the greats of Modern Dance, had her own dance company, worked with the American Ballet Theatre, created Broadway shows.<\/p>\n

One of those careers of stunning achievement.<\/p>\n

When that happens, it’s really great when the achiever lets you in on some of the secrets.<\/p>\n

So, here’s something I found a few years ago that I re-read from time to time:<\/p>\n

The Creative Habit:\u00a0 Learn it and Use it for Life<\/a>
\nby\u2014you guessed it!\u2014Twyla Tharp<\/p>\n

It sits on my shelves near my copy of The Artist’s Way<\/em> with which it shares\u00a0 some common ground.\u00a0 Not quite as much of a workbook, maybe, The Creative Habit<\/em> reinforces the idea that creativity is something you can work toward.<\/p>\n

There are useful exercises and a strong, practical approach, an understanding that creative work is<\/em> work. I get the sense that Ms. Tharp agrees with Pablo Picasso:\u00a0 Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.<\/em><\/p>\n

I know that this book is a good one for me to go to when I’m just floundering around, not doing anything.\u00a0 At the very least, it reminds me that doing something<\/em> is better than doing nothing.\u00a0 It gives me practical tips on figuring out what to do and how to shape it.\u00a0 At the best, it inspires me to keep working.<\/p>\n

Who could ask for anything more?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” ~ Twyla Tharp Do y’all know Twyla Tharp?\u00a0 I find it hard to believe you’ve never heard the name\u2014and once heard, it’s likely to be remembered, isn’t it? But, not everybody pays attention to certain things, so it’s possible that you don’t know that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[48,76,233],"class_list":["post-1712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity","tag-friday-finds","tag-books","tag-twyla-tharp"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1712"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3195,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions\/3195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}