The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (Tharp, 2003)

By Cedric's Mom (San Diego, CA USA)

Twyla Tharp's new book, The Creative Habit, is

1. Practical and straightforward, two attributes to be expected from a dancer. Dancers wrestle daily with the obstinacies of the flesh. It's not about smoke and mirrors. It's about hard work and commitment, the "habit" of showing up to do the work and developing one's creativity in the process.
2. Literary and literate. Tharp quotes the Bible, Dostoyevsky, Mozart, and many other greats of the Western Canon to illustrate her points and show that the struggle to be creative is nothing new and that great artists have fought the same battles as anyone who strives to create.
3. Accessible. There's no mystery or theory of genius here other than the habit of work. Tharp constantly makes the point that we have to establish habits for our creative pursuits or the work will not get done and the creativity will have no place to manifest.
4. Myth Busting. Mozart didn't get his musical genius from On High; in fact, he worked his fingers into early deformity from practicing so much. Not that Tharp proposes hurting oneself in the creative quest. She's merely making the point that practice is supreme, not sitting around waiting for the muse to make an appearance. Her choice of Mozart is historical, but I've heard similar about Michael Jordan. When other ball players were out doing whatever, Jordan was on the court practicing his shots.
5. Encouraging. One of America's greatest choreographers shares her demons with us, so we know our fears aren't "special," and no, they won't go away with success, so stop with the "if only." Wrestling demons is just part of the process; it comes with the territory.

I love the layout of this book: an airy, elegant use of color, font, and white space, which parallels the visual of her stage work. Tharp is very generous in sharing details of her work regimen and her methods for getting things done. Obviously it works for her. The good news is that because her methods are so practical, they can work for others, too.

Tharp uses photos very sparingly in this book, so if you're looking for a photo history of her career or her company, this isn't the book. She focuses on the Creative Habit and she doesn't make herself or her work the center of the story; she draws on the experience and history of many well-known artistic giants and a few lesser known artists as well.

If you want to create or you're interested in the creative process, don't wait for the paperback. I've seen many books on creativity, but this is by far the most practical and accessible one I've read. Tharp knows that it takes hard work and good habits to create something tangible, and she doesn't waste our precious time on mystical mumbo jumbo or some magical "way" of the artist. It's the work, folks.

p.7 Creativity is not just for artists... it's for engineers trying to solve a problem... I will keep stressing the point about creativity being augmented by routine and habit. Get used to it... If it isn't obvious already, I come down on the side of hard work... Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits.

p.28 When you have selected the environment that works for you, developed the start-up ritual that impels you forward every day, faced down your fears, and put your distractions in their proper place, you have cleared the first hurdle. You have begun to prepare to begin.

p.99-100 To generate ideas, I had to move. It's the same if you're a painter: You can't imagine the work, you can only generate ideas when you put pencil to paper, brush to canvas-when you actually do something physical.

Here's how I learned to improvise: I played some music in the studio and I started to move. It sounds obvious, but I wonder how many people, whatever their medium, appreciate the gift of improvisation.

p.101 The Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn says that ideas can be acted upon in four ways. First, you must generate the idea, usually from memory or experience or activity. Then you have to retain it-that is, hold it steady in your mind and keep it from disappearing. Then you have to inspect it-study it and make inferences about it. Finally, you have to be able to transform it-alter it in some way to suit your higher purposes.

p.101 There are as many ways to scratch for ideas as there are ideas: The most common is reading.

p.103 You cannot stop with one idea. You don't really have a workable idea until you combine two ideas. It's a simple dynamic.

p.123 The great military strategists from Sun-tzu to Clausewitz have advised that you can plan only so far into the battle; you have to save lots of room for your adversary's contribution. Let's take a look at some of the problems that can derail your well-laid plans.

p.134 For one day, be completely contrary, to the point of orneriness and belligerence, with anything and everything you do. Turn everything upside down.

p.134 When you set up to work, pick a fight with your rituals. Ask yourself why you need this ritual, what solace and protection does it bring, what state of mind does it create, what good does it produce. Questioning what's gone unquestioned gets the brain humming... Sometimes the most creative thing you can do in business is to pick a fight with entrenched systems and hierarchies, if only to get people questioning the wisdom of doing things the same old way.

p.151 Dancing, perhaps more than any other art form, has an energizing effect on people.

p.177 The more you know, the better you can imagine.

p.207 Knowing when to stop is almost as critical as knowing how to start.

p.214 It's vital to be able to forget the pain of failure while retaining the lessons from it.

p.217 Constant reminders of the things that worked inhibit us from trying something bold and new. We lose sight of the fact that we weren't searching for a formula when we first did something great; we were in unexplored territory, following our instincts and passions wherever they might lead us.

p.222 If you don't have a broad base of skills, you're limiting the number of problems you can solve when trouble hits.

p.224 I didn't need the perfect solution to every problem, but I did need a workable solution - a lot of them.

p.228 He stacked everything in his favor.

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