Twyla Tharp's Creativity Message

I've just started reading The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp, well-known choreographer and artist. She has a line in there that I won't soon forget - "Filling this empty space constitutes my identity.", meaning she's facing an empty dance studio with only half of a program done in her head and everything's booked up and sold out already. The dancers are to arrive any minute and she has no clue how to fill up the time. She has five weeks in which to forge the second half of the show.

Pressure.

But I loved the quote. "Filling this empty space constitutes my identity." At a time when I'm dealing with unemployment issues, career voids and wondering if I will ever achieve anything as an actor or writer, this quote speaks volumes. Not only in the "blank canvas/white page/first note on the piano" kind of empty space, but also in the broader, inner empty space that we all face when deciding what to do with our lives. I've never heard such a strong statement about creativity before - so simple, direct and ultimately true.

I've read tons about the "urge to create", or the "artist's response to society", etc. But that whole constitutes-my-identity makes the need to make art an inescapable act. Bedrock. Inviolate. It catapults the what-do-you-do-for-a-living question into a more pressurized who-are-you-as-a-human-being mode.

She also doesn't sugar-coat the issue. She demystifies artists known as geniuses to expose their leviathan work ethic and focus. Mozart is seen not as a child prodigy, but someone who grew up with a virtuoso father who nurtured his talent. She mentions Mozart's wrecked fingers and wrists that show the lengths to which he was willing to go to master his art.

This book is fantastic - it inspires in a very pragmatic and supportive way. It leaves you with the bare bones of what it takes to create a piece of work without dampening the inner desire to begin.