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Presented & Narrated by Lily TomlinSpecial Dance Performance by American Ballet TheaterTwyla Tharp (born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer and choreographer. She has won Emmy and Tony awards, and currently works as a choreographer in New York City.Tharp was born in Portland, Indiana and was named for Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana. Tharp's family (including younger sister Twanette, twin brothers Stanley and Stanford, mother Lecile and father William) moved to Rialto, California in 1951,[1] where her parents opened a drive-in movie theater on the corner of Acacia and Foothill, the major east-west artery in Rialto and the path of Route 66.[2] During this period she worked at the drive-in, studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance and attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino. Tharp admits she had no social life.[3]Tharp attended Pomona College in California, but transferred to Barnard College in New York City. It was in New York that she began dancing with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. She graduated from Barnard with a degree in art history in 1963 and joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Two years later she formed her own company, called Twyla Tharp Dance.At the 1982 Barnard College commencement ceremonies, Tharp's alma mater awarded her its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction.
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