Twyla Thorp, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life
The first thing that came to mind after reading the small section in Thorp’s book The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life was to look up more about her. Inferring that she was a choreographer from her writing, I wanted to find out more about what she worked on and is currently creating. “Reading fat,” as she calls it is something that I find myself unconsciously doing when I have found something of interest—to learn more about that something. I found this to be very interesting because if you have the interest then the desire to learn more is naturally there. I believe this to be true for my students as well. When finding something of interest, you are naturally curious and want to seek out more information until you ease the scratch; until something else sparks your interest and causes you to scratch for more.
Thorp’s description of scratching was beautifully poignant. I took to her description instantly, and was somewhat jealous of how she found one word that could affectively describe the process we all take in finding our next creative focus. Her lists of areas to find inspiration to scratch, such as books, nature, mentors, and her rules of managing them I enjoyed greatly. I instantly related it to advice I was given when I was sick in Ghana. Never scratch the same place twice, be in shape, and maintain the white hot pitch. I instantly internalized it as a survival tool, categorizing it next to my Ghana life survival tips.