Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life

by Twyla Tharp

5 hours and 32 minutes

One of the world’s leading artists—a living legend—and bestselling author of The Creative Habit shares her secrets for harnessing vitality and finding purpose as you age. From insight to action, Keep It Moving is a guidebook for expanding one’s possibilities over the course of a lifetime.

At seventy-seven, Twyla Tharp is revered not only for the dances she makes—but for her astounding regime of exercise and non-stop engagement. She is famed for religiously hitting the gym each morning at daybreak, and utilizing that energy to propel her breakneck schedule as a teacher, writer, creator, and lecturer. This book grew out of the question she was asked most frequently: “How do you keep working?”

In Twyla’s own words: “This book is a collection of what I’ve learned in the past fifty-five years: from the moment I committed to a life in dance up until today...it identifies a ‘disease’ and offers a cure. That disease, simply put, is our fear of time’s passing and the resulting aging process. The remedy? This book in your hands.”

Keep It Moving is a series of no-nonsense mediations on how to live with purpose as time passes. From the details of how she stays motivated to the stages of her evolving fitness routine, Tharp models how fulfillment depends not on fortune—but on attitude, possible for anyone willing to try and keep trying. Culling anecdotes from Twyla’s life and the lives of other luminaries, each chapter is accompanied by a small exercise that will help anyone develop a more hopeful and energetic approach to the everyday.

Twyla will tell you what the beauty-fitness-wellness industry won’t: chasing youth is a losing proposition. Instead, Keep It Moving focuses you on what’s here and where you’re going—the book for anyone who wishes to maintain their prime for life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Health, Memoir, Biography, Personal Development, Audiobook

Audiobook

First published October 29, 2019

About the author

Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer. She has won Emmy and Tony awards, and currently works as a choreographer in New York City.

Reviews

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a combination memoir and pep talk aimed at readers who are growing old. The author, Twyla Tharp, is writing from the perspective being 78 and having lived a career as ballet dancer and choreographer. Dancing is a career where age brings very real limitations, so she should know what she's talking about.

As a matter of fact toward the end of the book she admits that she has had hip replacement surgery for damage that was probably the result of her dancing years. So when she calls for maintaining a positive outlook on life in spite of difficulties, she is practicing what she preaches.

As one would expect from a professional dancer, she pauses between chapters to describe various exercises to help foster both physical and mental fitness. The intent of these is to "provide an approach to moving that can be practiced by the beginner as well as the advanced. These exercises are reflective of simple actions we all use every day."

The reader of this book will learn much about the author's life and the world of dancing. She reminds us that dancers face the same pressures of life as the rest of us:

For dancers, aging is ever in front of us as we work. We face it each time we enter the studio, one day older than the day before. But who among us in the civilian population has not shared the feeling that they, too, will be finished by forty? It needles when things don[t work the way they used to. And it does’t help that, gradually, as joints begin to ache and memory to slip, we are bombarded by negative messages from out culture. Older adults are frequently portrayed as out of touch, useless, feeble incompetent, pitiful, and irrelevant. Sadly, these dismal expectations can become self-fulfilling, creating the bias that fuels our roaring age industry—pills, diets, special cosmetics, surgery—all promising to send time reeling backward. But no. Time goes only one way forward.

Tharp makes it clear she's not trying to stop time. No, she encouraging acceptance of new challenges that life brings. This book encourages readers to focus on the present and on where they're going, and then provides suggestions on how to maximize physical fitness and promises that emotional and mental fitness will follow.

[Anne Bogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.5 stars.

I read—and loved—Twarp's previous book The Creative Habit. (It even makes an appearance in chapter 11 of my book Don't Overthink It!) Tharp is now seventy-seven years old, and in her new book she writes about finding purpose as you age, and maintaining vitality in both mind and body.

As with all her books, my favorite bits are the specific glimpses into her own routines and work experience.

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one of my fave movies, The Bird Cage, Robin Williams imitates great dancers including the irrepressible Twyla Tharp. As he captured her spirit perfectly, Twyla’s newest book captures perfectly her prescription for living well no matter one’s age.

Now 78, the Queen of Choreography shares secrets for living purposefully and energetically as the years pass through lessons learned from her own life, stories from other engaged creatives, and powerful exercises for following their graceful leads.

The essence of KEEP IT MOVING is embodied in her Contract with the Future:

1. Acknowledge you have choices. Make them.
2. Your body will be a big part of this deal, and you will be ready and able to implement. Use it.
3. You will be okay to reidentify yourself often along the way.
4. Obstacles—you will meet many—go around, over, under, or through. Again often.
5. Bounce back—yes, many, many times.
6. Up is preferred to down.
7. Stamina is your bailiwick. Train. Train more.
8. Bend in the wind.
9. Get stronger for the mending.
10. Dance is being in motion. You are doing it. Do it more.

This pithy guide from a force of nature who still gets up at dawn to exercise daily is highly recommended for any reader seeking a more vital life. 5/5

Pub Date 29 Oct 2019.

Thanks to Twyla Tharp, Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#KeepItMoving #NetGalley

[Maria (Ri) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have followed this legendary woman's career since I was a young girl. For years, I wanted to be a ballet dancer but discovered it when I was too old. However, the sheer joy and emotions that I felt watching it spoke to me. Discovering this book had me excited for a plethora of reasons. The first being that it was Twyla. The second because I could see into her mind of what makes her great.

I was unprepared for her to break it down with exercises and anecdotes of the reasons why these exercises were important. While some of them seemed pretty basic there were others that truly hit home. I think this resonated with me because I just turned 50 a month ago and my body is no longer as young as my mind wants it to be. It gave me something to think about.

I enjoyed the stories of many of my favorite people, especially Misha as he is my favorite dancer of all time. I can see that my reasons for adoring this amazing woman were worth it because she truly is a legend for a good reason. I recommend this to anyone that is getting older. It gives a new perception and reminds us that we are only limited by what we allow.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twyla Tharp is a well-known American choreographer. Many years ago, I read her earlier book, The Creative Habit, and liked her down-to-earth advice for creatives, summed up as: Get on with it! It gave me a much-needed kick up the bahookie so I expected more of the same grit in this book but it didn’t quite deliver.

Tharp is now seventy-eight and knows that the passage of time is especially hard on athletes and dancers. She pointedly rejects attempts to chase lost youthfulness, instead regarding ongoing ‘body work’ as an investment. Your body is your job, she declares. “I work for the day at hand yet I’m also stockpiling my fitness and health for an uncertain future, developing the deepest possible reservoir of skill and condition that I can to draw on as I age.” She rails against any notion that one should ease up and slow down with age and gives several examples of artists who got a second wind and produced their best work in later life because they refused to surrender their vigour to the ravages of aging.

I admire her good intentions, and the book has lots of interesting nuggets of wisdom, but, taken as a whole, it’s a bit of a muddle. There are written instructions (no diagrams) for exercises and stretches in each chapter, which aren’t that easy to follow and I can’t see how this would stir your average couch potato to action. The rest of the book is Tharp’s philosophical take on life and I enjoyed reading it but I think a lot of seventy-eight year olds could have written a book like this because seventy-eight years is a lot of life experience for anybody. What sets Tharp apart, of course, is that she actually wrote it, and dibs for that.

3.5 rounded up to 4

[Cedricsmom · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
I don’t think I can review this book without superimposing my own thoughts about aging as a dancer. That’s probably the lens I read the book through to begin with. I have always enjoyed Twyla Tharp’s let’s get down to business attitude and she won’t ever lose that. It’s part of her DNA. But aging can act as a great and unwelcome equalizer and that’s the story she shares here.

What are we to do about this? In a title, keep it moving. For this dancer the takeaway is that yes, life and movement get different now but different needn’t be The End. None of us ever get younger and youth ain’t nothin but a phase. Having now outgrown youth, I find fresh perspectives in books like this one, and when you’re ready you might, too.

[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twyla Tharp invites readers to rethink movement. She talks about personal routines, but also people she admires and what they do to keep the physical ravages of age at bay.

The book includes simple exercises to loosen up.

[Amrita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nuggets of advice stood out more than the others - if you don’t work for your body, your body won’t work for you. Anyone can dance. Others were mostly variations of what I have read before. It is a really good pep talk for older folks and she is a great example of how being physically active keeps you healthy.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful read by celebrated choreographer Twyla Tharp at 77. Part memoir but mostly thoughtful life advice, Tharp offers lots of wisdom that pertains to physical challenges but also to life in general. Chapters include topics like "make change your habit," "hope less, plan more," "bounce back" and "stronger for the mending."

Tharp is a lady who has made a life of dancing, teaching, recovering and reinventing. Her stories are well told and full of insight (and fascinating famous people she has known and loved). This book will not just help those of us facing older age, injuries or unexpected complications in life, but for anyone looking for plain old good advice for crafting a great life at any age.

[LAPL Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was in graduate school working on my MLIS, I skipped a class to attend Push Comes to Shove, a dance work choreographed by Twyla Tharp, specifically for Mikhail Baryshnikov, a classically trained ballet dancer, who at the time had recently defected to the West. This would be a break-out work for him. Tharp's techniques and movements were innovative, fresh and challenging. Some live performances are once-in-a-lifetime events, and this was one of those. As for the skipped class, graduate classes were small and attendance was taken, so before my non-appearance, I got the nod of approval from Dr. Pearl Ward.

Twyla Tharp is mentally sharp and more physically active than any 20-year-old. This book was written when Tharp was 78, and in response to frequently being asked, “How do you keep working?” Implicit in the question but never asked, “…at your age?” From childhood on she has been physically and mentally active, and continues that way, “…expecting each day to build on the one before.” She does not promise, any of us, eternal youth, because that is in our past, but she does believe in, “…change and the vitality it brings.”

She began dancing at a very early age, and never stopped moving, which is what she wants all of us to do. Her advice is based on a regenerative point of view, and not merely about positive thinking. It is about doing and living in the present, not looking back, and not regretting anything. Dancers and athletes are the most fit people we can imagine, but the reality is that their years of peak performance are very short, and can be terminated by a serious injury. "For dancers, aging is ever in front of us as we work. We face it each time we enter the studio, one day older than the day before." Those in top condition, along with the rest of us, share a reality about physical limitations. Tharp will not have any moaning about it. "Time goes only one way: forward. ...Age is not the enemy," but stagnation, complacency, stasis, getting stuck in the past are part of what might bedevil us.

Tharp presents ideas about forming new habits, cautioning that among the most faithful there will be whining/kvetching days, and how to jump past them. Tharp cites one of her own kvetching days that turned into a meltdown and got turned around by a friend, who said, "You've become timid. I don't like to see you being meek." That's all it took, another perspective from someone who knew that Tharp was not that kind of person. There are several examples from the lives of performers, athletes and others who seemingly never had any difficulty in achieving goals, but the background on their experiences shows us a different reality. In 1981, Tharp worked with the legendary Donald O'Connor, who was 56 years-old, and had health issues, but always worked "full-out" in rehearsals as well as performances. He shared some off-screen memories from his dance number, "Make 'Em Laugh," for Singing' in the Rain, which will be an eye-opener for anyone who sees the movie. There are ways to build physical and mental stamina to take us through life for the long haul. She has a technique that can be learned, but must be practiced, called active anticipation.

Reading this book is just like watching one of the works she has choreographed. You can never quite predict what is coming next, but it is all part of the entire work. Twyla Tharp pulls in unexpected ways of living and being, provides examples from performers, athletes, visual artists, writers, books and personal experiences that shake up assumed routine ways of thinking that we all have. She gives us practicality, wisdom, insight, inspiration and lots of reasons to keep moving.

In her very being, Tharp is a dancer and performer, and she is interested in all types of performance. At the end of the book she states, “Even the greatest master of words, William Shakespeare, knew the power of dance, and in his time, at the Globe Theatre, when a performance ended, before the audience left, “…the players unmasked themselves, the music started, and the cast danced. Shakespeare knew when it was time to shut up and dance.”

Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

[Mystie Winckler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible. I read it because Abby had it as one of her Schole Everyday picks. I enjoyed The Creative Habit (also at about the three-star level), so I listened to this one at 1.6x on a car trip.

Aging is a reality to grapple with, not sugar-coat or ignore. Tharp gives us the best and most optimistic (without being in denial about growing limitations) approach to aging those without Christ can have. Interestingly, though the book is all about continuing to learn, grow, adapt, and move as you age, she studiously ignores the elephant in the room: that aging reminds us death is inevitable and coming.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5. I was somewhat frustrated by this book by dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp as I reached the mid-way point, thinking it a bit too insubstantial. The exercises also were frustrating--one per chapter to reflect through physical movement what Tharp was suggesting we consider as emotional and mental (resulting in practical) changes. So if we are to push back, the exercise is physically pushing our body; being flexible includes an exercise, you guessed it, promoting flexibility. The trouble was, I felt at first that I couldn't follow these, and that the parallel seemed too obvious and contrived.

There were nuggets along the way, however, and as I re-read and then moved forward again, I saw more of a pattern emerging that didn't seem as artificial as I first interpreted. This time, I took notes about what struck me as useful, and some parts caught me by surprise in how a description would provoke an emotional response. Tharp uses metaphors and examples, some good and some that seem to stretch the idea a bit too far, but she is strongest when she talks less directly and for example, describes a skater gliding from a start point back to that point in one fluid movement. Without saying it in that moment, it is an embodiment of a later admonishment that the beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning. Her description of herself as moving in a dance, not so much through space as time, was powerful.

I appreciate these moments perhaps because I always have wished I had pursued my interest in dance (on an amateur, not professional, level) because in dancing I feel a freedom, naturalness, and expressively that comes from creative endeavors, but even more satisfying because I am wholly involved in it. It is also because, in those moments, she doesn't seem so directed to make a point, but to express something that holds poetic and imaginative weight, and just lets the reader feel that--perhaps like one feels the unburdening in a dance.

[Stephanie Storey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved. Will read again and again. If you are a creative type, don't miss out on Twyla's genius, but even if you aren't, this has plenty of inspiration on how to keep being productive and brilliant and pushing toward your life's goals and dreams... you don't need to be really aging to love this one. I'm 46, so perhaps having a few years on you would help, but it's not like I'm nearing retirement and I found so many great tips for how to keep pushing on my purpose for decades to come. Just read it.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for Keep It Moving: Lessons For The Rest Of Your Life (audiobook) Twyla Tharp read by the author. I found it fascinating to hear what it is like to grow old in the dance world. Twyla Tharp’s story is inspiring. She has lots of tip in the book to help us stay flexible and strong as we grow older.

[Lauren LoGiudice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice complement to Twyla Tharp's other books. It is a nice anthem that you never stop - you keep on marching forward in the face of all of life's consequences.

I think to fully grasp what she's saying that you create The Creative Habit.

The exercises weren't as on-point as her other two books, but I'm someone who does those kinds of exercises often so I think I might have too much experience with them to find them new or exciting.

Twyla continues to be an inspiration and one of my creative mentors, albeit from afar.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring book on moving through life.

[Sophie Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read for anyone who is 50 or over. It is an inspirational self help book. I admire her motivation to get up and live her best life and also knowing how to put life's moments in perspective. I loved the inspirational stories that model her point about aging. Even though I appreciate the small excercise advice for bursts of energy, I felt the overall motivational message to live in the here and now and keep it moving was most important. We can all find the exercise that suits our needs.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most enjoyable books on aging I have read. Twyla Tharp brings her dancer/choreographer's energy to twelve chapters that apply lessons from dance to life -- your body is your job, make change your habit, bounce back, build a second act, stronger for the mending, shut up and dance are some of the chapter names. Each chapter also contains a "practice" to put your body into motion so that your growth will continue. The author draws on her often well-known friends' experiences as well as her own and the experiences of well-known folks from history.

Two things I want to remember and practice are from chapter 1 the concept of amplitude (taking up space, every gesture is not only more precise and elegant but bigger, p. 8) and from the bounce back chapter: pick one thing to drop this week (it may be sugar in your coffee, a long-running argument with a close friend, an unfinished book that is boring you, a nagging criticism that keep rattling around your skull; delete it; stop and take a step forward, p. 117).

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for providing a copy of this book. It was an honor to read. As a woman in her 50's I need all the inspiration I can get to keep moving and who better than Twyla Tharp to provide that inspiration. I love that she is bringing this subject into the open because most of what I see out there for seniors is how to deal with a medical disease. Ms. Tharp, in this book, is teaching us how to use our physical abilities, even if limited, to improve our mental motivation so we can continue to accomplish our goals even as we age. I found her outlook on aging to be refreshing and the exercises she suggests to be approachable and easily adaptable to any fitness level. Thank you Ms. Tharp for reminding us that we don't have to become obsolete just because we get older.

[Rev Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this book, I thought of a Dylan Thomas poem that ends with the line”Do not go gentle into the good night. “ We are to keep fighting to live. Twyla Tharp is a 79 year old dancer and choreographer who has kept herself active throughout her whole life. There have been times she had to get herself moving again, she did and came back stronger. She needed a hip replacement but she came back stronger. She mixes her philosophy of life with stories of people she knew and historical people. A great book.

[Lynn Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight talk

In straightforward talk, this book offers the reader multiple reasons to move their body daily, and with joy. But beyond the solid research for all the lifelong benefits of keeping our bodies fit, the author asserts, just “dance!” This is what I need to hear; I know all the reasons already, I need the impetus just to move... this book inspires that from a dancer, teacher, coach, mentor. She understands the resistance and how to move anyway.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came to meat a time when chronic illness was weighing me down and spoke to me in a very real manner. The exercises are very real and helpful and helped me continue to think about adding movement into my day.
I have always considered myself a dancer and I love the thoughts here about everyone being a dancer.
I recommend this this book for anyone who might be feeling stuck, there are many good ideas about how to move through the inevitable difficulties of life. You do not need to be a dancer or even understand dance to read this book. There are many examples from other areas of life including history, art and neuroscience.

[Deodand · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I'm going to think about this one for a while. This isn't a book for professional dancers looking for words of wisdom from The Master. Instead she asks us to embrace the state of mind of a novice - advice that has been incredibly helpful to me over the years.

I took up an exercise habit far too late in life. Whenever I think I've made gains, I move back into the mind of the novice and try to embrace something I never thought I would be capable of. This practice has kept me engaged in the discipline of exercise. It also moves me forward in surprising ways.

This book would be a timely suggestion for someone who is struggling with a loss, failure or setback.

[Sarah Groh · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a background in dance, Twyla Tharp and her style has always been in my movement vocabulary. She is spunky and genius. And she has an unquestionable energy to move everyone in the world.
This is a great book and something to encourage everyone as we age. Twyla says she wrote this book to increase her tribe. I think she will.

The best thing I got out of this book is a quote that I have used and shared everyday since I read it. Twyla says, “Eliminate Indecision as a Choice.”
That statement moves me everything I see it.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very smart woman indeed. She knew what she wanted and she worked hard to earn the success that she has today. Resilience, with eyes on the future not the past,
“I wrote this book to enlarge my tribe, by sharing with you examples of people who have continued to dance throughout their lives, who have stuck with a pledge to move and expand instead of shrink and contract and have reaped the rewards.” Muhammad Ali, Thoreau, Montaigne, Richard Branson and a host of others who she feels have lived life to its fullest - men and women willing to take risks, fail, and keep on.
Inspirational and the sub-title, Lessons for the rest of your life, can have meaning at any age.

[Rachelevelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is written to shake up as well as to inspire the reader to figure out how to keep moving no matter what! She draws many illustrations from real life dancers, musicians, artists, playwrights, etc. to help us get her points. There are even uncomplicated exercises explained. I highly recommend reading this book that includes “Lessons For The Rest Of Your Life” in the subtitle.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Self-help advice to keep moving from Twyla Tharp.
Thinking I need an extension put on my house with a room with a bar,
a fine wooden floor, maybe a few mirrors and oh yes, a stellar sound system.
I would definitely find more time to dance and move.
For now, I'll have to depend on Jazzercise with Laura.

[Dori Sabourin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twyla Tharp presents the philosophy that people,no matter what their age, need to keep moving. She backs it up with life experiences from her life and the lives of notable figures such as athletes, writers, painters and other prominent people. She outlines exercises and other techniques to aid the reader in accomplishing a daily routine.

[Laura Fabrycky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twyla Tharp's way of being and communicating about it as she does is good for my brain.

I'm genuinely grateful for everyone who keeps moving - inside and out - and says stuff about it authentically.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

No matter your age, keep moving and grooving and growing as a human. Make communities and live.