Twyla Tharp

Scratching is diving into all types of research in order to gain inspiration and finding ideas to form a piece. She connects the idea of “scratching” with art and a lottery ticket, she makes this analogy to explain the process: first you start off with broader ideas and then you move on to polishing your ideas into one that connects them all together. People use “scratching” in all sorts of ways. You can get inspiration by your peers, advice from teachers, past work and pieces you’ve created, other peoples work, life experiences that have influenced the way you think or live, ect…

I can relate to a few of Ms. Tharp’s suggestions. I could completely see myself sitting in a room by myself just thinking, staring out the window until I find something that stands out to me, giving me ideas to work off of. I also love reflecting on my poetry that I have written. A lot of my poems have to do with life experiences I’ve gone through and personal issues which has given me plenty of ideas to work off of. I also love the idea of just sitting with a blank piece of paper in a sketchbook possibly, just starting out by doodling or creating little designs that more often than not, my “doodles” transform into pieces.

I’m not a very good dancer, and have never taken a class but I would assume that scratching would look like a interpretive dance where they bend and move their bodies in funky ways to see what looks good and fits with the beat and rhythm of the music. I think scratching in a dance form would have to do with playing around with abstract dance steps to see what connects together.