When I was two years old, I started taking dance classes. I remember twirling to “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” in a small room made for small people, wearing a pink leotard and tutu and ballet slippers.

Throughout her career, the dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp has blazed a singular path that has shaped and reimagined the modern American dance scene as we know it today. Tharp seemingly draws ...