Announcer: This program
was made possible by

contributions to
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from viewers like you.
Thank you.

Sternum up.

Yeah.

Breathe deep.

Mm-hmm.

Shoulders back.

Now we stride.
We don't...

Man, voice-over:
A lesson from Twyla Tharp

in allowing our bodies
to take up space,

even as we grow older,

what she refers to as amplitude.

Amplitude, moving out,

constantly feeling that
you can move out.

As age becomes reality, I think

we start to retreat, we retract,

we become protective,
we become secluded,

and we begin to ossify.

But that's the body
becoming smaller.

In a way, it is
becoming smaller.

Well, that's its problem.

Let's just get on
with it, shall we?

♪♪

Amna Nawaz: Hi, everyone.
This is "Beyond the Canvas"

from the "PBS Newshour."

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Tonight, we meet artists
who have been recognized

at the highest level
in their field.

We call them the greats.

You'll hear from
renowned conductors

Michael Tilson Thomas
and Gustavo Dudamel,

photojournalist Lynsey Addario,

filmmaker Sir David
Attenborough,

and just now, dancer
and choreographer Twyla Tharp.

Through these conversations,
you'll see

how passion is the engine
that drives their work.

The people you're about to meet

were first featured
on the "PBS Newshour"

before the pandemic,

but tonight, you'll meet them

on a new canvas, and maybe

see them and their work

through a different lens,

right here on
"Beyond the Canvas."

Now back to this profile on

one of the great choreographers
of our age--Twyla Tharp.

"Newshour's" chief correspondent
for arts, culture, and society

Jeffrey Brown spoke to her

at the American Ballet Theatre
in 2019.

Then 78, Tharp had
just released her book

called "Keep it Moving: Lessons
for the Rest of Your Life."

Tharp: I wrote this to

help others believe
that constantly

you can be evolving,

that you don't
accept the rumor that

as the body ages,
it becomes less.

It becomes different.
Hopefully more.

So, do you think of this
as a self-help book?

I look at it as
a self-survival book.

Brown, voice-over:
As a girl, Tharp took

dance and music lessons
of all kinds.

In the 1960s, she was
dancing and choreographing

as part of
an important experimental

modern dance scene.

And by the seventies,
she was creating

groundbreaking works
like "Deuce Coupe"

for the Joffrey Ballet.

Set to music by the Beach Boys,

it brought together
elements of both

ballet and modern dance.

She made "Push Comes to Shove"

for Mikhail Baryshnikov,

part of an acclaimed partnership

that included
the award-winning PBS special

"Baryshnikov by Tharp" in 1984.

[Applause]

Dance after dance, combining

rigor and boundless energy.

She also choreographed films,

including "Hair"
and "Amadeus"...

[Opera music playing]

and conceived and directed

the Broadway hit "Movin' Out"

to the music of Billy Joel.

[Rock music playing]

In her new book, she provides
a series of exercises

and says age is not the enemy,

stagnation is the enemy.

Tharp: We all have that
laid on us

by our culture.

Being squirmy
is not really--

you can't do this
at dinner parties,

but this is how you
keep your system,

your metabolic system,
rolling, by doing--

you don't do it
like this.

Yeah. I mean,
you can't--

[indistinct]--
you can't do this

even in the way
we're talking,

but you want me to.
You want us to.

Yeah, because if you
keep doing this,

chances are your body
is going to be

more productive
in the moment

and you'll have something
left in the evening,

particularly as you
become older

and you buy into
this reality

that older folks
can do less.

Uh, OK, prove it.

Brown, voice-over: Her own
physical regime is legendary.

We watched
an early-morning workout

at her home studio.

Breathing and stretching,
cycling,

and various kinds of strength

and resistance exercises.

Tharp: I could bench
my body weight for 3

and I deadlifted
227 pounds to waist,

which was twice
my body weight, OK?

So--but I developed
a core strength

that the classical
dancer doesn't have.

Now in making a piece
of this sort

for a classical
dancer, I can bring

that kind of physical
intelligence to them

and say,
"Try it this way."

You've had, of course,
great success,

but you've also
experienced failure.

Really?

Yes, I--

Are you kidding?

I'm sorry to tell you.

But you advise us
in the book, you know,

to accept those failures,
right, to take risks.

They're not failures.

What are they?

They're adventures

of a different sort.

You may not have gotten

what you set out to get,

but there is something to
be learned from everything.

There was a profile
in the "Times."

It says--I'm quoting--

"Ms. Tharp remains
among the very few

female choreographers..."
Oh, please.

Give me a [beep] break.
"To have had a lasting

influence on ballet."

Why don't they say
one of the few

short choreographers to have

an influence on the ballet?

The female nomenclature
is highly abusive,

it's ghettoizing, uh,

and it's irrelevant
to what I've done.

You don't want to
hear it at all.

I'm not interested.

Yeah.

I'm a worker.
I'm an artist.

I make dances.
End of story.

Judge me with the best.

Don't judge me
with the best women.

In the meantime,
the final piece of advice

that you give all of us
in this book

is "shut up and dance."

That's right.
Shut up

and do what you love
and, you know,

be grateful
and keep doing it

and stop
second-guessing it.

OK. Very good.

"I'm getting old.
I can't do what I love."

[Beep], in a word.

[Chuckles]
It's gonna change, that's all.

It's not gonna be the same.

It's gonna be different.

Just like Tharp,
Michael Tilson Thomas

has spent his entire life

doing what he loves.

Tilson Thomas is
one of the great

musicians of his generation.

In 2020, at the height
of the COVID pandemic,

he stepped down
as music director

and conductor of
the San Francisco Symphony.

Jeffrey Brown is back

with this profile of a maestro

forced to find another mission.

[Classical music playing]

Brown, voice-over: In March,
Tilson Thomas was ending

a 25-year run

as conductor and music director

of the San Francisco Symphony

when the COVID shutdown began.
[Record scratch]

Tilson Thomas: It was a shock.
Kind of numbing at first.

Right in the middle
of a rehearsal,

day before we would start to

tour to Carnegie Hall
and Europe,

say, "Well, guess what?

It's not happening" or
"Some of it's not happening,"

and then gradually,
more and more

of the tour wasn't happening,

and then the end of the year
wasn't happening.

Brown, voice-over: The planned
celebration of his tenure--

cancelled.
Life and art interrupted

by the reality of
a deadly disease.

So, we came to the
strange situation where

metabolic beings,
as we musicians are,

it wasn't that "get up
in the morning,

"go to rehearsal,
practice, get home,

"get a rest, and then

"go out and rev
your metabolism up

"to its highest at
around 10:30 at night,

"then go home and put
yourself to sleep

and then do it
the next day."

That's the way we
live, and suddenly,

that was all gone.

[Playing upbeat tune]

Brown, voice-over: Instead,
MTT, as he's known,

is using his time
to lean into his craft

as musician, composer,
and mentor.

Tilson Thomas was born
in Los Angeles

into an artistic family.

His grandparents were
Yiddish theater stars.

His father and mother both
worked in the film industry.

[Playing slow tune]

By 19, he was working with

and conducting premieres

by great composers like

Stravinsky and Copland.

His big break came with
the Boston Symphony,

then London, and finally
in 1995,

San Francisco.

[Classical music playing]

In 1987, he founded Miami's

New World Symphony.

The goal--
an orchestral academy,

to prepare young musicians

for professional careers,

a bridge between
conservatory training

and a player's first
orchestral gig.

[Violin playing]

These days, he works remotely

with symphony musicians

like Georgia native
Chelsea Sharpe.

Wow. You sound in
absolutely great shape.

What have you
seen in

the young musicians
you work with?

How are they coping?

How are they dealing
with this year?

All the plans
that they had,

the auditions they
were set to take,

the new positions they
were about to begin.

The most creative time
of their lives

had to stop, so they had
to look around and think,

"How can I reinvent myself?

"What else is there
for me to do?

"How can I come out
of this period

being the best that I
can be to go forward?"

Here you are, wanting to
be in front of people,

trying to get your--
start a career

and make a life
as a musician.

How hard has it been

and how have you
coped with it?

We finally had time
to sort of reflect

and personally speaking,
I was grateful for that time

to just sit
with the instrument

and, you know,
maybe think about

some things
technically that

I hadn't had
the luxury of time

to kind of
think about before.

Brown, voice-over: A luxury
Tilson Thomas believes

they all need.

Normally, musicians
are worried about

what is going to
happen this weekend?

The next concert, and the next
and the next and the next.

And now we're in
this period where

we need to turn our
attention just to

how are we slowly
developing

as musicians, as artists,
and as people?

♪ Bom, ba-beem, ♪
ba-bom, da-da-dum ♪

Brown, voice-over: That's
just what Los Angeles native

Corbin Castro has managed,

creating an online music academy

for children age 8 to 12...

Castro: This is not necessarily
the kind of French horn

that we're associating
with Tchaikovsky.

Brown, voice-over: Developed
without prior connection

to any youth music programs,

and it's all virtual.

It became very apparent to us

the possibility
that this program

had to reach
underresourced students

and provide technical training

and super-personalized
mentorship

in order to show them
how classical music

can have a positive influence

not just on their lives

but also the lives of
the people in their communities.

Brown: Is this all
pandemic-related,

to start thinking
this way

in different terms about

yourself as a musician

and part of the community?

Yeah, exactly.
It kind of combined

all the best parts
of what music can offer

and how music
can enrich lives.

Brown, voice-over: Violist
Stephanie Block agrees.

It's the courage to
take on something that

challenges you
as a player.

And then it's
the courage to kind of

bare your soul again
and give yourself

to whoever needs it.

What future do you see
for classical music,

especially given
the young people

that you're working with?

Well, all the young
people I'm working with

have a real
commitment to

sharing their music
and their vision

with people younger
than they are,

and as a real
life commitment,

have taken on
the role as teacher

in a very expanded way,

not just in
a studio, but over

the internet,
in communities.

They're much
more dedicated to it

and I think the new
ways that they're going

about this will bring
great new things.

[Upbeat tune playing]

For Gustavo Dudamel,
a moment of revelation came

when he decided
to devote his life

to changing the image of
orchestras in today's culture.

Dudamel is one of
the world's most celebrated

classical musicians,
and as the conductor

of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic,

he's worked tirelessly to make
music accessible to all,

including students
in underserved communities.

Jeffrey Brown learned why
Dudamel sees art

as access to beauty.

Brown: At the Camino Nuevo
Charter Academy,

a public school in Los Angeles'
MacArthur Park,

the star of the show recently
was L.A. Philharmonic conductor

Gustavo Dudamel.

He was there to open
a new site for YOLA,

the Youth Orchestra
Los Angeles,

a program to offer free,
high-quality music lessons

and support to students
in underserved communities.

Dudamel: When I see them,
I'm one of them. I go back--

You feel that still?

Completely.

[Serene classical music playing]

Brown: By now, Dudamel's
own story

is the stuff of legend...
[Rousing orchestral music]

coming up through Venezuela's
famed El Sistema program,

created in 1975
by José Antonio Abreu,

which has brought music lessons
and orchestra training

to hundreds of thousands
of children,

many from poor backgrounds.

As a teenager,
Dudamel became conductor

of the program's
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra,

and today, he's one
of the most celebrated

classical musicians
in the world.

[Light classical music playing]

Ten years into his time
as conductor in a city of stars,

his image is everywhere,

and he remains committed

to changing the image of
orchestras in today's culture.

Dudamel: I think it's
a representation

of the community,
the orchestra.

We have to avoid that--
I don't know how to call,

but eltist way
as we see art.

Elitist.

We are--elitist, yes.

You know that--that--
you know, we are in

a mountain here, and the
rest of the people is there.

It's not about art.

But a lot of people
do see it that way,

especially
classical music.

But we are
transforming that.

When the people see

that they are represented

by the best art, by
the best culture,

it's the best, and that is
what we want to create.

Brown: Music, Dudamel says
over and over,

is a fundamental
human right.

Dudamel: It's a big idea
about it's simple

and it's very objective
because art is

creativity, art--art
is access to beauty.

And what our children,

in our times,
they're not having

access to that,
you know.

We live a very
pragmatical world,

where, you know,
you have to produce,

you have to do this, you
have to learn in that way.

But where is the space
to contemplation, to creativity,

to work as a team,
you know, to create beauty?

[Orchestra playing
festive tune]

Brown: We visited
YOLA at HOLA,

an afterschool program
where children 6 and up have

access to instruments, lessons,
and orchestra practice

[Playing
haltingly]

Brown: Occasionally,
the mentoring here

is peer-to-peer.

Girl: You're also pressing
your, um, bow too hard.

Brown:
Two young cellists--

16-year-old
Zenaida Aparicio

and 14-year-old
Mary Ellie Flores--

attend nearby schools.

Did you have the opportunity
to play music in school?

No.

Yeah.

The only opportunity
I had was here.

Brown: Did you get
to meet Gustavo Dudamel?

Flores:
It's pretty exciting,

so many feelings
just at once.

He's a big person
in our life.

Brown: As Dudamel is moving
forward in Los Angeles,

his homeland of Venezuela
is another story...

Venezuela!

Brown: after years
of political,

economic,
and humanitarian crisis.

[Pop]

El Sistema is
a government-funded program,

and the Simón Bolívar
Orchestra

regularly performs
at government functions.

After Dudamel did write

a "New York Times"
op-ed last year

critical of the government,
Maduro responded

by canceling two tours
of the Bolívar Orchestra.

Dudamel: You have to understand

your position and your
role in the society,

and I really believe that
you can create bridges.

For me,
music have to unite.

If you get from one side to
the other, then you destroy

that possibility...

Mm-hmm.

to build, you know,
a communication.

[Orchestra playing softly]

Brown: Here in Los Angeles
in the meantime,

the focus is on playing
beautiful music...

[Woman singing in Spanish]

Brown: and reaching
more young people.

Dudamel:
Every child have access

to music and to art.

That is the dream.

Yeah.

That is my dream, you know,

to embrace the world
with art,

and it's not naive.

That's it.
It's simple, but...

[Children's orchestra playing]

that is the most
beautiful thing.

For Lynsey Addario, beauty comes
from being present

during life's most intimate
and intense moments.

As a photojournalist,

Addario's covered conflict
around the globe,

and her work has won her
a Pulitzer Prize, an Emmy Award,

and a MacArthur Genius
Fellowship.

In 2016, she offered this
"Brief but Spectacular" take

on all the risk involved in
documenting beauty and conflict.

"If your pictures
aren't good enough,

you're not close enough."

That's a classic
Robert Capa quote.

He was a very famous
war photographer.

And it's the truth.

We cannot do our jobs
from further back.

And I have to care.

I have to bring myself
emotionally closer

to the subject.

I believe in these stories.
I believe they have to be told.

And so I force myself
to go to these places.

It's not an adrenaline rush,
and it's not an addiction.

I have been kidnapped twice--
once in Garma,

which is a village outside of
Fallujah, by Sunni insurgents,

and once in Libya.

I was sure we were about to die.

And all I can
think about is, "Really?

Is this where I'm going
to see the end of my life?"

"What am I doing here?

Why is it so important
for me to be here?"

And I have to ask myself those
questions, because a big part

of this job is knowing that we
might die at any given time.

People always ask, like,

"Are you stoic when you're
shooting?"

And I am anything but stoic.

When I'm watching someone die,
I become

very overwhelmed with emotion,
and I'm crying as I'm shooting.

I think it would be
really strange if I didn't cry

when I saw the things I see,
because I see

some of the most horrific things

and some of the most
beautiful things.

Being a war photographer
comes with great sacrifice.

It's almost impossible
to have a personal life.

The amount of psychological
and physical trauma that

each one of us carries with us
from covering war

over many, many years is
extraordinary.

When I first started doing
this job,

I had a really hard time
reconciling the fact that

life went on outside
of these war zones,

and I would come back
to New York,

and everyone was at a bar and
getting drunk and having fun.

And I was so confused.

I don't understand
why no one cares

and people aren't
out on the street protesting.

I had to make a decision
at some point that if I

was going to lead this life,

I had to not leave behind
the things I've seen,

but be present.

When I go home to be
with my family

and my husband and my son,
I have to be there for them.

I was so frustrated
by people being so dismissive

of the deeper reasons
why anyone would cover war.

It's about educating people,
policy-makers,

talking about
human rights abuses.

Once a photographer
starts seeing the impact of

his or her work,
it's impossible to turn away.

I mean, it's impossible
to stop doing it.

My name is Lynsey Addario,
and this is

my "Brief but Spectacular" take
on life as a photojournalist.

Another genius
behind the lens is

filmmaker
Sir David Attenborough.

Like Addario, he prides himself
on how close he can get,

in this case,
to the natural world.

My "NewsHour" colleague
William Brangham spoke

to this great about documenting
the current crisis

facing humanity.

Sir David Attenborough:
The living world is

a unique and spectacular marvel.

William Brangham: No one
has given us a more intimate

or stunning look at our planet
than Sir David Attenborough.

But now,
after a near 70-year career,

he says we are running the
planet headlong into disaster.

In his new Netflix documentary
and companion book,

both titled
"A Life on Our Planet,"

the famed filmmaker
wants us to recognize

what's happening, and to
act before it's too late.

As you say in
the film and in the book

that when you were
a young man, going to

all these exotic places,

you had the sense
at the time

that man's imprint
was not being felt.

Attenborough: I mean,
you can go to a glacier

that you were there
maybe five, 10 years ago,

and it has retreated,
but you think, "Oh, well.

"That's just this glacier.

Maybe there's another
one that's increasing."

But there are some things
that are irrevocable

and so dramatic
and distressing that you

can't brush them away.

The one, I suppose,
was the tipping point was

when I dived
on the coral reef,

which I have known
perfectly well--

on the Great Barrier Reef in
Australia--and suddenly

saw a cemetery,
and, suddenly, it was dead.

And these corals,
this extraordinary,

wonderful construction
of corals was dead--white.

And that was a shock.

In the past, you
would often talk about

man's impact
on the world,

but would move on,
in a sense.

This film, you really
clearly seem to say:

"We are not moving on.

I cannot stress this
point strong enough."

Well, you put it very well.
That is exactly what I feel.

And all I know is that, if you
see these things and realize

what they mean, you simply
can't sit back and say,

"Well, I'm not
going to bother."

Brangham, voice-over:
Attenborough argues

for a rapid shift
to renewable energy

to sustainable agriculture,

for a slowing of population
growth, and for what he calls

a rewilding of the land
and the oceans

to give them time
to rebound.

Brangham: How confident
are you that we will,

in fact, move from
these isolated examples

to a true moment
for change?

I'm not in the least
confident that we

will do so in time.

And I certainly feel, although
the situation is worse,

I believe that the world is
becoming more aware of

what needs to be done

to a much greater
extent than only,

say, five, 10 years ago.

It does seem to me
a worldwide realization

of the crisis
which we are facing.

And it's been spearheaded,
of course, by young people,

and quite rightly, too.

It's their future.

The kids of today are--
that's their life, you know?

And we owe it to them
to do everything we can

to make sure that
disaster's averted.

Brangham:
When we talk about

sixth extinction or
global climate change,

it's still very easy
for so many people

to put this view
out of their minds

and just keep on.

But, actually,
in your country,

it's more unlikely for that
to happen than in mine.

I mean, you have faced
disaster after disaster.

You have got
rising sea levels.

You had cyclones,
hurricanes moving through

with greater ferocity and
frequency than ever before.

We see on
our television newsreel

coverage of appalling things
that happen in your country

because of climate change,
seem to me overwhelming.

And it's nice to say,
"Oh, it's nothing.

It's just a passing phase."

It isn't,

and the statistics
show it isn't.

It is a major movement
that's happening.

And your country
and my country

and the rest of the world have
got to do something about it.

And we can.
And we know what to do.

Sir David Attenborough,
thank you so much

for talking with us,

and thank you for
your remarkable career.

Thank you so much.

Attenborough, along with the
others featured in this episode,

are truly remarkable.

Their vision, passion, and drive

have propelled them
to excellence.

And for that, we are grateful.

Join the conversation
on our website.

That's PBS.org/Newshour/Canvas

and find more "Canvas" arts
stories on the "PBS Newshour."

I'm Amna Nawaz.

For all of us
at the "PBS NewsHour,"

thanks for joining me here on
"Beyond the Canvas."

We'll see you soon.

Nawaz: Next time
on "Beyond the Canvas,"

singer and songwriter
Dolly Parton.

I think I take
myself more serious

as a songwriter
than anything else.

That's just been the thing
that I've seemed to enjoy

the most because it's
my therapy, it's my pleasure,

it's my job, it's my joy.

Nawaz: One of the extraordinary
women we focus on next.

♪♪

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contributions to your PBS
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Thank you.