Choreographers Quotes

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  Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration: A Year of Motivation, Revelation, and Instruction". Book by Kevin Nelson, p. 11, 1999.

  149 Copy quote

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• The body says what words cannot.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Photography, Get Well

  "Martha Graham Reflects on Her Art and a Life in Dance". archive.nytimes.com. March 31, 1985.

  109 Copy quote

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• There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

  Martha Graham

  Positive, Uplifting, Dance

  "The Life and Work of Martha Graham". Book by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, 1991.

  56 Copy quote

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• Making dances is an act of progress; it is an act of growth, an act of music, an act of teaching, an act of celebration, an act of joy.

  Alvin Ailey

  Music, Dance, Teaching

  53 Copy quote

• Dance is the hidden langauge of the soul, of the body.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Dance, Art

  "Martha Graham Reflects on Her Art and a Life in Dance". archive.nytimes.com. March 31, 1985.

  58 Copy quote

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• I dance not to entertain but to help people better understand each other. Because through dance I have experienced the wordless joy of freedom, I seek it more fully now for my people and for all people everywhere.

  Pearl Primus

  Dance, Art, Freedom

  75 Copy quote

• There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Block, Yoga

  "The Life and Work of Martha Graham". Book by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, 1991.

  179 Copy quote

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• Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Dance, Wings

  170 Copy quote

• Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Dance, Mean

  15 Copy quote

• I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words.

  Ruth St. Denis

  Inspirational, Dance, Art

  62 Copy quote

• Dance is not an exercise. Dance is an art.

  Alicia Alonso

  Dance, Art, Exercise

  85 Copy quote

• Are you a stingy breather? Well, don't be. Be extravagant with you breathing and come fully alive.

  Ron Fletcher

  Breathing, Alive, Breathe

  68 Copy quote

• Dance every performance as if it were your last.

  Erik Bruhn

  Dance, Dancing, Lasts

  53 Copy quote

• No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Blessed, Artist

  "The Life and Work of Martha Graham". Book by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, 1991.

  75 Copy quote

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• Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made.

  Ted Shawn

  Inspirational, Dance, Art

  63 Copy quote

• Movement should be approached like life - with enthusiasm, joy and gratitude - for movement is life,
  and life is movement, and we get out of it what we put into it.

  Ron Fletcher

  Inspirational, Life, Dance

  45 Copy quote

• Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It's a lot of things. It's something you can't be afraid of, because you'll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life.

  Debbie Allen

  Inspirational, Success, Failure

  65 Copy quote

• Choreography is simpler than you think. Just go and do, and don't think so much about it. Just make something interesting.

  George Balanchine

  Motivational, Dance, Thinking

  85 Copy quote

• More and more, I am pulled reluctantly towards a strong horizontal current, which is a place where time is moving at such high velocity, that even our breath is forced to accelerate just in order for us humans to survive. And I have always believed, that it is in our slow exhalation, where the sense of this deep spiritual energy resides. In a world moving so fast, with the growth of technology and information, I am somehow inclined to move against this current, in search of what it might mean to be connected not just spiritually, but also vertically.

  Akram Khan

  Dance, Spiritual, Time

  60 Copy quote

• Stay hungry to become the best that you can be. Never be satisfied with the level of artistry you've attained. You can always be better.

  Mia Michaels

  Motivational, Levels, Becoming

  64 Copy quote

• Existence is movement. Action is movement. Existence is defined by the rhythm of forces in natural balance. (...) It is our appreciation for dance that allows us to see clearly the rhythms of nature and to take natural rhythm to a plane of well-organised art and culture.

  Rudolf von Laban

  Dance, Appreciation, Art

  181 Copy quote

• You are the only one of you. From the beginning of time till the end of this world to the end of eternity. There's only one of you ever created. Ev-er. You are the only you. That's pretty powerful. So why on earth would you want to look like anybody else, dress like anyone else, dance like anyone else, be someone else, when you are a legend in your own right?

  Mia Michaels

  Inspirational, Dance, Being Yourself

  69 Copy quote

• Strong and convincing art has never arisen from theories.

  Mary Wigman

  Dance, Art, Strong

  Mary Wigman, Virginia Stewart (1935). “Modern dance”

  55 Copy quote

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• Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Volleyball, Mean

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

  9 Copy quote

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• A choreographic idea flows only as fast as the initiator can communicate it to bodies and see them realize it.

  Marcia Siegel

  Inspirational, Dance, Ideas

  3 Copy quote