Quotes by Dancer

"'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Acceptance, Glory, Maturity, Years

"Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Dance, Heart

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

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Passion,

"The only sin is mediocrity."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Mediocrity, Sin

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Time, Artist

"We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

God, Dance, Dancing, Living

"To me, a building - if it's beautiful - is the love of one man, he's made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Love, Building, Man, Space

"Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Dance, Magic, Weight

"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, American Dancer

Life, Time, Action, Energy

"Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Act, Theater

"The body never lies."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Body, Lies

"The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Art, Dance, Body

"The body is a sacred garment."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Body,

"Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Men, Reason, Want

"Misery is a communicable disease."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Disease, Misery

"Nothing is more revealing than movement."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Nothing,

"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, American Dancer

Faith, Vision, Act, Desire

"The body says what words cannot."

Martha Graham, American Dancer

Body, Words

"Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?"

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Life, Will

"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous."

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Work, Difference, First, Self

"Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time."

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Time, First, Moments

"Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable."

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Genius, Inexplicable, Magic, Word

1

"Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Art, Life, Mediocrity, Pretension

"Take your work seriously, but never yourself."

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Work,

"Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."

Margot Fonteyn, English Dancer

Art, Life, People, Artists

"Whenever I hear, 'It can't be done,' I know I'm close to success."

Michael Flatley, Irish Dancer

Success,

"I would rather be having a burger and beers with my mates but I can't do that when I know I've got to dance."

Michael Flatley, Irish Dancer

Dance,

"I'm proud of my Irish heritage and culture and this show will feature a lot of Irish dancing."

Michael Flatley, Irish Dancer

Culture, Dancing, Will

"There is pain and sacrifice in everyone's world. That's why, when I was dancing, I had no pain."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Sacrifice, Dancing, Pain, World

"Once I started dancing, I was not the spoiled brat or the rebellious child that I was as a child."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Dance, Dancing

"When you get on stage, you can be anything. You are removed from reality in a way, the real world."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Reality, World

"I'm thought of as a cool, unemotional dancer, but inside I'm not."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Thought,

"When you are on stage, you don't see faces. The lights are in your eyes and you see just this black void out in front of you. And yet you know there is life out there, and you have to get your message across."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Life, Eyes, Faces

"On the other hand, I think it is wonderful for everyone to take ballet classes, at any age. It gives you a discipline, it gives you a place to go. It gives you some control in your life."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Life, Age, Control, Discipline

"Of course, in the art class, I was the model."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Art, Class

"You don't learn from a situation where you do something well. You enjoy it and you give yourself credit, but you don't really learn from that. You learn from trial and error, trial and error, all the time."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Time, Credit, Error

"In fact, ballet companies did not exist in the Midwest when I was a child."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Ballet, Fact

"I think especially in a world where you have so little say about what goes on in your life, or in the politics of the world around you, it is wonderful to go into that studio, and tell yourself what to do."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Politics, Life, World

"I used to love to play dress-up, where you get your mother's or your grandmother's dresses and high heels."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Love, Mother, Dress, Play

"I loved tests because it was another form of competing, a healthy competition."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Competition, Tests

"It's ungrateful to be wishing you were doing something else at the moment you are living. You haven't lived in the moment that you are really living, you are wishing you were somewhere else."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Living, Wishing

"I liked to read but, being a dancer, I didn't have a lot of time to read."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Time, Being

"I didn't care too much for ballet, because you had to be more disciplined, and you sort of looked like everyone else. It required a certain kind of conformity that I didn't feel like I wanted to do."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Ballet, Care, Conformity

"I liked tap, because I liked hearing the results of my movements."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Hearing, Results

"I liked Latin, I like languages, I liked all the myths, and the Roman tales that we were required to translate in Latin, and all these interesting people who were never quite what they thought they would be or seemed to be."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Thought, People, Myths

"I learned to love dance for its own sake."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Love, Dance

"I had two sisters, and we would love to get dressed up and pretend that we were chic, sophisticated ladies. And I think that was a great sort of preparation, in a way."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Love, Ladies, Preparation, Sisters

"I didn't have any doubts about my choice of career, but I had constant doubts about my ability, yes."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Ability, Career, Choice

"But what was my motivation was music, and the fact that I love to move around. I'm always moving around."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Love, Music, Motivation, Fact

"As soon as I hear music, something in me starts to vibrate."

Suzanne Farrell, American Dancer

Music,

"'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years."

​

"Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart."

​

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

​

"The only sin is mediocrity."

​

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times."

​

"We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God."

​

"To me, a building - if it's beautiful - is the love of one man, he's made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that."

​

"Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle."

​

"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."

​

"Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place."

​

"The body never lies."

​

"The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body."

​

"The body is a sacred garment."

​

"Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can."

​

"Misery is a communicable disease."

​

"Nothing is more revealing than movement."

​

"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."

​

"The body says what words cannot."

​

"Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?"

​

"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous."

​

"Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time."

​

"Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable."

1

"Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."

​

"Take your work seriously, but never yourself."

​

"Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."

​

"Whenever I hear, 'It can't be done,' I know I'm close to success."

​

"I would rather be having a burger and beers with my mates but I can't do that when I know I've got to dance."

​

"I'm proud of my Irish heritage and culture and this show will feature a lot of Irish dancing."

​

"There is pain and sacrifice in everyone's world. That's why, when I was dancing, I had no pain."

​

"Once I started dancing, I was not the spoiled brat or the rebellious child that I was as a child."

​

"When you get on stage, you can be anything. You are removed from reality in a way, the real world."

​

"I'm thought of as a cool, unemotional dancer, but inside I'm not."

​

"When you are on stage, you don't see faces. The lights are in your eyes and you see just this black void out in front of you. And yet you know there is life out there, and you have to get your message across."

​

"On the other hand, I think it is wonderful for everyone to take ballet classes, at any age. It gives you a discipline, it gives you a place to go. It gives you some control in your life."

​

"Of course, in the art class, I was the model."

​

"You don't learn from a situation where you do something well. You enjoy it and you give yourself credit, but you don't really learn from that. You learn from trial and error, trial and error, all the time."

​

"In fact, ballet companies did not exist in the Midwest when I was a child."

​

"I think especially in a world where you have so little say about what goes on in your life, or in the politics of the world around you, it is wonderful to go into that studio, and tell yourself what to do."

​

"I used to love to play dress-up, where you get your mother's or your grandmother's dresses and high heels."

​

"I loved tests because it was another form of competing, a healthy competition."