Famous Quotes & Sayings

Martha Graham

Wherever a dancer stands is holy ground.

Martha Graham

Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery

Martha Graham

I am certain that movement never lies. There is only one law of posture I have been able to discover - the perpendicular line connecting heaven and earth.

Martha Graham

Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to paradise of the achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration, there are daily small deaths.

Martha Graham

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...

Martha Graham

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.

Martha Graham

Stand up! Keep your backs straight! Remember that this is where the wings grow.

Martha Graham

The body says what words cannot.

Martha Graham

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

Martha Graham

A dancer, more than any other human being, dies two deaths: the first, the physical when the powerfully trained body will no longer respond as you would wish. After all, I choreographed for myself. I never choreographed what I could not do. I changed steps in Medea and other ballets to accommodate the change. But I knew. And it haunted me. I only wanted to dance.

Martha Graham

I believe that 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. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. 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

Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.

Martha Graham

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

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

Kristin Chenoweth

You've got to find ways to breathe while you're dancing so that when it comes time for you to stop and sing again, you have it. To prepare, I do a lot of aerobic activity. Many times at the gym, people will look at me because I'll be on the treadmill humming.

Klaus Schulze

Every music - except dance music, which is for dancing, I suppose - is for the spirit of the human being, and not for the body.

Moliere

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.

Moliere

Music and dance are all you need.

Moliere

...all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill in dancing.

Mike Birbiglia

You can express love by calling out the truth out of the situation as opposed to dancing around it.

Mike Birbiglia

Backup dancers are completely respectable. They're the studio musicians of dance.

Natalia Makarova

People tell me I'm dancing better than ever. I don't know what happened, but I have new enthusiasm and more endurance.

Natalia Makarova

I was born to be a ballerina - my physique, my spirit, my feeling for music. What I am can only be expressed in dance. I am an erotic woman and that's what dance is.

Natalia Makarova

The expression should come from within oneself, conveying the spiritual - something between earth and heaven. And if one runs, one should not seem to touch the ground.

Natalia Makarova

Even the ears must dance.

Kathy Mattea

Tonight I feel like all of creation is asking us to dance.

Katie Melua

Dancing is an important function of music, but so is crying.

Mark Twain

On with dance, let joy be unconfined, is my motto; whether there's any dance to dance or any joy to unconfined.

Mary Schmich

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Mark Morris

I want people to look like people when they're dancing.

Mark Morris

As I have said before, dancing is for anyone, but not for everyone.

Nicole Scherzinger

Dancing is another way to communicate. That's what separates The Pussycat Dolls from other groups.

Muhammad Ali

Life is like a ship. There's people dancing on a ship.There's a lot of money on the ship, but I cannot integrate on the ship or get equality on the ship.And I never could. I'm just in the galley working and I never could get up to see the captain of the ship.