Judith Jamison
Judith Jamison
Judith Ann Jamisonis an American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDancer
Date of Birth10 May 1943
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
cutting order people
I've danced all over the world, and people are people. We cannot cut off from each other in life. In order to lead, you can't do that.
dancer black world
Maybe its a generational thing, but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I just wanted to be the best.
dance thinking white
I can't really hear the audience applause when I'm on stage. I'm totally immersed in the piece. But sometimes I get a lot of it and wonder, "Now, why did they applaud here?" If it's a white crowd, they usually applaud because they think it's a pretty movement. If it's a black crowd, it's usually because they identify with the message.
people vision generations
I want people to have their own visions for the dance. Some generations will sit back and relate to the music. And the young people ...they'll have the dance right in front of them.
vocabulary suffering
The word 'suffering' is not in my vocabulary.
moving dark light
The first time I started choreographing was in the dark, in my living room, with the lights completely out, to some popular music on the radio. I put the radio on full blast and I started moving. I didn't know what it looked like. I didn't want to see it... I had to start in the dark.
dancing people giving
Dancing is being trusted with other people's guts; choreographing is trusting other people with yours. When I choreograph I'm giving a dancer something to do and trusting the dancer to do it and build on it.
want humans persons
I want to know who you are as a person, and then I want you to develop as a whole human being.
sacrifice thinking dancer
I haven't had a family, but I don't think of that as a sacrifice: my dancers are my family.
dance giving people
People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.
talking racism african-american
We can go on talking about racism and who treated whom badly, but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to wallow in that or are you going to create your own agenda?
children dancing feelings
I felt the naivete of a child in my dancing. I cherished that feeling. I had what I call a knowledgeable naivete, and it worked for me.
way deny
Once you've danced, you always dance. You can't deny the gifts that God sends your way
firsts i-can studios
You don't enter a dance studio and say "I can't do that." If you do, then why are you in the studio in the first place?