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
aunt block flock people seek somebody upstairs
I tell young people that people aren't just going to flock to you as your mentors. You have to seek them out. It could be your next-door neighbor; it could be somebody upstairs from you, somebody down the block from you. An aunt or an uncle. Some relative. A parent.
dancer high indelible legs people though touched
People don't remember me for how high my legs went, even though they went up very high, and how many pirouettes I did. They don't remember me for that. They remember me and any other dancer because something touched them inside. It's an indelible memory on the heart and in the mind.
people
If people all over the world, year after year, request that you do 'Revelations,' you do 'Revelations.'
full people
The world is full of ways for people to dance. Concert dance doesn't get its due.
light people negativity
So many people dwell on negativity and I've survived by ignoring it: it dims your light and it's harder each time to turn the power up again.
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.
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.
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.
dance giving people
People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.
cannot hear people saying turn
One thing I cannot stand is when people say, 'Hi, how are you?' and they don't wait to hear how I am. They're just going through the motions. I say to people: 'Keep it human. Keep it alive. Don't turn into a robot.' You have to hear what the other person is saying clearly.
anybody kick kinds leg million stuff throwing tricks
We're dancing from here, from inside, not from outside. You could look at anybody throwing their leg and kick their leg up and a million pirouettes and do all kinds of tricks and stuff like that. But that's not what dance is really about.
anyone companies dancers leeway pickup possible project rather taste
My idea for the Jamison Project was rather like a pickup company. The idea was to give the dancers a taste of the menu. Today, dancers need to try as many companies as possible without having a drop-dead loyalty to me or anyone else. They like to have the leeway to go their own way.
freedom
You have to dance unencumbered. There's no other way to move. The idea of dance is freedom. It is not exclusiveness, it's inclusiveness.
trying
I don't think of myself as a leader. I am, but I don't think of myself that way. I'm not trying to belittle what I do, but I think of myself as a dancer first. I'll always be a dancer.