Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
MARTHA GRAHAMGreat dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.
More Martha Graham Quotes
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I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It’s permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.
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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.
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The secret to dancing is that it is about everything except dancing.
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I use the words gods and goddesses principally, I think, to mean beautiful bodies – bodies that are absolute instruments. And I believe in discipline, I believe in a very definite technique.
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Dancers have more bones than most people and on the days when you work hard you are sure that you have somehow accumulated more bones than you started with.
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It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
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I don’t think in art there is ever a precedent; each moment is a new one and terrifying and threatening and bursting with hope.
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I believe that we learn by practice… it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which come shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit.
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In the end, it all comes down to the art of breathing.
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There is a force, a quickness that is translated through you into action. If you block it, the world will not have it.
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Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.
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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.
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I am absorbed in the magic of movement and light. Movement never lies. It is the magic of what I call the outer space of the imagination.
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Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.
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You don’t pick dance. Dance picks you.
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I want to make people feel intensely alive. I’d rather have them against me than indifferent.
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My childhood years were a balance of dark and light.
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Dancers today can do anything; the technique is phenomenal. The passion and the meaning to their movement can be another thing.
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The gesture is the thing truly expressive of the individual – as we think so will we act.
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I’d rather an audience like me than dislike me, but I’d rather they disliked me than be apathetic, because that is the kiss of death.
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The spine is the tree of life. Respect it.
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The body says what words cannot.
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People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.
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Dancing is a very living art. It is essentially of the moment, although a very old art. A dancer’s art is lived while he is dancing. Nothing is left of his art except the pictures and the memories–when his dancing days are over.
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You will only get out of a dance class what you bring to it. Learn by practice.
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Stand up! Keep your backs straight! Remember that this is where the wings grow.
MARTHA GRAHAM