Martha Graham: Quotes about dance and ballet
Martha Graham was American dancer and choreographer. Explore interesting quotes on dance.“Dance is the hidden language of the soul, of the body.”
New York Times interview (1985)
Context: To me, the body says what words cannot. I believe that dance was the first art. A philosopher has said that dance and architecture were the first arts. I believe that dance was first because it's gesture, it's communication. That doesn't mean it's telling a story, but it means it's communicating a feeling, a sensation to people.
Dance is the hidden language of the soul, of the body. And it's partly the language that we don't want to show.
“I don't try to tell the dancers exactly what a dance means before they do it.”
New York Times interview (1985)
Context: I don't try to tell the dancers exactly what a dance means before they do it. I can correct it and tell them what they have done after they have done it, and what it means to me. But I don't say, "Be fearful here," "Be angry here," because I think that is intrusion.
"The American Dance", in Modern Dance, ed. Virginia Stewart (1945).
I Am A Dancer (1952)
Context: 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. Then I need all the comfort that practice has stored in my memory, a tenacity of faith.
New York Times interview (1985)
“I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of mankind — the landscape of the human soul.”
I Am A Dancer (1952)
Source: Blood Memory
Context: I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of mankind — the landscape of the human soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human being can be.
“Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery — what it all means…”
New York Times interview (1985)
I Am A Dancer (1952)
Variant: 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.
As quoted in "About Martha Graham" at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance http://marthagraham.org/resources/aboutgraham.