Martha Graham Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for -- liberation.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Mean, Discipline

  23 Copy quote

• Repetition not for monotony but the ecstasy it induces.

  Martha Graham

  Repetition, Monotony, Ecstasy

  9 Copy quote

• 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.

  Martha Graham

  Art, Believe, Communication

  "Martha Graham Reflects on Her Art and a Life in Dance". archive.nytimes.com. March 31, 1985.

  55 Copy quote

• I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man--the landscape of his soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be.

  Martha Graham

  Men, Expression, Essence

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

  109 Copy quote
• 

  The main thing, of course, always, is the fact that there is only one of you in the world, just one, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost. Ambition is not enough; necessity is everything.

  Martha Graham

  Life, Dance, Love Yourself

  "The Routledge Dance Studies Reader". Book by Alexandra Carter and Janet O'Shea, p. 96, 1998.

  101 Copy quote

• 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.

  Martha Graham

  People, Dancer, Chosen

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood Memory”, Washington Square Press

  72 Copy quote

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

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Wings, Body

  80 Copy quote

• 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

  Dance, Two, Ballet

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

  68 Copy quote

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

  Martha Graham

  Motivational, Dance, Wisdom

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

  76 Copy quote

• 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

  Dance, Sleep, Frustration

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood Memory”, Washington Square Press

  41 Copy quote

• 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

  Dance, Motivation, Believe

  "The Life and Work of Martha Graham". Book by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, 1991.

  31 Copy quote

• Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain.

  Martha Graham

  Motivational, Dance, Song

  38 Copy quote

• The reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living.

  Martha Graham

  Magic, World, Reason

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

  27 Copy quote

• 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.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Believe, Practice

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood Memory”, Washington Square Press

  13 Copy quote

• It takes about ten years to make a mature dancer. The training is twofold. There is the study and practice of the craft in order to strengthen the muscular structure of the body. The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted. The movement become clean, precise, eloquent, truthful. Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it. This might be called the law of the dancer's life, the law which governs its outer aspects

  Martha Graham

  Lying, Order, Years

  20 Copy quote

• You will only get out of a dance class what you bring to it. Learn by practice.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Practice, Class

  19 Copy quote

• Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Motivational, Dance

  65 Copy quote

• Dancers are the messengers of the gods.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Dancing, Messengers

  23 Copy quote

• There is a force, a quickness that is translated through you into action. If you block it, the world will not have it.

  Martha Graham

  Block, World, Action

  19 Copy quote

• Nothing is more revealing than movement.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Dancing, Movement

  14 Copy quote

• My dancing is not an attempt to interpret life in the literary sense. It is an affirmation of life through movement.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Dancing, Movement

  18 Copy quote

• When you start with an idea, or something hits you, then you have to follow that through to the end, and it's the following through to the end that makes the pattern. That, for me, is choreography.

  Martha Graham

  Ideas, Patterns, Ends

  "Martha Graham Reflects on Her Art and a Life in Dance". archive.nytimes.com. March 31, 1985.

  10 Copy quote

• 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 of time, this expression is unique.

  Martha Graham

  Unique, Being Unique, All Time

  "The Life and Work of Martha Graham". Book by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, 1991.

  16 Copy quote

• The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.

  Martha Graham

  Inspirational, Dance, Art

  10 Copy quote

• Looking at the past is like lolling in a rocking chair. It is so relaxing and you can rock back and forth on the porch, and never go forward.

  Martha Graham

  Past, Rocks, Chairs

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

  38 Copy quote

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