Photo quotes: Martha Graham “No artist is ahead of his time…”

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

Other Martha Graham quotes:

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.

Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.

We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.

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.

You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.

Misery is a communicable disease.

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

‘Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

Nothing is more revealing than movement.

Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.

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.

Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.

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

The body never lies.

The body is a sacred garment.

Censorship is the height of vanity.

I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being.

Learn by practice.

To me, a building – if it's beautiful – is the love of one man, he's made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that.

Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.

The body is a sacred garment.

The only sin is mediocrity.

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.

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

Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.

Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.