'Jumping for joy' is a very basic human reaction, and a child skipping down the street is simply an untrained dancer.
Quotes about
Ballet
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I thought, 'I don't want to dance the spirit of champagne, I want to drink it!'
Martha GrahamBlood Memory, 1991
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
On her famous extensions and her legacy
I don't think I changed the way people look at ballet. Lifting my leg very high, that was the easy part, and a lot of dancers were lifting their legs high before me. If that's all I did for dance, my God. Long legs and extreme suppleness is not what changes dance. What matters is touching an audience, when you bring something close to truth on stage, something close to generosity to the characters you are playing. These women – Manon, Marguerite – they are so deep and so complex, musically, intellectually and emotionally, and all of that should always be there. My goal was always to give everything I had.
Sylvie GuillemInterview with Debra Craine, The Times, 5 December 2014
Toe dancing is a dandy attention getter, second only to screaming.
On Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev
Margot was an exquisite human being with an unending sensibility… With all the ups and downs, the truth was that Rudy and Margot loved each other deeply.
Carla FracciPasso dopo passo (autobiography), as quoted in Gramilano's obituary, 27 May 2021, 2013
As soon as I hear music, something in me starts to vibrate.
On using perfume to build her characters
I've found it a really amazing tool to help shape the character and learn more about them.
Lauren CuthbertsonInterview with Graham Spicer, Gramilano, 2 May 2020
Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays.
I love finding the right balance, and I tried to find comedy based on truth, and not contrived situations.
Carla FracciPasso dopo passo (autobiography, with Enrico Rotelli), as translated on Gramilano, 22 April 2014, 2013
As Aurora, Margot Fonteyn descended straight into this young girl's heart!
Carla FracciPointe magazine, 2021
Ballet is more than a profession – it is a way of life.
The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.
We are born and we die. It's inevitable. We begin our career and we know that it will end.
Carla FracciPasso dopo passo (autobiography, with Enrico Rotelli), as translated on Gramilano, 22 April 2014, 2013
See the music, hear the dance.
I think ballet has broken down so many barriers and what I would say to any young dancer is don't think there is an ideal, being true to yourself is what counts.
Lauren CuthbertsonQ&A, Design Museum (Beazley Designs of the Year), 2018
Ballet is a dance executed by the human soul.
Ballet technique is arbitrary and very difficult. It never becomes easy – it becomes possible.
My feet are dogs.
Lightness of movement is the cardinal demand one has to make on a dancer.
The only critic is a full house.
Give me something to dance about and I'll dance it.
Jerome RobbinsTo Irving Berlin; Selma Jeanne Cohen papers, NYPL
People like eccentrics. Therefore they will leave me alone, saying that I am a mad clown.
Vaslav NijinskyThe Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky
When I'm dancing, I always think – even when I am in a fairytale ballet such as The Sleeping Beauty – that it is real.
Marianela NuñezInterview, The Observer, 19 January 2020