Daily Inspiration Quote by Ninette de Valois

Ninette de Valois is doing something deceptively practical here: she’s giving you a shortcut for seeing ballet with your ears. Calling classical ballerinas “like sopranos” isn’t just a flattering comparison to a “higher” art; it’s a taxonomy. In opera, the soprano is the instrument built for brightness, altitude, and a kind of disciplined effortlessness that only works because the technique is ferocious. De Valois smuggles that whole value system into a single image, then lands the kicker: “Applied to the dance.” Ballet, in her framing, isn’t vaguely musical; it’s musical logic translated into flesh.

The subtext is both reverent and managerial. De Valois, who helped institutionalize British ballet, is talking as a builder of companies and repertory, not a dreamy romantic. She’s saying: there are voice types, and there are dancer types; you cast accordingly. The “classical” ballerina becomes the virtuoso line, the clear top register that carries a production’s emotional melody. Not everyone is meant to sing that part, and not every work should be built around it.

There’s also a quiet defense of classicism at a time when modern dance and new theatrical styles were pressing in. By likening ballerinas to sopranos, she frames the classical tradition as a pinnacle of craft rather than an old-fashioned aesthetic. It’s a metaphor that flatters, yes, but more importantly it disciplines the audience’s gaze: watch for phrasing, clarity, breath, and the sustained illusion of ease under pressure.