Love Quote by Suzanne Farrell

A dancer admitting she had to learn to love dance "for its own sake" is a quiet rebuke to the way ballet trains you to crave permission. Farrell’s line lands because it implies an earlier, less pure motive without spelling it out: applause, roles, proximity to power, the intoxicating approval of a company and its gatekeepers. In ballet, “love” is often bundled with achievement; you’re rewarded for being chosen, not for moving.

Farrell’s intent feels both personal and corrective. It’s a self-portrait of maturation, but also a value statement aimed at a culture that can turn artistry into a ledger: hours, injuries, rank, casting, weight, “look.” The phrase “for its own sake” suggests a reclamation of agency. Dance becomes less a tool for winning a place in an institution and more a practice with intrinsic meaning - an art you commit to even when the system withholds validation.

The subtext is especially sharp given Farrell’s historical orbit around Balanchine and New York City Ballet, where devotion could be romanticized and discipline could tip into control. Loving dance “for its own sake” reads like an antidote to being defined by someone else’s vision, or by the narrative attached to your body. It’s a small sentence with a big boundary in it: the work is the relationship, not the spotlight, not the myth, not the men behind the curtain.