Daily Inspiration Quote by Ninette de Valois

De Valois is describing study the way a choreographer builds repertory: not by swearing loyalty to a single school, but by borrowing ruthlessly and then making it yours. The Cecchetti method, with its codified exercises and clean line of logic, becomes a kind of one-year boot camp - a controlled environment where technique is stripped down to essentials. The phrase "draw onto all the highest points" is telling. She is not praising Cecchetti as a total ideology; she is treating it as a quarry. Take the sharpest tools, the clearest coordination, the disciplined musicality, then stop before the method turns into a cage.

The subtext is a quiet rebuke to the eternal dance-world temptation: mistaking a syllabus for artistry. De Valois helped build British ballet in the 20th century, when institutions were being invented in real time and dancers often trained across national styles. In that context, "general method" signals pragmatism - the studio reality of companies where dancers must adapt, not just execute. It also hints at her broader project: forging a national style that could hold its own against Russian glamour and French refinement without becoming derivative.

What makes the line work is its managerial candor. It's not romantic. It's an instruction from someone who knows that bodies have limited time and attention, and that the goal of training isn't purity; it's usable excellence. Study, in her view, is strategic: absorb structure, harvest peak value, then translate it into a flexible, living practice.