Famous quotes by Dancers

Dancers speak a language of rhythm, rigor, and risk, and their words reflect the same clarity and grace found in their movement. These quotes gather perspectives from ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and beyond, revealing dedication, vulnerability, and joy shaped by rehearsal rooms and stages worldwide. Whether you seek motivation, artistic insight, or a glimpse into the craft's discipline, the voices assembled offer honesty about creativity, community, and the body's wisdom. Let their reflections inspire curiosity, resilience, and a deeper appreciation for the artistry of motion.

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

Martha Graham, Dancer

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home"

Twyla Tharp, Dancer

Small: Twyla Tharp

"The only sin is mediocrity"

Martha Graham, Dancer

"The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener"

George Balanchine, Dancer

"My motto - sans limites"

Isadora Duncan, Dancer

"I don't start a piece knowing exactly what effect it's going to have. There is a seed of an idea that I could never articulate, right at the beginning of the piece, literally like one cell"

Siobhan Davies, Dancer

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible"

George Chakiris, Dancer

"My mother was a dominant force in my life. She had a very specific idea about education, which was: you should know everything about everything. It was quite simple. There was no exclusivity, and there really was no judgment"

Twyla Tharp, Dancer

Small: Twyla Tharp

"I could work out a lot of my emotions by going to class and dancing"

Suzanne Farrell, Dancer

"Body language is a very powerful tool. We had body language before we had speech, and apparently, 80% of what you understand in a conversation is read through the body, not the words"

Deborah Bull, Dancer

"The body never lies"

Martha Graham, Dancer

"Censorship is the height of vanity"

Martha Graham, Dancer

"Nothing is more revealing than movement"

Martha Graham, Dancer

"I wasn't really naked. I simply didn't have any clothes on"

Josephine Baker, Dancer

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little"

Agnes de Mille, Dancer

"The body is a sacred garment"

Martha Graham, Dancer

"It is extremely arrogant and very foolish to think that you can ever outwit your audience"

Twyla Tharp, Dancer

Small: Twyla Tharp

"It will take very sophisticated marketing to achieve our aim of bringing more black people into the theater"

Alvin Ailey, Dancer

"No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business"

Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dancer

"Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important"

Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dancer

"Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made"

Ted Shawn, Dancer

Small: Ted Shawn

"I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words"

Ruth St. Denis, Dancer

"Misery is a communicable disease"

Martha Graham, Dancer

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

Martha Graham, Dancer

"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"

Martha Graham, Dancer

"I was privileged to be able to study a year with Martha Graham, the last year she was teaching"

Twyla Tharp, Dancer

Small: Twyla Tharp

"There's this expression called postmodernism, which is kind of silly, and destroys a perfectly good word called modern, which now no longer means anything"

Twyla Tharp, Dancer

Small: Twyla Tharp

"The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts"

Twyla Tharp, Dancer

Small: Twyla Tharp

"Perhaps he was a bit different from other people, but what really sympathetic person is not a little mad?"

Isadora Duncan, Dancer

"You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you"

Isadora Duncan, Dancer

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