20th-century Choreographer Quotes

Gene Kelly

Mikhail Baryshnikov

George Balanchine

Alvin Ailey

Robert Helpmann

Twyla Tharp

Agnes de Mille

There is something fearfully strengthening about cutting free even if the ties bandage the heart itself.

You don't have a really good idea until you combine two little ideas.

You know, I never planned to leave. I was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. You know, I played their game, pretending, of course. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB... Horrifying.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Dancers have more bones than most people and on the days when you work hard you are sure that you have somehow accumulated more bones than you started with.

Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the journey, and the hard work and the sacrifices and opportunities it takes to get somewhere, because it will all make you better at what you do when you arrive.

Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo

Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat.

Ballet is the one place where art flourishes because of a woman; woman is the goddess, the poetess, the muse. That is why I have a company with beautiful girl dancers.

George Balanchine

On being asked if there might be a future for nude dancing:

No. You see there are portions of the human anatomy which would keep swinging after the music had finished.

Robert Helpmann

I am committed to using technology in my dances but not for the purpose of making a comment on technology, but rather to use it as a tool to express the human condition. I think that there are many disadvantages to using technology, it is expensive, difficult to set up and can steal the show by drawing too much attention away from the dance. I love the beauty and the simplicity of a warm body moving without frills, but I think technology is part of our common language now and to not create a relationship with it in dance seems like ignoring a vital tool for connection.

This city is a completely female city. Female town. Beijing is male. All rough and politics. Shanghai is more delicate. Money talks. Beautiful. I had enough rough. I need details. Specially because (I am) a lady. I need city.

Dance form is logical, but it is all in the realm of feeling, sensitivity and imagination...

For many years, I felt that no matter what I did, what ballet I made, how beautifully I danced, it was not good enough.... That's one of the worst things about racism, what it does to young people. It tears down your insides so that no matter what you achieve, no matter what you write or choreograph, you feel it's not quite enough. You're not quite up to snuff.

I want to bring in 'da noise. I want to bring in 'da funk.

When it came to the stylish and graceful art of ballroom dancing, my dad was a king of the clubs, a prowling tiger and a wonderfully natural mover.

When I'm taking my last breath, I want to look at how I used up the best of myself. How much did I sweat, push, pull, rip, fall, hit, crash, explode?...My dream is to be so well-used that in my last-half second, I just burst into dust.

Elizabeth Streb