Occupation: Ballerina Birth: May 18, 1919 Death: February 21, 1991
Dancing was something to be taken very seriously when engaged in and otherwise put out of mind..
Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike..
I explained it when I danced it..
There is no way anything of value can be done without some framework. It might well be that the framework is discarded or the rules opposed; that is ….
Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time..
The world of dance is a charmed place. Some people like to inhabit it, others to behold it; either way it is rewarding..
Ballet is more than a profession - it is a way of life..
Take your work seriously, but never yourself..
Dancers are both athletes and artists..
Genius is another word for magic..
generally speaking, we are all happier when we are still striving for achievement than when the prize is in our hands..
The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The firs….
The world of dance is a natural world from which civilization has divorced many of us by making it appear remote - something reserved for the few who….
I have never wanted to live to be old, so old I'd run out of friends or money..
The essential thing about mothers is that one needs to know that they are there, particularly at that age when, paradoxically, one is trying so hard ….
the first night is the worst possible time to make a hard and fast criticism: the baby never looks its best on the day it is born..
...wherever one is, some part of oneself remains on another continent..
... when I left the stage door and sought my orientation among real people I was in a wilderness of unpredictables in an unchoreographed world..
Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever ….
Jumping for joy' is a very basic human reaction, and a child skipping down the street is simply an untrained dancer..
Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable..