The body says what words cannot.
Martha GrahamRead
To me, this acquirement of nervous, physical, and emotional concentration is the one element possessed to the highest degree by the truly great dancers of the world. Its acquirement is the result of discipline, of energy in the deep sense. That is why there are so few great dancers.
Interpretation
Great dancers achieve a unique level of concentration through discipline and energy.
Martha Graham emphasizes that the highest caliber of dancers embodies intense nervous, physical, and emotional concentration, which is fundamental to their craft. This level of mastery does not happen by chance; it is cultivated through rigorous discipline and an intrinsic energy, which is why truly great dancers are rare.
In practice
In a dance class when discussing the importance of focus.
The body says what words cannot.
Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.
What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.
No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.
Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the world.
One should not become an artist because he can, but because he must. It is only for those who would be miserable without it.
A documentary photograph is not a factual photograph.
But I lie. I embellish. My words are not deep enough. They disguise, they conceal. I will not rest until I have told of my descent into a sensuality which was as dark, as magnificent, as wild, as my moments of mystic creation have been dazzling, ecstatic, exalted.
To paint is the most terrific thing that there is, but to do it well is very difficult.
If you foolishly ignore beauty, then you will soon find yourself without it.
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