The body says what words cannot.
Martha GrahamRead
In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the beauty and strength found in the small, often overlooked details of life, particularly in art and dance.
Martha Graham's quote speaks to the inherent beauty and strength that exists in the subtle and seemingly insignificant aspects of life, embodied in the art of dance. It emphasizes the reverence a dancer has for their own body, specifically for the 'small beautiful bones' that offer both grace and power, reminding us to appreciate the delicate intricacies that contribute to the larger picture of art and existence.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of appreciating fine arts, this quote can underline how details matter.
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.
My mother likes what I cook, but doesn't think it's French. My wife is Puerto Rican and Cuban, so I eat rice and beans. We have a place in Mexico, but people think I'm the quintessential French chef.
Do your art. But don't wreck your art if it doesn't lend itself to paying the bills. That would be a tragedy.
Where I grew up, in Aldgate, east London, one of the poorest boroughs in the country, I saw lots that was real - the bankers with their briefcases, the man next door with five wives, the illegal immigrants in Flat 5. I'm from a world you rarely see on screen, and I want to show it off.
This was the first time that he has ever looked into the labyrinth of the human soul. He was very far from understanding what he saw. But what was of more value, he felt and suffered with her. In years that were yet to come, he relived this memory in song, in the most beautiful song this world has known. For the understanding of the soul's defencelessness, of the conflict between the two poles, is not the source of the greatest song. The source of the greatest song is sympathy.
My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.
To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.
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