If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it
Isadora DuncanRead
Before I was born my mother was in great agony of spirit and in a tragic situation. She could take no food except iced oysters and champagne. If people ask me when I began to dance, I reply 'In my mother's womb, probably as a result of the oysters and Champagne.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote humorously suggests that Isadora Duncan's love for dance was influenced by her mother's unique cravings during pregnancy.
Isadora Duncan's quote reflects on her mother's experience during pregnancy, implying that the artist's connection to dance may have begun before her birth. The mention of cravings for iced oysters and champagne illustrates the uniqueness of her mother's situation and serves as a humorous anecdote, pointing to the idea that one's passion may be rooted in the very beginning of life, even before conscious existence.
Themes
DanceMotherPregnancyHumorArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the joys of motherhood, I might use this quote to highlight the unexpected ways our passions are nurtured.
More from Isadora Duncan
All quotes →The dancer of the future will be one whose body & soul have grown so harmoniously together that the natural language of the soul will have become the movement of the body.
Isadora DuncanRead
A dancer, if she is great, can give to the people something that they can carry with them forever. They can never forget it, and it has changed them, though they may never know it.
Isadora DuncanRead
Master technique, so that technique NEVER prevents you from dancing.
Isadora DuncanRead
Oh Woman, come before us, before our eyes longing for beauty, and tired of the ugliness of civilization, come in simple tunics, letting us see the line and harmony of the body beneath, and dance for us. Dance us the sweetness of life. Give us again the sweetness and the beauty of the true dance, give us again the joy of seeing the simple unconscious pure body of a woman. Like a great call it has come, and women must hear it and answer it.
Isadora DuncanRead
I have only danced my life. As a child I danced the spontaneous joy of growing things. As an adolescent, I danced with joy turning to apprehension of the first realisation of tragic undercurrents; apprehension of the pitiless brutality and crushing progress of life.
Isadora DuncanRead
Similar quotes
Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.
Andy WarholRead
I am never going to write for the sake of writing.
Emma LazarusRead
In my opinion, theater shouldn't give advice to citizens.
Vaclav HavelRead
Art is the triumph over chaos.
John CheeverRead
It’s such a fun job, and it can be silly and light and about making people laugh. I think I was doing it a disservice by thinking it’s not something ultimately important. I always was saying, ‘I’m not saving lives; I’m not a brain surgeon.’ And that’s true—I’m not saving anyone from any life-threatening illnesses. But I get to tell stories, and that’s a pretty important task.
Emma StoneRead
Architecture, like dance, is also a language - one that everybody understands.
Santiago CalatravaRead