The body says what words cannot.
Martha GrahamRead
People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.
Interpretation
Being a dancer is not merely a choice; it is a calling that shapes one's entire life.
Martha Graham expresses that her journey as a dancer was not a conscious decision but rather a destiny that she embraced. This profound realization emphasizes the idea that true passion often finds us, and once we acknowledge it, it becomes an integral part of our existence, influencing every aspect of our lives.
In practice
In a motivational speech to aspiring artists, to illustrate the importance of following one's passion.
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.
THERE ARE TWO THINGS that don't have to mean anything, one is music and the other is laughter.
Perhaps it is no surprise I became an entertainer because many of my relatives were natural performers. Dad, who had a fine pair of lungs, was master of ceremonies at East Ham working men's club in east London. I felt so proud when I saw him in his white gloves calling out the names of the dances.
Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it, putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before.
I don't believe that clothes can start a revolution, but I do believe that fashion is often a manifestation of a sociological or political climate.
I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.
The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.
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