It is shameful that dancing should renounce the empire it might assert over the mind and only endeavor to please the sight.
Interpretation
Dance should engage the mind as well as please the eyes.
In this quote, Noverre critiques the superficial approach to dance that focuses only on visual beauty, suggesting that dance should also stimulate thought and emotion. He advocates for a deeper connection between the dancer and the audience, emphasizing that the true power of dance lies in its ability to convey complex ideas and feelings, rather than merely being a visual spectacle.
In practice
During a speech about the importance of art in education, this quote can highlight the multi-dimensional nature of dance.
The defect in wisdom and taste which exists among the majority of dancers is due to the bad education which they generally receive. They apply themselves only to the material side of their art, they learn to jump more or less high, they strive mechanically to execute a number of steps, and like children, who utter a great many words devoid of sense and relation, they execute many phrases of steps devoid of taste and grace.
Her beauty climbed the rolling slope, it came into the room, rustling ghost-like through the curtains.
Life is more important than art; that's what makes art important.
Music is the weapon. Music is the weapon of the future.
I have always thought of myself as a painter derailed by circumstance.
What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
How are we going to make painters by lecturing to them? We are going to make questioners, doubters, and talkers. We are going to make painters by painting ourselves, and by showing the paintings of others. By working frankly from our convictions, we are going to make them work frankly from theirs.
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