What makes a dancer? Natural Ability? Skill? Discipline? the divine union of the communication between the essence and the physical….

I suppose its all relative…after all , I can only speak from a place of my own experience and journey .And Although Dance has evolved and transformed throughout the ages ..it is safe to say..the need or the natural urge to communicate through a language physically, rhythmically, intrinsically, and essentially ….is the nucleus  and heart of where dance , begins , evolves, and thrives….and the level of commitment  discipline and practice it takes to fine tune that level of communicatiion for even more depths of expression..is always a work in progress and self discovery….

So on days like these…I like to explore the wisdom of some of  the masters of dance who have transformed the face of dance as we know it…and share..

“I see dance being used as communication
between body and soul,
to express what is too deep, too fine for words.”
– Ruth St. Denis

““First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty – if you’re very lucky and have said your prayers.”
”God creates, I do not create.
I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it –
from what I see, from what the dancers can do,
from what others do…”
– George Balanchine

“”There are likewise three kinds of dancers:
first, those who consider dancing as a sort of gymnastic drill,
made up of impersonal and graceful arabesques;
second, those who, by concentrating their minds,
lead the body into the rhythm of a desired emotion,
expressing a remembered feeling or experience.
And finally, there are those who convert the body
into a luminous fluidity,
surrendering it to the inspiration of the soul.”
– Isadora Duncan

“”The time to sing is when your emotional level is just too high to speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel.” – Bob Fosse

“”Many other women have kicked higher, balanced longer, or turned faster. These are poor substitutes for passion.” ~ Agnes De Mille

“” I believe in discipline, I believe in a very definite technique. You have no right to go before a public without an adequate technique, just because you feel. Anything feels — a leaf feels, a storm feels — what right have you to do that? You have to have speech, and it’s a cultivated speech.”

““There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others”

-Martha Graham

dance on