Who said dance is the hidden language of the soul

He said, "Oh, must I go? I'm so afraid she's going to give birth to a cube on the stage. I was brought up with money. My father's income started the day he was born, with a trust fund.

His father was an immigrant. Through all my childhood, all my education, I had no privation. I went into the Follies because my family's estate was embezzled. I had to work. Thank God, I had to work, and I worked hard. I cast aside every seduction that I came my way, because I was trying, I guess, to do what my father said, "You must look for the truth.

Denishawn influenced me very much in the handling of fabrics and props. I was fascinated with fabrics, I thought they were extremely beautiful. I did all my own fitting and costumes, and things of that kind, and sewed them. With "Primitive Mysteries," I decided on a Saturday night that the costumes were all wrong, and the only performance I had in a year was to be on Sunday night. So I went down to Delancey Street, or down in that area, and I bought dark blue jersey for 19 cents a yard, if you can imagine.

We came back, sewed all day, made the costumes and went on that night. And those are the same costumes - not the same dresses - but the same model that is worn today. I was stripping the body, but I hadn't yet reached the point of the leotards.

I know that I use lavish costumes now, and I know that I undress the men very much - I'm perfectly aware of that - but their bodies are so beautiful that I see no reason not to, if one is reticent and understanding.

It's not curiosity we're after, it's the revelation of beauty. I never set out to create a technique. I started out on the floor to find myself, to find what the body could do, and what would give me satisfaction - emotionally, dramatically and bodily. But I did not ever dream of establishing a technique.

I still can't believe anything like that happened. Once when I was crossing the plains of Canada while we were touring I wrote in a notebook, "I know I will have subsidies someday but I pray that it will not be too soon. I think comedy is the most difficult thing in the world, I really do.

One can always lament, you know - but to laugh in the face of life, that's very hard. And for me the great tragedian should also be a great comedian. I think it was true in the case of the little man with the big feet, Charlie Chaplin. I remember him coming back to my dressing room once, staying for an hour after the performance, and talking and talking, with his wife. He wasn't wisecracking, he was an intensely serious man.

I remember in "Punch and Judy," I had this flower and I was looking at Erick Hawkins's behind, not knowing whether I'd touch it or not touch it. I did, and then walked right away from it. Well, evidently it was extremely funny, but it was an accident, which I used later. I love comedy, you see. I love to play, I love funny things, I like to be in the middle of funny things. I'm bored with people who are always beating their breasts.

I think you have to do what Dylan Thomas says, you have to "rage against the dark. Go not lightly into that dark night. It takes a little doing, let's put it that way. My father said, "Martha, you're like a horse that runs best on a muddy track. I have never written poetry, never. I've read a great deal and I can still say Chaucer in the old Middle English, the first part, the first few lines.

That's always meant a great deal to me because of the loveliness, the wonder of the words, and the holes in the imagery for you to fill in. Dancing is very like poetry. It's like poetic lyricism sometimes, it's like the rawness of dramatic poetry, it's like the terror - or it can be like a terrible revelation of meaning.

Because when you light on a word it strikes to your heart. I have probably used words in some of my works because dance wouldn't do what I wanted it to. I probably employ words in trying to augment that. But I have used words in my new work, "Song of Songs" because I think they are beautiful in themselves.

It could be done without them, yes, but to me it wouldn't be quite the same. Robert Edmonds Jones, who was a designer, was speaking at the Neighborhood Playhouse to a young school of actors.

He was very Irish, and he said he hesitated to speak before that group of young people because he realized that there was one among them who was doomed - doomed!

Everybody shuddered. Then he went on to say - "doomed to be an artist. I didn't teach them dancing, I taught them exercises and movement for actors. One man said to me, "I don't want to learn dancing. To me, the body says what words cannot. Oct 17, AM. Thomas 2 books view quotes. Aug 07, AM. Sam 50 books view quotes. May 31, PM. Kajol 1 book view quotes. Apr 23, AM. Jeremy books view quotes. Apr 10, PM. Neela books view quotes.

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MaYa 34 books view quotes. Feb 29, AM. Feb 09, PM. Joanne 71 books view quotes. Jan 01, PM. Ana 8, books view quotes. Dec 31, AM. Erin books view quotes. Dec 09, PM. Alex 2, books view quotes. Dec 05, AM. Dance as an art form has the ability and perhaps the responsibility to reveal and to reflect on the world in which it lives.

Therefore, I believe that a dancer should not only be concerned with dancing, but also with being a citizen in society and a human being in the world.

A dancer must look outside of dance to contribute the most to the dance. In a similar way, I believe that all those who toil for the sake of dance should work together more fervently, so that dance can continue to grow as a means of expression. The dancer and choreographer who make the art should not be disconnected from the dance academic who analyzes the art, or from the dance advocate who fights for the art, or the dance administrator that supports the art from behind the scenes.

All sectors of the dance world should be closely tied through continuous discourse, thereby learning from each other and working together as allies to move dance forward. In this spirit, I desire to look beyond the essential components of dance the creating and performing , and examine the fuller context of dance as an art form. This involves using other areas of study — such as history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, economics, politics, communication, and education — and considering what they reveal about contemporary dance.

I also strive to acknowledge and explore the various sectors of the dance world art, administration, advocacy, and academia , drawing from all to acquire a fuller view of dance.

While there are many writers that discuss the stirrings of concert dance or offer performance critiques, I hope to present discourse that explores all of the above ideas — analyzing dance as an art form and thinking about how it relates to the world.

I often find that when I discuss dance in a greater context, the discourse unfolds into an array of questions. Such questions could resemble: Where has dance been and where is it going?