I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance. George Balanchine More Quotes by George Balanchine More Quotes From George Balanchine Why are you stingy with yourselves? Why are you holding back? What are you saving for - for another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now. George Balanchine holding-backsavingright-now If you don't feel challenged, it's because you're not doing enough. Ballet should never feel comfortable. Comfortable is lazy! If you're comfortable when you dance, you're not pushing yourself hard enough. 100 % is not enough. You have to give 200%. One tendu takes years of hard work and will never be perfect. Everything in ballet is a challenge. George Balanchine hard-workgivingyears We must first realize that dancing is an absolutely independent art, not merely a secondary accompanying one. I believe that it is one of the great arts. . . . The important thing in ballet is the movement itself. A ballet may contain a story, but the visual spectacle . . . is the essential element. The choreographer and the dancer must remember that they reach the audience through the eye. It's the illusion created which convinces the audience, much as it is with the work of a magician. George Balanchine independentbelieveart First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty if you're very lucky and have said your prayers. George Balanchine sweatdanceprayer In my ballets, woman is first. Men are consorts. God made men to sing the praises of women. They are not equal to men: They are better. George Balanchine dancemenfirsts I don't have a past. I have a continuous present. The past is part of the present, just as the future is. We exist in time. George Balanchine past Someone once said that dancers work just as hard as policeman, always alert, always tense. But I don't agree with that because policeman don't have to look beautiful at the same time. George Balanchine dancebeautifullooks Music must be seen, and dance must be heard George Balanchine heard Storyless is not abstract. Two dancers on the stage are enough material for a story; for me, they are already a story in themselves George Balanchine dancerstoriestwo What are you waiting for? What are you saving for? Now is all there is. George Balanchine savingwaiting The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener. George Balanchine danceflowerbeautiful Dance is music made visible George Balanchine visibledancemade One is born to be a dancer. No teacher can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good dancer of an untalented pupil. One may be able to acquire a certain technical facility, but no one can ever 'acquire an exceptional talent.' I have never prided myself on having an unusually gifted pupil. A Pavlova is no one's pupil but God's. George Balanchine danceteacheryears Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays. George Balanchine ballet-classdanceplay Ballet dancing is arduous, strenuous activity. Students are engaged in physical training that rivals the training Olympic athletes undergo. At the same time, they strive for physical perfection not for the prowess alone but as a way of achieving the means necessary to express the pure nature of their art. George Balanchine danceathleteart Put a man and a girl on stage and there is already a story; a man and two girls, there's already a plot. George Balanchine girldancemen It's like the time capsule with everything in it. Or like the seed that when you plant it, becomes the enormous tree with leaves and fruit. Everybody was in that little seed, and so everything can open. The tree of dance is like that. It just takes a long, long time to blossom. George Balanchine dancetreelong See the music, hear the dance. George Balanchine dance Choreography is simpler than you think. Just go and do, and don't think so much about it. Just make something interesting. George Balanchine dancemotivationalthinking 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 ballet-teachersstealingdance
