No white man uses his feet the way an Indian does. He talks to the earth. Agnes de Mille More Quotes by Agnes de Mille More Quotes From Agnes de Mille Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark. Agnes de Mille creativity faith life No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently. Agnes de Mille yoga inspirational life To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking. Agnes de Mille dance beautiful inspirational The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie. Agnes de Mille women dance lying Then I did the simplest thing in the world. I leaned down... and kissed him. And the world cracked open. Agnes de Mille romantic-love kissing world great artists can be uncertain. Of course they are while strugggling to find solutions. Tolstoi's scripts are almost indecipherable. Emily Dickinson provided four or more alternates for every word; Beethoven wrestled with endings to the point of exhaustion; in our day Jerome Robbins and his lack of decision are a byword in the dance profession. But all of these knew very well what they did not want, and what they did not want was the current coin, the well-worn usage. What they wanted was something newly experienced, and therefore unknown and hard to attain. Agnes de Mille coins artist decision Who am I?, the artist asks. And he devotes his whole life to finding out. Agnes de Mille whole-life dancing artist Many other women have kicked higher, balanced longer, or turned faster. These are poor substitutes for passion. Agnes de Mille ballet passion dance What have we got here in America that we believe we cannot live without? We have the most varied and imaginative bathrooms in the world, we have kitchens with the most gimmicks, we have houses with every possible electrical gadget to save ourselves all kinds of trouble - all so that we can have leisure. Leisure, leisure, leisure! So that we don't go mad in the leisure, we have color TV. So that there will never, never, be a moment of silence, we have radio and Muzak. We can't stand silence, because silence includes thinking. And if we thought, we would have to face ourselves. Agnes de Mille color believe thinking The choreographic process is exhausting. It happens on one's feet after hours of work, and the energy required is roughly the equivalent of writing a novel and winning a tennis match simultaneously. Agnes de Mille dance winning writing I learned three important things in college-to use a library, to memorize quickly and visually, to drop asleep at any time given a horizontal surface and fifteen minutes. What I could not learn was to think creatively on schedule. Agnes de Mille college inspirational thinking If you want to understand a nation, look at its dances and listen to its folk songs - don't pay any attention to its politicians. Agnes de Mille dance song looks Find the passion. It takes great passion and great energy to do anything creative. I would go so far as to say you can't do it without that passion. Agnes de Mille passion energy creative Dancers aren't made of their technique, but their passion. Agnes de Mille dancer passion technique We can't stand silence, because silence induces thinking. And if we thought, we would have to face ourselves. Agnes de Mille silence faces thinking But remember that intent is everything. One does not just jump, one lifts into the air, one rises. In the same way the lifted leg of an arabesque becomes a wing, and not a mechanical leverage like a raised trap door. This is the precise difference between dancing and acrobatics. The dancer tries to express something; the acrobat merely pulls, raises, stretches and grinds. The acrobat is lost in a web of muscles the dancer is all but invisible in projected idea. Agnes de Mille dance wings ideas When I dance I am really meditating rather then performing for an audience. I am completely absorbed by the music and the steps I choose to respond to the music. Agnes de Mille performing dance steps The creative urge is the demon that will not accept anything second rate. Agnes de Mille creativity passion creative Dance constitutes a true recapturing of... freedom and childish play. Agnes de Mille dance play Dance in the body you have. Agnes de Mille body
