To me, this acquirement of nervous, physical, and emotional concentration is the one element possessed to the highest degree by the truly great dancers of the world. Its acquirement is the result of discipline, of energy in the deep sense. That is why there are so few great dancers.

Martha Graham

Categorized in : Dance Emotional Discipline

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

Martha Graham

block yoga dance

Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.

Martha Graham

dance wings inspirational

Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.

Martha Graham

motivational inspirational life

I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

Martha Graham

learning dance believe

Dance is communication, and so the great challenge is to speak clearly, beautifully and with inevitability.

Martha Graham

communication dancing dance

No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

Martha Graham

dance artist blessed

The body is a sacred garment. It's your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor.

Martha Graham

body honor healing

We are all of us, unique - each a unique pattern of creativity and if we do not fulfill it, it is lost for all time.

Martha Graham

patterns creativity unique

Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.

Martha Graham

dance weather lying

The body says what words cannot.

Martha Graham

get-well dance photography

Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for -- liberation.

Martha Graham

discipline dance mean

I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man--the landscape of his soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be.

Martha Graham

essence expression men

All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.

Martha Graham

dancing dance love

Dance is the hidden langauge of the soul, of the body.

Martha Graham

dance inspirational art

The main thing, of course, always, is the fact that there is only one of you in the world, just one, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost. Ambition is not enough; necessity is everything.

Martha Graham

love-yourself dance life

What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.

Martha Graham

perspective people thinking

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 time, this expression is unique.

Martha Graham

dance uplifting positive

In the end, it all comes down to the art of breathing.

Martha Graham

breathing dancing art

People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.

Martha Graham

chosen dancer people

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.

Martha Graham

ballet-class passion dance