Martha Graham Quotes

We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance.

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the instrument by which the dance expresses itself is also the instrument by which life is lived the human body.

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If you think about it seriously, all the questions about the soul and the immortality of the soul and paradise and hell are at bottom only a way of seeing this very simple fact that every action of ours is passed on to others according to its value, of good or evil, it passes from father to son, from one generation to the next, in a perpetual movement.

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All things I do are in every woman. Every woman is Medea. Every woman is Jocasta. There comes a time when a woman is a mother to her husband. Clytemnestra is every woman when she kills.

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The body never lies.

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The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.

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I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of a miracle.

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Fire is the test of gold adversity, of strong men.

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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.

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Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.

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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.

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You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost.

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

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Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.

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The body is a sacred garment.

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Dance is the hidden language of the soul.

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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.... One becomes in some area an athlete of God.

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To me, a building - if it's beautiful - is the love of one man, he's made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that.

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Misery is a communicable disease.

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Censorship is the height of vanity.

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Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle.

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There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and 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. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

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Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.

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Learn by practice.

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America does not concern itself now with Impressionism. We own no involved philosophy. The psyche of the land is to be found in its movement. It is to be felt as a dramatic force of energy and vitality. We move we do not stand still. We have not yet arrived at the stock-taking stage.

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