"There was a star (that) danced,

and under that was I born."
 

- William Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing

"Dance when you're broken open.

Dance, if you've torn the bandage off.

Dance, in the middle of the fighting.

Dance, in your blood.

Dance, when you're perfectly free."

- Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi

"I don't want people who want to dance,

I want people who have to dance. "
 

- George Balanchine

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul."
 

- Martha Graham (1894-1994)

US dancer, choreographer

Edgar Degas
Little Dancer Aged Fourteen - wax statuette, 1879-1881
 

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC, USA

Dance

Dance
Feel the sensation
As your feet touch the ground
Feel your body
As it moves with the sound
Dance
Spinning in ecstasy
Gliding across the floor
Feeling the rhythm and beat
Pulsating through you more and more
Dance
As it all becomes one
We begin to see
There is no you
There is no me
There is no music
There is just
Dance

- Savannah Skye

(With permission)

"Then come the lights shining on you from above.

You are a performer.

You forget all you learned,

the process of technique,

the fear, the pain,

you even forget who you are,

you become one with the music, the lights,

indeed one with the dance."

- Shirley MacLaine

Edgar Degas
Dancers at the Old Opera House, c. 1877
 

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC, USA

Edgar Degas
The Dance Lesson, c. 1879
 

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC, USA

Dance Your Essence

Dance of Life

My dance is of earth
Pounding the beat
The rhythmic throbbing of my heart
As my callused feet
Tap on the ground

My dance is of fire
The flame in my soul
Brings a gleam in my eye
As my untiring body
Soars through the inferno

My dance is of water
The flood plain of my brain
This liquid beauty is my twin
I am fluid and free
My movement a devastating typhoon

My dance is of dark
My shadow, my soul mate
It swoops down like an eagle
And steals the sun
The darkness sets me free as I fly for the moon

My dance is of light
The brightest day
Warms my coldest night
As I sing for the sun
And glide through the clouds

My dance is of life

- Artemis Taylor

(With permission)

Edgar Degas
Spanish Dance, c. 1883/1885
 

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC, USA

Edgar Degas
Before the Ballet, 1890/1892
 

Widener Collection
National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC, USA

"The Dancer believes that his art has something to say which cannot be expressed in words or in any other way than by dancing... there are times when the simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words.

There are movements which impinge upon the nerves with a strength that is incomparable, for movement has power to stir the senses and emotions, unique in itself.

This is the dancer's justification for being, and his reason for searching further for deeper aspects of his art."

- Doris Humphrey, 1937

"We dance for laughter,

we dance for tears,

we dance for madness,

we dance for fears,

we dance for hopes,

we dance for screams,

we are the dancers,

we create the dreams."

-

 - Anonymous

Dancers work and live from the inside.

They drive themselves constantly producing a glow that lights not only themselves but audience after audience."

- M. Louis

"Artists lead unglamorous daily lives of discipline and routine,

but their work is full of passion.

Each has a vision and feels responsibility to that vision."

- Merryl Brockway

"Dance is your pulse,

your heartbeat,

your breathing.

It's the rhythm of your life.

It's the expression in time and movement,

in happiness, joy, sadness and envy."

- Jaques D'Ambroise

"Dance is the only art of which

we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made. "
 

- Ted Shawn

"Dance is music made visible. "
 

- George Balanchine

"Jazz dance is interpreting music. It's my obligation to the musician to express what he feels when he's playing. It all boils down to the relationship of the movement to the music."
 

- Frank Hatchett

“Jazz, itself is a feeling, an honest, personal feeling, inspired by soulful music. The source of jazz is inside. Jazz cannot be found in a pose, or a leap, or a bump, or a grind. It’s not a series of ‘jazz steps’. Jazz must be an honest expression of a musical soul. Jazz dance is moving with that feeling through a safe and effective technique. Never force an extension or back arch. Nothing should hurt. Technique is like tuning an instrument; learn to tune your body just right, so that when you go to play it, it’s beautiful. Never stop moving. Even when you are standing still, feel the movement inside.” 

"I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what is too deep to find for words. "
 

- Ruth St. Denis

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