Top George Balanchine Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

George Balanchine Biography

George Balanchine

George Balanchine (born Giorgi Melitonovich Balanchivadze; January 22, 1904 – April 30, 1983) was a choreographer. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more than 35 years.

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George Balanchine Quotes

Storyless is not abstract. Two dancers on the stage are enough material for a story; for me, they are already a story in themselves

Dancer, Stage, Stories, Story, Storyless, Two

The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener.

Ballet, Beautiful, Dance, Female, Flower, Flowers

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.

Dance, Good, Miracles, Prided, Teacher, Years

They are poets of gesture.

Dancing, Gesture, Gestures, Poet, Poets

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.

Art, Believe, Choreographer, Element, Independent, Remember

Ballet will speak for itself. About itself.

Ballet, Speak

In ballet a complicated story is impossible to tell. . . we can't dance synonyms.

Ballet, Dance, Stories, Story

One is born to be a great dancer.

Born, Dancer

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.

Dance, Equal, Firsts, God, Men

My muse must come to me on union time.

Ballet, Come, Dance, Muse, Time, Unions

Choreography is simpler than you think. Just go and do, and don't think so much about it. Just make something interesting.

Dance, Interesting, Make, Motivational, Think, Thinking

I can always invent movement, and sometimes it can be fitted into the right place, but that is not choreography. It is the music that dictates the whole shape of the work. I do not believe in the permanence of anything in ballet save the purely classical.

Ballet, Believe, Movement, Permanence, Right, Work

I have no literary approach - except to literature.

Approach, Except, Literary, Literature

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.

Challenged, Give, Giving, Hard Work, Pushing, Years

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.

Achieving, Activity, Art, Dance, Mean, Same

Most ballet teachers in the United States are terrible. If they were in medicine, everyone would be poisoned.

Ballet, Dance, Medicine, Poisoned, Teacher, Teachers

First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty if you're very lucky and have said your prayers.

Dance, Prayer, Prayers, Said, Sweat

Someone once said that dancers work just as hard as policeman, always alert, always tense. But i dont agree with that because policeman don't have to look beautiful at the same time" *

Alert, Beautiful, Dance, Looks, Said, Same

I am a cloud - in trousers.

Ballet, Cloud, Clouds, Dance, Trousers

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.

Continuous, Exist, Future, Part, Past, Present

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