American - Dancer | May 10, 1943 -
The way Alvin Ailey has transformed modern dance and dance in general is the fact of variety. It's a cornucopia of ways to move. There are choreographers in the company as - as diverse, as different from each other as Donald McKayle and Bill T. Jones, or Jawole Zollar and John Butler, Lar Lubovitch, you know, and Judith Jamison.
Judith Jamison
DanceYouKnowWayCompanyModern
The world is full of ways for people to dance. Concert dance doesn't get its due.
DancePeopleWorldConcertGetFull
As long as there are dancers around who love to dance, there will be an Alvin Ailey American Dance Company. We miss him so much, but he's alive as soon as you see a dancer hit the stage.
LoveDanceAmericanLongYouAlive
You wake up white, and you think about certain things every day. You wake up black, and you think about certain things. You wake up Chinese, and you think certain things - but those things aren't major. What's major is that you are good at your craft.
GoodDayWake UpBlackThinkYou
Maybe it's a generational thing, but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I just wanted to be the best.
BestWorldBlackNeverJustWanted
I've had a really charmed life, you know. Things always come to me - they just do.
LifeMeYouKnowAlwaysThings
I'm very smart when it comes to choosing dancers and trying to show the world that there's a whole lot of dancing going on.
SmartWorldTryingDancingDancers
My wonderful editor, Jackie Onassis, asked me to write a book that I wanted to write. I said, 'Look, it's not going to be scandalized. I'm not going to talk about anybody like a dog. I'm going to say the positiveness of my life, and talk about those who have contributed to the way I've been going, and that's that.'
LifeDogMeBookMy LifeLook
Dancers use their bodies in extraordinary ways, so we are chronically pre-arthritic, because of how we use our muscles and our bones.
ExtraordinaryDancersBonesMuscles
At 10, I could walk down the street and see over everybody's head. I don't remember being little or having to look up at people. I think I was born 5 feet 10. It's not that I felt especially tall. I was wondering when everybody else was going to catch up.
WalkPeopleFeetThinkLookDown
My idea for the Jamison Project was rather like a pickup company. The idea was to give the dancers a taste of the menu. Today, dancers need to try as many companies as possible without having a drop-dead loyalty to me or anyone else. They like to have the leeway to go their own way.
TodayLoyaltyMeGoWayPossible
Since babyhood, I've always evolved from one thing to another. My mother gave me ballet lessons at 6 as part of her enthusiasm for the arts and for life. We went to museums, to the theater. While her own talent was untapped, she worked for church causes.
LifeMotherTalentMeChurchShe
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Judith Jamison quotes