Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Most ballets are more interesting than most men.
I'm trying to create ballets that I would enjoy seeing.
All of the vintage photos of Ballets Russes are so inspiring.
I keep starting supergroups, writing ballets and things like that.
I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is.
The ballets you do make you into the final product you are. And I had extraordinary partners.
Sometimes I feel as if sections of my ballets were done for me - that I didn't do them myself.
I was not influenced by concerts as a child, but I was very strongly influenced by the ballets I saw.
Oh, I could have done more. I refused a lot of ballets. I said, 'No way, no way I'm going to do that.'
I remember that my mother used to take me to see ballets, especially if there were black people in them.
Nothing is harder to create than brilliant comic ballets, except maybe brilliant full-evening comic ballets.
It's amazing what a resource modern technology is now for making ballets, and I film my rehearsals almost every day.
What guarantees - or at least semi-guarantees - good ballets is good choreographers, and they are thin on the ground.
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is one of George Balanchine's greatest creations - and one of the greatest of all story ballets.
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.
I cherish the ballets made for myself by Mr. Balanchine. He never lost his temper. He was quiet, humble, the genius of the 20th century.
I like dramatic ballets, particularly if they're ballets in which I have a chance to go from one extreme of style or characterization to another.
George Balanchine is my role model because his work is so varied. You can see two ballets of his and not even realize that they are by the same choreographer.
I like new ballets because they're totally new. As you get older, new experiences are harder and harder to come by, so it's pretty great to have a new experience.
'The Sleeping Beauty' is the greatest, most challenging and most vulnerable of classical ballets. Everything can go wrong with it, and all too often, everything does.
I live in the Dark Ages, the 17th century. Actually, I would have loved to be in Paris in the early 20th century when the Ballets Russes were there and Chanel was designing.
Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love.
When I found out that I was going be Juliet, it felt much more real than 'Manon,' because 'Manon' is one of those ballets that you probably do after Juliet, so that never really sunk in to be honest.
I love all of the ballets that have a really strong story in them where I get to play a character. I don't enjoy the ones that are more technical without a story line and it's just me on stage dancing.
The best gift I was ever given was the arts. My mum gave me those on a silver platter. Growing up, her and my grandmother would take me to ballets, classical concerts, even smoky jazz clubs I wasn't supposed to be in!
There's the tradition of the 19th-century ballets, and the 20th century has had a difficult time with that tradition. And it's had a difficult time with many components of the Romantic imagination because of modernism.
Not only are most of our citizens fathomlessly ignorant of the glories of American literature, a fast-growing percentage of our students are no longer taught much about any works of American art, be they novels, paintings, symphonies or ballets.
When you dance, it takes a lot of stamina, but it never seemed like work 'cause I was doing something that I so loved doing. It was always a joy. And you know, to have beautiful ballets made specially for you is such an honor. I always said it was better than diamonds.
The first year with ABT I learned 13 new roles. Most were lengthy ballets, more complicated than I was used to. I have suffered from tendinitis since I was 13, and it flared up again until the pain was paralyzing. There were times I prayed I'd be sick so I wouldn't have to go on.
I think that story ballets, as great as they might sell, they're a really dated and awkward medium to tell stories through. I think there needs to be an updated or different approach to storytelling in dance. There needs to be less of a separation between the storytelling and the dancing.
There are some ballets you can do for a long time. With others, you have to know when to stop. Some are very destructive. Forsythe's choreography pushes dancers to the extreme. That's why it's best to vary. That way, you break your body a little bit in different places, but not a lot in one place.
Mr. Balanchine wanted me to be myself. He didn't want me to look like anyone else. I love teaching our company dancers the Balanchine ballets. I try to give them what was passed down to me and what I learned from him. They dance it so beautifully. It also keeps me close to Mr. Balanchine. He's with me every single day.
I've always thought of the process of creating ballets as being this kind of team effort. It's not like being a painter, where you have your paint, and you have canvas, and you just go at it. I'm working with these living, breathing, functioning human beings, and they have their own thoughts and ideas about what works well movement-wise.
