Quotes by Judith Jamison

“Once youve danced, you always dance. You cant deny the gifts that God sends your way.”

“We can go on talking about racism and who treated whom badly, but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to wallow in that or are you going to create your own agenda?”

“So many people dwell on negativity and Ive survived by ignoring it: it dims your light and its harder each time to turn the power up again.”

“I felt the naivete of a child in my dancing. I cherished that feeling. I had what I call a knowledgeable naivete, and it worked for me.”

“People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.”

“and they leave the theatre changed.”

“Dont call me a star. Call me a dancer.”

“As a dancer, he was quicksilver. He moved like a cat.”

“Alvin knew what I would do with it because we worked together for such a long time. Its part of my blood and part of who I am as a human being. Alvins presence is felt by us all, even the new dancers who never worked with him. And if we do our jobs well, that continues the vision.”

“Its a mood piece about love and relationship, like a slice- of –life- pie at 2 a.m. with episodes that happen quickly.”

Learn the craft of knowing how to open your heart and to turn on your creativity. There’s a light inside of you.

If you look at a dancer in silence, his or her body will be the music. If you turn the music on, that body will become an extension of what youre hearing.

You dont enter a dance studio and say I cant do that. If you do, then why are you in the studio in the first place?

The first time I started choreographing was in the dark, in my living room, with the lights completely out, to some popular music on the radio. I put the radio on full blast and I started moving. I didnt know what it looked like. I didnt want to see it... I had to start in the dark.

People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.