The Only Dance Masters I

The Real American Type Can Never Be A Ballet Dancer. The Legs Are Too Long, The Body Too Supple And The Spirit Too Free For This School Of Affected Grace And Toe Walking.

The Dancer's Body Is Simply The Luminous Manifestation Of The Soul. The True Dance Is An Expression Of Serenity; It Is Controlled By The Profound Rhythm Of Inner Emotion. Emotion Does Not Reach The Moment Of Frenzy Out Of A Spurt Of Action; It Broods First, It Sleeps Like The Life In The Seed, And It Unfolds With A Gentle Slowness. The Greeks Understood The Continuing Beauty Of A Movement That Mounted, That Spread, That Ended With A Promise Of Rebirth.

The First Essential In Writing About Anything Is That The Writer Should Have No Experience Of The Matter.

There Are Likewise Three Kinds Of Dancers: First, Those Who Consider Dancing As A Sort Of Gymnastic Drill, Made Up Of Impersonal And Graceful Arabesques; Second, Those Who, By Concentrating Their Minds, Lead The Body Into The Rhythm Of A Desired Emotion, Expressing A Remembered Feeling Or Experience. And Finally, There Are Those Who Convert The Body Into A Luminous Fluidity, Surrendering It To The Inspiration Of The Soul.

The Movement Of The Waves, Of Winds, Of The Earth Is Ever In The Same Lasting Harmony. We Do Not Stand On The Beach And Inquire Of The Ocean What Was Its Movement Of The Past And What Will Be Its Movement Of The Future. We Realize That The Movement Peculiar To Its Nature Is Eternal To Its Nature. The Dancer Of The Future Will Be One Whose Body And Soul Have Grown So Harmoniously Together That The Natural Language Of That Soul Will Have Become The Movement Of The Body.