The body says what words cannot.
Martha GrahamRead
It takes ten years, usually, to make a dancer. It takes ten years of handling the instrument, handling the material with which you are dealing, for you to know it completely.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Mastery in the arts requires a significant investment of time and practice.
Martha Graham emphasizes that the journey to becoming a skilled dancer is a lengthy process, typically taking around ten years. This period is essential for artists to fully understand and master their tools and the medium they work with, highlighting the importance of dedication and perseverance in the arts.
Themes
DanceMasteryPracticeCommitmentArtistry
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the arts at a school assembly.
More from Martha Graham
All quotes →Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Martha GrahamRead
Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.
Martha GrahamRead
What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.
Martha GrahamRead
No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
Martha GrahamRead
The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.
Martha GrahamRead
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