Ballets quotes:

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All Ballets' fundamental steps are derived from the folk dances of Western Europe. -- Ninette de Valois
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. -- Iris Apfel
Dance in the most perishable of the arts. Ballets are forgotten, ballerinas retire, choreographers die--and what remains of that glorious production which so excited us a decade ago, a year ago, or even last night? -- Jack Anderson
Most ballets are more interesting than most men. -- Patricia McBride
Nothing is harder to create than brilliant comic ballets, except maybe brilliant full-evening comic ballets. -- Robert Gottlieb
The ballets you do make you into the final product you are. And I had extraordinary partners. -- Patricia McBride
What guarantees - or at least semi-guarantees - good ballets is good choreographers, and they are thin on the ground. -- Robert Gottlieb
I was not influenced by concerts as a child, but I was very strongly influenced by the ballets I saw. -- Bebe Neuwirth
Sometimes I feel as if sections of my ballets were done for me - that I didn't do them myself. -- Antony Tudor
I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is. -- Mikhail Baryshnikov
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is one of George Balanchine's greatest creations - and one of the greatest of all story ballets. -- Robert Gottlieb
In the world of classical ballet there are only a handful of story ballets, so getting a new one is cause for excitement. -- Karen Kain
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. -- Patricia McBride
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. -- Suzanne Farrell
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. -- Robert Gottlieb
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. -- George Balanchine
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. -- Robert Caro
I wanted to be a ballerina as a child - I had a tutu, and I used to stage my own ballets in our front room with my family as the audience. -- Lucy Hawking
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. -- Twyla Tharp
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. -- Robert Gottlieb
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. -- Terry Teachout
Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good ballets are different from each other and all bad ones are alike, at least in one crucial respect - they're all empty. -- Robert Gottlieb
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! -- Jill Scott
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. -- Patricia McBride
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. -- Gelsey Kirkland
I remember my dreams when I was a junior soloist. 'Oh, I hope I don't end here,' I thought. 'I want to do the ballerina in 'Scotch Symphony.' I don't want to be the little Scotch girl.' And I actually went beyond my wildest dreams. I worked with Balanchine. I had ballets choreographed for me. -- Patricia McBride
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. -- Patricia McBride
As long as my ballets are danced, I will live -- Rudolf Nureyev
Sometimes I feel as if sections of my ballets were done for me - that I didnt do them myself. -- Antony Tudor
A Midsummer Night's Dream' is one of George Balanchine's greatest creations - and one of the greatest of all story ballets. -- Robert Gottlieb
I'm a classical ballet dancer, and at the end of the day I want to be with American Ballet Theater, performing classical ballets. -- Misty Copeland
Aren't all ballets sexy? I think they should be. I can think of nothing more kinky than a prince chasing a swan around all night. -- Robert Helpmann
I'm trying to do things I have never done. Like I recently went to 3 different ballets. And I loved trying to learn how to like those a little bit. -- Brian Regan
Of course, from one point of view the unhappy events of our own century might be regarded as, say, demonstration ballets on the theme 'Hydrocarbon Synthesis' with strong audience participation. -- J. G. Ballard
Of course, from one point of view the unhappy events of our own century might be regarded as, say, demonstration ballets on the theme 'Hydrocarbon Synthesis' with strong audience participation." -- J. G. Ballard
If our ballets be feeble, monotonous and dull, if they be devoid of ideas, meaning, expression and character, it is less the fault of the art than that of the artist. -- Jean-Georges Noverre
Dancing and ballets would undoubtedly take on a new lease on life, if the customs established by a spirit of fear and jealousy did not in some way close the path of glory... -- Jean-Georges Noverre

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