Dance quotes can be used to inspire dancers and rekindle a passion for dance. Moreover, these dance quotes can be used to explore the art of dance.
Dance is integral to being human. It’s an art form that has transcended cultures across millennia. But only dancers know what it means to dedicate their lives to the craft. As Merce Cunningham explains in her quote below, dance doesn’t produce permanent things like poems or paintings that can be hung on the wall. So, what drives the dancer to perfect their art?
That’s what this collection explores and reveals. Through the poignant words of some of history’s greatest dancers, we can begin to glimpse the driver of dancers and the true meaning of dance.
As developers of dance management software we are dedicated to understanding the art of movement. That’s why we’ve curated this collection of inspirational dance quotes.
Let’s start with short dance quotes that get to the heart of what it means to be a dancer.
Short dance quotes about the art of dance
1) “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” – Martha Graham
2) “Dancing is creating a sculpture that is visible only for a moment.” – Erol Ozan
3) “Dancers aren’t made of their technique, but their passion.” – Agnes de Mille
4) “Dance for me a minute, and I’ll tell you who you are.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov
5) “Dancers are made, not born.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov
6) “Never be afraid to be a poppy in a field of daffodils.” – Michaela DePrince
7) “Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art.” – Margot Fonteyn
8) “Every time I dance, I’m trying to prove myself to myself.” – Misty Copeland
9) “If you want to release your aggression, get up and dance.” – Chuck Berry
10) “When I dance, I escape the present and become one with my soul.” – Normani Kordei
11) “Any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.” – Lynda Barr
12) “You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams.” – Gene Kelly
13) “Keep proving them wrong.” – Michaela DePrince
14) “Where there is no heart there is no art.” – Anna Pavlova
15) “I think of dance as a constant transformation of life itself.” – Merce Cunningham
16) “I’m trying to make the perfect dance, that’s what drives me.” – Trisha Brown
17) “Your fragility is also your strength.” – Pina Bausch
18) “When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.” – Paulo Coelho
19) “Dancers are both athletes and artists.” – Margot Fonteyn
20) “The most essential thing in dance discipline is devotion.” – Merce Cunningham
21) “Dance constitutes a true recapturing of… freedom and childish play.” – Agnes de Mille
22) “Dance is the movement of the universe concentrated in an individual.” – Isadora Duncan
23) “When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.” – Paulo Coelho
24) “Daily dance uplifts the soul to spiritual realms.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
25) “Dance is the timeless interpretation of life.” – Shah Asad Rizvi
Inspirational dance quotes
26) “To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.” – Agnes De Mille
27) “You dance because you have to. Dance is an essential part of life that has always been with me.” – Katherine Dunham
28) “The dance is strong magic. The body can fly without wings. It can sing without voice.” – Pearl Primus
29) “There is something so rewarding about dancing. It’s almost spiritual – you let loose, you feel free, you get endorphins from the exercise.” – Julianne Hough
30) “I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words.” – Ruth St. Denis
31) “To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.” – Agnes de Mille
32) “Technical perfection is insufficient. It is an orphan without the true soul of the dancer.” – Sylvie Guillem
33) “Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.” – Martha Graham
34) “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.” – Merce Cunningham
35) “Dance is an art in space and time. The object of the dancer is to obliterate that.” – Merce Cunningham
36) “Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art.” – Margot Fonteyn
37) “The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie.” – Agnes de Mille
38) “I have lived so long because in those moments when I am dancing, I am beyond time and space.” – Ruth St. Denis
39) “Dancing is surely the most basic and relevant of all forms of expression. Nothing else can so effectively give outward form to an inner experience.” – Lyall Watson
Motivational dance quotes
40) “Every morning I am a beginner.” – Hanya Holm
41) “For me, purity of movement wasn’t enough. I needed expression, more intensity, more mind.” – Rudolf Nureyev
42) “Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for — liberation.” – Martha Graham
43) “Dance form is logical, but it is all in the realm of feeling, sensitivity and imagination.” – Doris Humphrey
44) “No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius.” – Anna Pavlova
45) “You don’t just become a success overnight.” – Darcey Bussell
46) “This search for what you want is like tracking something that doesn’t want to be tracked. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable.” – Fred Astaire
47) “Dance is certainly a sport, and they are phenomenal athletes, and they’re also artists.” – Neve Campbell
48) “To tend, unfailingly, unflinchingly, towards a goal, is the secret of success.” – Anna Pavlova
49) “Perseverance has always just been something that was in me. And it was a tool that came in very handy as a ballerina.” – Misty Copeland
50) “Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion, and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.” – Anna Pavlova
51) “Having limits to push against is how you find out what you can do.” – Sylvie Guillem
52) “Every dance you make belongs to you. It is part of your collection. When you think of it like that, you’ll want to make your next routine the best you’ve ever made!” – Torron-Lee Dewar
Dance quotes for kids
53) “Dance is a great way to express yourself.” – Darcey Bussell
54) “When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.” – Wayne Dyer
55) “Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance.” – Oprah Winfrey
56) “When I dance, I forget everything else and just feel completely happy.” – Katherine Jenkins
57) “A good dancer is an educated one, so don’t abandon school.” – Deborah Bull
58) “Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals.” – Charles Baudelaire
59) “I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov
Funny dance quotes
60) “Dance like nobody’s looking.” – Mark Twain
61) “The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it’s considered to be your style.” – Fred Astaire
62) “If people stand in a circle long enough, they’ll eventually begin to dance.” – George Carlin
63) “Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.” – Samuel Beckett
64) “Dance for yourself. If someone understands, good. If not, no matter.” – Louis Horst
Quotes about dance from dancers
65) “Dancing has always been a passion for me, one that I will probably never be rid of.” – Darcey Bussell
66) “I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be.” -Martha Graham
67) “I loved to dance because I was scared to speak. When I was moving, I could feel.” – Pina Bausch
68) “Who am I?, the artist asks. And he devotes his whole life to finding out.” – Agnes de Mille
69) “The Dancer believes that his art has something to say which cannot be expressed in words or in any other way than by dancing.” – Doris Humphrey
70) “Ballet was this thing that just felt so innate in me, like I was meant to be doing this.” – Misty Copeland
71) “I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words.” – Ruth St. Denis
Saving time and money for dance studios
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