Words matter. These are the best Judith Jamison Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
Strive for perfection. Nobody’s going to be perfect on this earth. But strive for perfection.
People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.
I’ve danced all over the world, and people are people. We cannot cut off from each other in life. In order to lead, you can’t do that.
People don’t remember me for how high my legs went, even though they went up very high, and how many pirouettes I did. They don’t remember me for that. They remember me and any other dancer because something touched them inside. It’s an indelible memory on the heart and in the mind.
I tell young people that people aren’t just going to flock to you as your mentors. You have to seek them out. It could be your next-door neighbor; it could be somebody upstairs from you, somebody down the block from you. An aunt or an uncle. Some relative. A parent.
As a dancer, you really try to stay true to whatever the choreographer/artistic director is giving you. So, now the shoe is on the other foot and I have to trust everyone else – I have to trust the dancer. As I was trusted as a dancer, I trust my dancers.
If people all over the world, year after year, request that you do ‘Revelations,’ you do ‘Revelations.’
I believe God has a path for me. He’s always had a path for me, and I’ve always been in the right place at the right time – not because of my efforts, but because of my preparation and because of the guides that I have, the mentors that I have, the spiritual walkers that I’ve had all my life.
Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I just wanted to be the best.
The world is full of ways for people to dance. Concert dance doesn’t get its due.
I went to an audition for a Harry Belafonte Roaring Twenties special for choreographer Donald McKayle, but I failed.
I could say now at 66, yeah, I was a fabulous dancer. I was really terrific, you know. But I was always present. I was present. I was supposed to be where I was supposed to be at the time I was supposed to be.
My wonderful editor, Jackie Onassis, asked me to write a book that I wanted to write. I said, ‘Look, it’s not going to be scandalized. I’m not going to talk about anybody like a dog. I’m going to say the positiveness of my life, and talk about those who have contributed to the way I’ve been going, and that’s that.’
Dancing is bigger than the physical body. Think bigger than that. When you extend your arm, it doesn’t stop at the end of your fingers, because you’re dancing bigger than that. You’re dancing spirit.
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?
I’ve had a really charmed life, you know. Things always come to me – they just do.
My idea for the Jamison Project was rather like a pickup company. The idea was to give the dancers a taste of the menu. Today, dancers need to try as many companies as possible without having a drop-dead loyalty to me or anyone else. They like to have the leeway to go their own way.
At 10, I could walk down the street and see over everybody’s head. I don’t remember being little or having to look up at people. I think I was born 5 feet 10. It’s not that I felt especially tall. I was wondering when everybody else was going to catch up.
I’m very smart when it comes to choosing dancers and trying to show the world that there’s a whole lot of dancing going on.
We’re dancing from here, from inside, not from outside. You could look at anybody throwing their leg and kick their leg up and a million pirouettes and do all kinds of tricks and stuff like that. But that’s not what dance is really about.
I believe in being prepared. I’m going to say that. Pray, prepare, proceed.
As long as there are dancers around who love to dance, there will be an Alvin Ailey American Dance Company. We miss him so much, but he’s alive as soon as you see a dancer hit the stage.
