Quotes by Judith Jamison

About Judith Jamison:

Judith Ann Jamison is an American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The word 'suffering' is not in my vocabulary.

Judith Jamison

Dance is not endangered - it will always find a way to express itself.

Judith Jamison

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.

Judith Jamison

I believe in being prepared. I'm going to say that. Pray, prepare, proceed.

Judith Jamison

If people all over the world, year after year, request that you do 'Revelations,' you do 'Revelations.'

Judith Jamison

Strive for perfection. Nobody's going to be perfect on this earth. But strive for perfection.

Judith Jamison

I don't think of myself as a leader. I am, but I don't think of myself that way. I'm not trying to belittle what I do, but I think of myself as a dancer first. I'll always be a dancer.

Judith Jamison

It's called the Ailey American Dance Theatre, not the Alvin Ailey African-American Dance Theatre. One thing also that Alvin wanted people to recognize, he had to wake up black every day. That's not an issue. His culture is an issue, not his color, hi...

Judith Jamison

The world is full of ways for people to dance. Concert dance doesn't get its due.

Judith Jamison

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 mem...

Judith Jamison

I went to an audition for a Harry Belafonte Roaring Twenties special for choreographer Donald McKayle, but I failed.

Judith Jamison

One thing I cannot stand is when people say, 'Hi, how are you?' and they don't wait to hear how I am. They're just going through the motions. I say to people: 'Keep it human. Keep it alive. Don't turn into a robot.' You have to hear what the other pe...

Judith Jamison

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.

Judith Jamison

Dancers use their bodies in extraordinary ways, so we are chronically pre-arthritic, because of how we use our muscles and our bones.

Judith Jamison

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 catc...

Judith Jamison

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 rel...

Judith Jamison

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 hav...

Judith Jamison

The way Alvin Ailey has transformed modern dance and dance in general is the fact of variety. It's a cornucopia of ways to move. There are choreographers in the company as - as diverse, as different from each other as Donald McKayle and Bill T. Jones...

Judith Jamison

Learn the craft of knowing how to open your heart and to turn on your creativity. There’s a light inside of you.

Judith Jamison

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.

Judith Jamison

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 dan...

Judith Jamison

Author Bio

  • NameJudith Jamison
  • DescriptionAmerican dancer
  • BornMay 10, 1943
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionChoreographer; Dancer
  • AwardsNational Medal Of Arts; Emmy Award