Judith Jamison quotes

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. (Judith Jamison)

People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.

Judith Jamison

I've always felt that complement of opposites: body and soul, solitude and companionship, and in the dance studio, contraction and release, rise and fall.

Judith Jamison

I want to know who you are as a person, and then I want you to develop as a whole human being.

Judith Jamison

I can't really hear the audience applause when I'm on stage. I'm totally immersed in the piece. But sometimes I get a lot of it and wonder, "Now, why did they applaud here?" If it's a white crowd, they usually applaud because they think it's a pretty movement. If it's a black crowd, it's usually because they identify with the message.

Judith Jamison

I've been in a competitive situation almost all my life. I've been having a competition with myself and trying to be the best I could be.

Judith Jamison

I have been guilty of watching Westerns without acknowledging that Native Americans have gone through the same madness as African Americans. Isn't it extraordinary that sometimes the most offended have not seen others being offended?

Judith Jamison

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?

Judith Jamison

Maybe its a generational thing, but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I just wanted to be the best.

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 memory on the heart and in the mind.

Judith Jamison

Dance is not endangered - it will always find a way to express itself. (Judith Jamison)

I haven't had a family, but I don't think of that as a sacrifice: my dancers are my family.

Judith Jamison

I was a protege; by the age of 10, I was studying with ballet choreographer Anthony Tudor in a class of adults.

Judith Jamison

The word 'suffering' is not in my vocabulary.

Judith Jamison

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.

Judith Jamison

Concert dance is the hardest kind of dance. We tour constantly, around the world, year in and year out. It just doesn't work for everybody. It's the lifestyle, it's the stamina, it's the love, it's the dedication, it's the commitment, it's all those words.

Judith Jamison