101 Quotes About Dance To Help You Feel The Groove

With the right music, everyone loves to dance.

Throughout history, dancing has been associated with happiness and celebration. The freedom to sing and dance with people we love is one of the true joys of life.

There are plenty of dancing styles to choose from: break dancing, ballet, hip hop, traditional, and plenty more. Choose what suits you best and give it a shot.

Whether you're at a party, on the beach, or in dance class, dance can be as simple as moving your feet to the beat, or a complex as learning an impressive routine. Either way, dance is so much fun!

So, let's celebrate the joy of dance with these exciting and inspirational dance quotes. If you love to sing and dance, you will love these quotes about dance. For more great quotes about dance, you can also check out these 'Dirty Dancing' quotes and singing quotes.

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Martha Graham Quotes For The Modern Dancer

Martha Graham was a dancer who introduced a unique style now called the 'Graham Technique'. Some of these quotes show how hard dance is, others show the beauty of all dancers.

1. "Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle."

-Martha Graham.

2. "Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance."

-Martha Graham.

3. "Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired."

-Martha Graham.

4. "I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man--the landscape of his soul."

-Martha Graham.

5. "The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body."

-Martha Graham.

6. "Dancers are the messengers of the gods."

-Martha Graham.

7. "People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life."

-Martha Graham.

8. "Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion."

-Martha Graham.

9. "We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life."

-Martha Graham.

10. "Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart."

-Martha Graham.

11. "Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain."

-Martha Graham.

12. "Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same."

-Martha Graham.

13. "Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery."

-Martha Graham.

14. "I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be."

-Martha Graham.

15. "Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body."

-Martha Graham.

Mikhail Baryshnikov Quotes About Dancing

The classical dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov is an inspiration to all the aspiring dancers in the world.

16. "People dance at any age."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

17. "The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

18. "When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for a minute, and I'll tell you who you are."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

19. "I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

20. "You cannot dance physically certain things. But look at tango dancers or flamenco or Japanese classical theater. You can, if you're smart enough and you collaborate with the right choreographers, you could really dance your age."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

21. "I am a performer. I go on stage and make a fool of myself."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

22. "When a dancer comes onstage, he is not just a blank slate that the choreographer has written on."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

23. "No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

24. "Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

25. "You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

26. "Dancers are made, not born."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

27. "Just sit and open your eyes and open your heart. It's dance theater."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

28. "The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

29. "Dancing is my obsession. My life."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

30. "I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov.

George Balanchine Quotes For Budding Ballet Artists

George Balanchine is known as the father of American Ballet and his quotes are sure to guide those with dreams of greatness in the world of ballet.

31. "If you're comfortable when you dance, you're not pushing yourself hard enough."

-George Balanchine.

32. "Choreography is like cooking or gardening. Not like painting because painting stays. Dancing disintegrates. Like a garden. Lots of roses come up, and in the evening they're gone."

-George Balanchine.

33. "The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener."

-George Balanchine.

34. "Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays."

-George Balanchine.

35. "One is born to be a dancer. No teacher can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good dancer of an untalented pupil."

-George Balanchine.

36. "Dance has to look like the music. If you see music simply as an accompaniment, then you don't hear it. I occupy myself with how not to interfere with the music."

-George Balanchine.

37. "There are no mothers-in-law in ballet."

-George Balanchine.

38. "Dancers are just flowers, and flowers grow without any literal meaning, they are just beautiful."

-George Balanchine.

39. "You see a little bit of Astaire in everybody's dancing--a pause here, a move there. It was all Astaire's originally."

-George Balanchine.

40. "Ballet is important and significant - yes. But first of all, it is a pleasure."

-George Balanchine.

41. "In ballet a complicated story is impossible to tell... we can't dance synonyms."

-George Balanchine.

42. "Ballet dancing is arduous, strenuous activity."

-George Balanchine.

43. "Someone once said that dancers work just as hard as policemen, always alert, always tense, but see, policemen don't have to be beautiful at the same time."

-George Balanchine.

44. "Dance is music made visible."

-George Balanchine.

45. "There should not need to be a synopsis in the program. The movements and the music should express everything the audience needs to know."

-George Balanchine.

Fred Astaire Quotes To Get You Moving

Fred Astaire is easily one of the most influential dancers in the industry and is a true inspiration to even professional dancers. These quotes about dance by Fred Astaire are the perfect way to caption a dance picture on social media!

46. "I have no desire to prove anything by dancing... I just dance."

-Fred Astaire.

47. "Either the camera will dance, or I will."

-Fred Astaire.

48. "Dancing is a sweat job."

-Fred Astaire.

49. "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little."

-Fred Astaire.

50. "I don't want to be the oldest performer in captivity... I don't want to look like a little old man dancing out there."

-Fred Astaire.

51. "I believe that if you have something in mind in the way of a creation, such as a new dance, a sequence, or an effect, you are certain to come up with inaccurate criticism and damaging results if you go around asking for opinions."

-Fred Astaire.

52. "Some people seem to think that good dancers are born, but all the good dancers I have known are taught or trained."

-Fred Astaire.

53. "I want to get out while they're still saying Astaire is a hell of a dancer."

-Fred Astaire.

54. "It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable."

-Fred Astaire.

55. "For ballroom dancing, remember that your partners have their own distinctive styles also."

-Fred Astaire.

56. "Dancing is a vertical interpretation of a horizontal intention."

-Fred Astaire.

57. "I just put my feet in the ground and move them around."

-Fred Astaire.

58. "If the dance is right, there shouldn't be a single superfluous movement."

-Fred Astaire.

59. "If your gonna go down, go down swinging!"

-Fred Astaire.

60. "Do it big, do it right, and do it with style."

-Fred Astaire.

Inspirational Dance Quotes About Dance And Life

These are the quotes about dance that you need to know. Why not share these dance quotes with daughters, sisters, mothers, and brothers who dance?

61. "Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on."

-Michael Jackson.

62. "Dancers are athletes of God."

-Albert Einstein.

63. "The first dance is the worst dance; the last dance is the best dance!"

-Mehmet Murat İldan.

64. "Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made."

-Ted Shawn.

65. "You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams."

-Gene Kelly.

66. "There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good."

-Edwin Denby.

67. "We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once."

-Friedrich Nietzsche.

68. "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.

69. "Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts. For it is no mere translation or abstraction of life. It is life itself."

-Henry Havelock Ellis.

70. "Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair."

-Susan Polis Schutz.

71. "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.

72. "In a society that worships love, freedom, and beauty, dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and a joyful exclamation of thanks for the present."

-Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.

73. "Dance is for everybody. I believe that the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people."

-Alvin Ailey.

74. "Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

-Friedrich Nietzsche.

75. "Dancing is creating a sculpture that’s only visible for a moment."

-Erol Ozan.

76. "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

-Emma Goldman.

77. "When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you."

-Paulo Coelho.

78. "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

-Friedrich Nietzsche.

79. "Dance is an art that imprints on the soul. It is with you every moment, it expresses itself in everything you do."

-Shirley MacLaine.

80. "Hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon."

-Edward Lear.

Inspirational Quotes About Dance

These inspirational dance quotes might get you back into the dancing game. Which of these inspirational dance quotes is your favorite?

81. "Forget your troubles and dance."

-Bob Marley.

82. "Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor."

-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

83. "There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them."

-Vicki Baum.

84. "On many an occasion when I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred. In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists."

-Michael Jackson.

85. "Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain."

-Vivian Greene.

86. "While I dance I can not judge, I can not hate, I can not separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. This is why I dance."

-Hans Bos.

87. "Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order."

-Samuel Beckett.

88. "Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn."

-Sweetpea Tyler.

89. "Dance for yourself, if someone understands good. If not then no matter, go right on doing what you love."

-Lois Hurst.

90. "When life tries to bring you down – just dance."

-Shonna H. Leiker.

Bible Quotes About Dance

These quotes about dance prove that dancing is a timeless art.

91. "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

-Ecclesiastes 3:4.

92. "Praise Him with timbrel and dancing."

-Psalm 150:4.

93. "Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp."

-Psalm 149:3-4.

94. "And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might..."

-2 Samuel 6:14.

95. "Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful."

-Jeremiah 31:4.

Inspiring Quotes About Dance Teachers

Here are a few quotes about dance, all about the beloved teachers of dance who have brought the best out of us.

96. "Knowledge passes from dance teacher into the student through the process of mane, which is often translated as imitation, but learning to dance is more a process of total identification than of simple copying."

-Mineko Iwasaki.

97. "If you dance with your heart, your body will follow."

-Mia Michaels.

98. "Dance is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It's the rhythm of your life."

-Jacques d'Amboise.

99. "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.

100. "Dancing: The highest intelligence in the freest body."

-Isadora Duncan.

101. "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

-William Arthur Ward.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 101 quotes about dance, then why not take a look at these [quotes about dreaming big] or funny music quotes too?