George Balanchine Quotes

Most ballet teachers in the United States are terrible. If they were in medicine, everyone would be poisoned.

George Balanchine

• Ballet

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• I've always been a bit of a poser. I was chucked out of ballet lessons for looking in the mirror.

  

  Abbey Clancy
  • Always
  • Mirror
  • Looking

• The last time I had to make a career decision, I was 17. I could have gone to Ballet Theatre or National Ballet of Canada. There were options. But as I became exposed to the Robbins repertoire, I realized that there was a living genius in the house.

  

  Damian Woetzel
  • Time
  • Career
  • House

• There's nothing like the force and challenge of a new ballet to galvanize everyone involved in bringing it to life.

  

  Karen Kain
  • Life
  • Challenge
  • New

• I did community theater in Georgia and called myself a ballet dancer.

  

  Laura Slade Wiggins
  • Community
  • Myself
  • Ballet

• I started with ballet, and once I started to really like it, I got into more - I did jazz and tap, and then kept going.

  

  Maddie Ziegler
  • Jazz
  • Ballet
  • Once

• I spent a whole year in New York without going back to France. And I always came back because my mother was living in New York since I was 13. So I went to summer camps, hang out at the Roxy, go to class for ballet, so I always had part of my life in New York.

  

  Vincent Cassel
  • Life
  • Mother
  • Summer

• I was the oldest of the children in my family. I had to do a lot of diaper-changing and lunch-making. I was taking my little sister to ballet, picking up my brother, sort of being a super-nanny.

  

  Vin Diesel
  • Up
  • Children
  • Family

• It's no good running a pig farm badly for 30 years while saying, 'Really, I was meant to be a ballet dancer.' By then, pigs will be your style.

  

  Quentin Crisp
  • Good
  • Running
  • Style

• Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It's exactly like doing ballet. It's hours and hours, but when you go onstage, it's just the pleasure of dancing.

  

  Carine Roitfeld
  • People
  • Work
  • Picture

• I started dancing when I was five, and I trained intensively as a competitive dancer up until the end of high school. I did all genres, and later on a did a lot of extra ballet on top of that. I actually got accepted to Julliard for dance during my senior year, but I ultimately turned it down to come to L.A. to act.

  

  Jacob Artist
  • Up
  • School
  • High

• Dancing for the length of time that I did, it centered me in such a way to be really in tune with my body, and I just feel like I'm physically able to do things because of my ballet background. Without ballet, I don't think I'd look graceful at all on screen.

  

  Zoe Saldana
  • Time
  • Way
  • Body

• I began with dance, doing ballet at 3, then tap, jazz, modern. Then I sang in church choirs, learned how to play clarinet and drums, sang with rock bands and only then did I get into musical theatre.

  

  Samantha Barks
  • Church
  • Rock
  • Dance

• I just don't do much social media. No, it is more important to strike a balance between ballet and real life.

  

  Yuan Yuan Tan
  • Life
  • Important
  • Real

• Ballet might be too formal of a title for the type of dance I do, but I love to dance. I love to draw and paint; I do ceramics and photography. I'm interested in a lot of creative stuff.

  

  Jeff Bridges
  • Dance
  • Photography
  • Ballet

• I mean, I'm an uncle of seven or eight, and I don't mind it at all! Kids are great. Kids are the best six-hour experience you can have!

  

  Chris O'Dowd
  • Great
  • Mind
  • Experience

• Dancing is a tough career, but I'm glad I spent it at the Royal Ballet.

  

  Deborah Bull
  • Career
  • Ballet

• I love dance; that's a big part of my life - like, ballet specifically.

  

  Kerris Dorsey
  • Life
  • Dance
  • Ballet

• The highest heels I do are six-inch heels - but mostly only dancers can wear them, since they are used to being on point in ballet shoes. Their feet are arched.

  

  Christian Louboutin
  • Shoes
  • Ballet

• Ballet needs figures that people can recognize and relate to. People don't know ballet dancers as well as they know other artists.

  

  David Hallberg
  • People
  • Ballet

• I don't really dance for pleasure much." "Uh--so you, uh, usually dance professionally, or what?" Seb asked. "Yeah," said Nick. "The ballet is my passion.

  

  Sarah Rees Brennan
  • Passion
  • Said
  • Pleasure

• It's like everything in football - and life. You need to look, you need to think, you need to move, you need to find space, you need to help others. It's very simple in the end.

  

  Johan Cruyff
  • Life
  • Help
  • Space

• I don't wear any make-up on normal days and at school. But, if I'm going somewhere, I always do something with my eyes - crazy colors, sparkles. I'm all for it. I love experimenting.

  

  Elle Fanning
  • Up
  • School
  • Eyes

• Most ballet teachers in the United States are terrible. If they were in medicine, everyone would be poisoned.

  

  George Balanchine
  • Ballet