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Lincoln Kirstein

Lincoln Kirstein Quotes

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Famous Lincoln Kirstein Quotes

“If one had to define one essential gift with which a dancer needs to be endowed, there might be a rush of answers. A beautiful body, grace of line, graciousness of spirit, joy in the work, ability to please, unswerving integrity, relentless ambition towards some abstract perfection. Certainly all these factors determine a dancer's character, and every element exists in some combination within the performing artist's presence.”

IfsNeedsCharacterBodyMightBeautifulJoySpiritArtistLinesAbilityAnswersGraceIntegrityPleaseEssentialsElementsAmbitionPerfectionDanceDetermineFactorsCombinationPerformingAbstractDancerBalletRelentlessGraciousnessPerforming ArtsBeautiful BodyPerforming Artist
Author:Lincoln Kirstein
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“Ballet dancers are a self-chosen elite. To survive and surmount years of disciplinary preparation and seasons of even more arduous performance requires rigid determination and almost mindless self-abnegation. One other factor is difficult to predetermine: without a certain admixture of hysteria - sometimes masking as self-obsession, sometimes even counterfeiting incipient madness - performers, at once acrobats, artists, and animals, make little public impression.”

YearsLittlesSelfSometimesArtistCertainDifficultAnimalDeterminationPerformancesSeasonsMadnessDanceImpressionChosenObsessionFactorsPreparationDancerPerformersBalletElitesHysteriaMindlessBallet DancerSelf ObsessionAbnegation
Book:Four Centuries of Ballet: Fifty Masterworks
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