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.”

“'Cry' is a journey... It is a dance of pain, of sorrow, but also of hope and resilience.”

“The reason I dance is because it's the one thing that I can do and not be thinking about anything else.”

“Alvin Ailey was a genius. He created a vocabulary that was his own.”

“Dance is the fist with which I fight the sordidness of life.”

“If you look at a dancer's body, it's a map of their life.”

“Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won't carry you anywhere if you don't have the discipline to go with it.”

“I wanted to be a dancer, and I was going to be a dancer. And that was it. There was no 'if,' 'and,' or 'but.' It was a declaration.”

“Don't be afraid to be different. Don't be afraid to be yourself.”

“You can't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. You have to get up and make them.”

“Every day you have to be willing to be a beginner.”

“The body is your instrument. You have to keep it tuned.”