Dance

“At present, the Indian government recognizes eight different classical dance forms, namely Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Mohiniattam, and Sattriya.”

“Now the old lady fell ill, and it was said that she would not rise from her bed again. She had to be nursed and waited upon, and this was no one’s duty more than Karen’s. But there was a grand ball in the town, and Karen was invited. She looked at the red shoes, saying to herself that there was no sin in doing that; she put the red shoes on, thinking there was no harm in that either; and then she went to the ball; and commenced to dance.”

“Dance you shall,” said he, “dance in your red shoes till you are pale and cold, till your skin shrivels up and you are a skeleton! Dance you shall, from door to door, and where proud and wicked children live you shall knock, so that they may hear you and fear you! Dance you shall, dance—!”

“I have no desire to prove anything by it. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just dance.”

“DANCE, v.i. To leap about to the sound of tittering music, preferably with arms about your neighbor's wife or daughter. There are many kinds of dances, but all those requiring the participation of the two sexes have two characteristics in common: they are conspicuously innocent, and warmly loved by the vicious.”

“A thousand hearts beat happily; and whenAnd all went merry as a marriage bell.”

“On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.”

“And then he danced;—all foreigners excelOf his drill'd nymphs, but like a gentleman.”

“If people stand in a circle long enough, they'll eventually begin to dance.”

“There comes a pause, for human strength Of absolute prostration.”

“As to dancing, my dear, I never dance, unless I am allowed to do it in my own peculiar way. There is no use trying to describe it: it has to be seen to be believed. [...] Did you ever see the Rhinoceros, and the Hippopotamus, at the Zoological Gardens, trying to dance a minuet together? It is a touching sight.”

“Where dance is, there is the devil.”

“When you can tell the story of the song through your movement, it's brilliant. It comes across as so honest and not fake.”

“Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, Let me forget about today until tomorrow.”

“A time to mourn, and a time to Dance.”

“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”

“Alike all ages: dames of ancient daysHas frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore.”

“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. This is the function of the American dance.”

“We have eight costume changes per show and we have amazing dressers (about one dresser for every three Rockettes) that get us on stage, on time, and looking fabulous.”

“We have very precise movements that we have to do. There are spots in the line that are more difficult. Because you can imagine if you’re catching a taller lady, there’s going to be more weight on you. It’s about trust and I totally trust all the women that I’m dancing with. It’s difficult, it’s a crowd-pleaser and I love it.”

“The costumes, I can’t give you exact numbers, but each costume costs thousands of dollars. So that’s not something they would just hand over to me.”

“The most immediate way we experience the universe is through our body. This is why contemporary dance is the most honest expression because body movement, as they say, cannot lie. Even if you are pretending, it shows."”

“Dance, (Indian or otherwise), like sport trains the body, increases its potential for physical intelligence, accuracy, strength, speed, alignment and develops kinaesthetic awareness. There is style in sport just as there is athleticism in dance.”

“Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying dancesOld folk and young together, and children mingled among them.”

“Come, knit hands, and beat the groundIn a light fantastic round.”

“Others import yet nobler arts from France,Teach kings to fiddle, and make senates dance.”

“Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day,Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint.”

“Dance is about saying something. If you ain’t got nothin' to say, get off the dance floor.”

“They have measured many a mile,To tread a measure with you on this grass.”

“He capers nimbly in a lady's chamberTo the lascivious pleasing of a lute.”

“For you and I are past our dancing days.”

“When you do dance, I wish youNothing but that.”

“I always thought dancing improper; but it can't be since I myself am dancing.”

“It is sweet to dance to violins To dance upon the air!”

“O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?”

“This dance of death which sounds so musicallyWas sure intended for the corpse de ballet.”

“O give me new figures! I can't go on dancingI want a new figure to dance with my Dear!”

“Imperial Waltz! imported from the RhineAnd hock itself be less esteem'd than thee.”

“Endearing Waltz—to thy more melting tuneLiberal of feet, and lavish of her hands.”

“Hot from the hands promiscuously applied,Round the slight waist, or down the glowing side.”

“What! the girl I adore by another embraced?What you've touched you may take. Pretty waltzer—adieu!”

“Such pains, such pleasures now alike are o'er,Oh! where's the powder for the hair?”

“To brisk notes in cadence beatingGlance their many-twinkling feet.”

“And the dancing has begun now,And the ground beneath them trembles.”

“Twelve dancers are dancing, and taking no rest,Another begins, and each merrily goes.”

“He who esteems the Virginia reelApproaches the heart through the door of the toes.”

“Come and trip it as ye go,On the light fantastic toe.”

“Dancing in the chequer'd shade.”

“Dear creature!—you'd swearAnd she only par complaisance touches the ground.”

“I know the romance, since it's over, But, Clarence, you'll come to our ball.”

“I saw her at a country ball; And when she danced—oh, heaven, her dancing!”

“He, perfect dancer, climbs the rope,And balances your fear and hope.”

“Inconsolable to the minuet in Ariadne!”

“While his off-heel, insidiously aside,Provokes the caper which he seems to chide.”

“But O, she dances such a way!Is half so fine a sight.”

“Dance light, for my heart it lies under your feet, love.”

“And beautiful maidens moved down in the dance,As the plumage of birds in some tropical tree.”

“Jack shall pipe, and Jill shall dance.”