Have you ever wondered what inspires great artists to create a masterpiece?
What is it that drives a musician to compose a hit song? A writer to draft a best-selling novel; A filmmaker to produce a blockbuster movie; or a dancer to choreograph an award winning routine? Although there can be many factors that culminate into creating a wonderful work of art, there are a few elements that are key across the board. Some of these themes are shown below in quotes from a variety of public figures from all walks of life. Which of these words of inspiration motivate you you to move and create?

 

Words for the Heart …Think, Feel, Dance

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”  ―Friedrich Nietszche

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”          ― Vivian Greene

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”  ― Voltaire

“Dancing is surely the most basic and relevant of all forms of expression. Nothing else can so effectively give outward form to an inner experience. Poetry and music exist in time. Painting and architecture are a part of space. But only the dance lives at once in both space and time. In it the creator and the thing created, the artist and the expression, are one. Each participates completely in the other. There could be no better metaphor for an understanding of the mechanics of the cosmos.”
― Lyall Watson, Gifts of Unknown Things: A True Story of Nature, Healing, and Initiation from Indonesia’s Dancing Island

When the music changes, so does the dance. ― African proverb

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf.”
― Rabindranath Tagore

“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

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” ― Martha Graham

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

“Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded deep within us to which we dance, even when we can’t name the tune.” ― Deepak Chopra

“If you look at a dancer in silence, his or her body will be the music. If you turn the music on, that body will become an extension of what you’re hearing.” ― Judith Jamison, Dancing Spirit: An Autobiography

“A fine work of art – music, dance, painting, story – has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.” ― Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

“Lermontov: Why do you want to dance? Vicky: Why do you want to live?
Lermontov: Well, I don’t know exactly why, but… I must.
Vicky: That’s my answer too.”  ― Hans Christian Andersen, The Red Shoes

“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon.”
― Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat

 

 

Humor for the Soul …Live, Laugh, Dance

“Real men don’t lift weights, they lift women.” ― Every male ballet dancer

 

“After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.” ― Robert Thaves, Comic Strip Frank and Ernest

“Life is short and there will always be dirty dishes, so let’s dance.” ― James Howe, Totally Joe

“I’m a dyslexic dancer. Instead of leading the women, I follow. Quick, cab driver, follow that woman!
” ― Jarod Kintz, 99 Cents for Some Nonsense

“Somebody just gave me a shower radio. Thanks a lot. Do you really want music in the shower? I guess there’s no better place to dance than a slick surface next to a glass door.” ― Jerry Seinfield

“If you’re skating on thin ice, you might as well dance!” ― Laurie Strongin, Saving Henry: A Mother’s Journey