The Body Is Shaped, Disciplined, Honored, And

In 1980, A Well-meaning Fundraiser Came To See Me And Said, "miss Graham, The Most Powerful Thing You Have Going For You To Raise Money Is Your Respectability." I Wanted To Spit. Respectable! Show Me Any Artist Who Wants To Be Respectable.

I Use The Words Gods And Goddesses Principally, I Think, To Mean Beautiful Bodies - Bodies That Are Absolute Instruments. And I Believe In Discipline, I Believe In A Very Definite Technique.

We Learn By Practice. Whether It Means To Learn To Dance By Practicing Dancing Or To Learn To Live By Practicing Living, The Principles Are The Same. One Becomes In Some Area An Athlete Of God.

Dancing Appears Glamorous, Easy, Delightful. But The Path To Paradise Of The Achievement Is Not Easier Than Any Other. There Is Fatigue So Great That The Body Cries, Even In Its Sleep. There Are Times Of Complete Frustration, There Are Daily Small Deaths.

I Did Not Want To Be A Tree, A Flower Or A Wave. In A Dancer's Body, We As Audience Must See Ourselves, Not The Imitated Behavior Of Everyday Actions, Not The Phenomenon Of Nature, Not Exotic Creatures From Another Planet, But Something Of The Miracle That Is A Human Being.