Quote

My dancers must be able to do anything, and I don't care if they are black or white or purple or green. I want to help show my people how beautiful they are. I want to hold up the mirror to my audience that says this is the way people can be, this is how open people can be.

Alvin Ailey

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Alvin Ailey
Age: 58 †
Born: 1931
Born: January 5
Died: 1989
Died: December 1
Ballet Dancer
Choreographer
Alvin Ailey Jr.
Alvin Ailey Jr
People
Helping
Hold
Shows
Says
Dancers
Beautiful
Open
Purple
Care
Audience
Dancer
Anything
Help
Mirror
Able
Show
Mirrors
Must
White
Green
Way
Black
Dance

More quotes by Alvin Ailey

Image
Lena Horne is the sweetest and most adorable woman in the world.
Alvin Ailey
Image
I always want to have more dancers in my company.
Alvin Ailey
Image
One of the worst things about racism is what it does to young people.
Alvin Ailey
Image
No matter what you write or choreograph, you feel it is not enough.
Alvin Ailey
Image
It will take very sophisticated marketing to achieve our aim of bringing more black people into the theater.
Alvin Ailey
Image
To be who you are and become what you are capable of is the only goal worth living.
Alvin Ailey
Image
Making dances is an act of progress it is an act of growth, an act of music, an act of teaching, an act of celebration, an act of joy.
Alvin Ailey
Image
Racism tears down your insides so that no matter what you achieve, you're not quite up to snuff.
Alvin Ailey
Image
I wanted to explore black culture, and I wanted that culture to be a revelation.
Alvin Ailey
Image
Sometimes you feel bad about yourself when there's no reason to.
Alvin Ailey
Image
Choreography is mentally draining, but there's a pleasure in getting into the studio with the dancers and the music.
Alvin Ailey
Image
My lasting impression of Truman Capote is that he was a terribly gentle, terribly sensitive, and terribly sad man.
Alvin Ailey
Image
One of the processes of your life is to constantly break down that inferiority, to constantly reaffirm that I Am Somebody.
Alvin Ailey
Image
I'm attracted to long-legged girls with long arms and a little head.
Alvin Ailey
Image
The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off it's with you all the time.
Alvin Ailey
Image
But the dance speaks to everyone. Otherwise it wouldn't work.
Alvin Ailey
Image
If you live in the elite world of dance, you find yourself in a world rife with racism. Let's face it.
Alvin Ailey
Image
My feelings about myself have been terrible.
Alvin Ailey
Image
We still spend more time chasing funds than we do in the studio in creative work.
Alvin Ailey
Image
I am trying to show the world that we are all human beings and that color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work.
Alvin Ailey