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

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

More quotes by Alvin Ailey

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To be who you are and become what you are capable of is the only goal worth living.
Alvin Ailey
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I always want to have more dancers in my company.
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Choreography is mentally draining, but there's a pleasure in getting into the studio with the dancers and the music.
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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.
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Money is a never-ending problem.
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One of the processes of your life is to constantly break down that inferiority, to constantly reaffirm that I Am Somebody.
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Racism tears down your insides so that no matter what you achieve, you're not quite up to snuff.
Alvin Ailey
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No matter what you write or choreograph, you feel it is not enough.
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The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off it's with you all the time.
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My feelings about myself have been terrible.
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Sometimes you feel bad about yourself when there's no reason to.
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It will take very sophisticated marketing to achieve our aim of bringing more black people into the theater.
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I wanted to explore black culture, and I wanted that culture to be a revelation.
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Dance is for everybody. I believe that the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people.
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Lena Horne is the sweetest and most adorable woman in the world.
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I'm attracted to long-legged girls with long arms and a little head.
Alvin Ailey
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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
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But the dance speaks to everyone. Otherwise it wouldn't work.
Alvin Ailey
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We still spend more time chasing funds than we do in the studio in creative work.
Alvin Ailey
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Everything in dancing is style, allusion, the essence of many thoughts and feelings. The abstraction of many moments.
Alvin Ailey