Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I like to express myself inside of the work that is given, and I let the dancers do the same. "

Related Quotes:

" We need these figures who don't exactly go against the grain but create a new grain. "

" There's no dancer alive better than those of the 1950s and 1960s. It's only the energy that changes. Every now and then, someone like me comes along, and people say, 'Oh, this guy is this new thing.' But that's not so. There is no me without them. The tradition just goes on. "

" I'm inspired by breath, by the human body - by so many things. "

" I'm always inspired by music, things of that nature. Just life in general. I'm happy to be waking up and having another chance at it. "

" I grew up watching Gregory Hines banging out rhythms like drum beats, and Jimmy Slyde dancing these melodies, you know, bop-bah-be-do-bap, not just tap-tap-tap. Everyone else was dancing in monotone, but I could hear the hoofers in stereo, and they influenced me to have this musical approach towards tap. "

" I've come to realize that people dance for reasons of their own. "

" There are many different styles of, and approaches to, tap. My own leans towards a more intellectual view: tap dancing not just for the sake of entertainment but to educate and spark emotion. "

" It wasn't until I did a musical revue in Paris in the 1980s called 'Black and Blue,' and met the great men and women responsible for the progress of tap dance, that my relationship with the dance really began. "

" I've changed my whole angle for dance. I'm moving towards moving back rather than hanging out with my peers. I'm reaching back to older dudes for a second. "

" La Cave was a great platform for me to learn and be able to listen in on conversations and just get a lot of notes and teachings from those older guys. "

" Authenticity is the most important thing. You have to know where it all comes from, study who pioneered it. "

" I want tap to be something danced in arenas. Sort of like a rock group. Other art forms happen every night. Take theater, opera; there's always opera happening every night. "

" The connection of what I do to flamenco lies in the whole lament, whole cry, whole pouring back into the earth and giving energy back to the earth. It's a cry and a celebration. That's what music, sound, vibration should do. It should spark energy in someone. "

" I feel it's my duty, my job, now to allow people to hear the dance to different genres of music, to ensure audiences have the chance to listen to tap dancing up against all these other styles. "

" My mom always had me and my brother watching old Fred Astaire movies. "

" When I wake up in the morning, I just go. "

" I was first introduced to dancing through the TV: I remember watching ballet, jazz and ballroom dancing when I was very little. But I felt no connection with it whatsoever: it was just like watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon. "

" I deal with more complex rhythmical patterns than a regular tap dancer. I even think in rhythms. "

" I am realizing and accepting my role as a tap dancer in this world is not only to tap dance for the sake of performance, but through tap dance be able to share and spread a message and congregate with people I would not necessarily be with had it not been for dance. "

" My personal style at this point in my life is more audio; it's more driven on less visual and more musicality. But because of my upbringing, my fabulous mentors and teachers that I've had throughout my dance journey or career, I also possess a style that is of the past. It was just a matter of me reaching back. "

" Whatever you do, just learn about what you're doing; get into it. "

" I want to entertain, but I'm interested in a whole range of feelings. "

" Jimmy Slyde was more a musician than a dancer; Greg Hines was more musician than dancer. "

" When I'm on TV or whatever, I'm able to bring my instruments, my board, and my sound is intact. But other kids who are on TV, when they're doing tap, sometimes they're just on the regular floor. It's not as safe; it's not as sound-worthy as it should be. "

" My mom couldn't afford dance shoes, so she put me in these old cowboy boots with a hard bottom so I could get some sound out. I used them for seven months. When I finally got real tap shoes, I was nervous. I kept moving my feet, thinking, 'Oh, so this is how it's supposed to sound.' "

" There's a tendency to think tap's had its day, but 'Happy Feet' kept us in the race. That penguin is our Shirley Temple. "

" Frank Sinatra changed people's approach to singing. Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, van Gogh, they were all part of movements that allowed people to think about their craft differently. They changed the game. These people changed the game. "

" I'm just blessed, man. I'm just happy to share my art form with everyone. That's cool. "

" I realized early on, I'm more interested in Baryshnikov than some dancer who wants to do a rock show with ballet. "

" What does genius mean? God has put us here specifically... every person has a job or journey to do. It's just a matter of finding what we're here to fulfill or execute. That's genius to me. "