Persons [ ] I Explained it when I Danced it | Margot Fonteyn, 1919-1991

“Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time.”

“Generally speaking, we are all happier when we are still striving for achievement than when the prize is in our hands.”

“Jumping for joy’ is a very basic human reaction, and a child skipping down the street is simply an untrained dancer.”

“All artists who would be important – painters and writers – must learn to be themselves. It takes a very long time.”

“Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike.”

“Ballet is more than a profession – it is a way of life.”

“There is no way anything of value can be done without some framework. It might well be that the framework is discarded or the rules opposed; that is not important. What is essential is that they exist so that one knows when one is in opposition to them.”

“Dancing was something to be taken very seriously when engaged in and otherwise put out of mind.”

“Genius is another word for magic.”

“Take your work seriously, but never yourself.”

“I explained it when I danced it.”

“The world of dance is a charmed place. Some people like to inhabit it, others to behold it; either way it is rewarding.”

“Traveling carries with it the curse of being at home everywhere and yet nowhere, for wherever one is some part of oneself remains on another continent.”

“Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?”

“When I left the stage door and sought my orientation among real people I was in a wilderness of unpredictables in an unchoreographed world.”

Margot Fonteyn, ballerina, 1919-1991