Joan Chen Quotes

So many people report to be contemporary dancers, and they're not. They are sort of jazz dancers that feel like they're throwing a bit of classical in there. I mean, a true contemporary dancer has got ballet as their base and classical ballet, and that is their base. And then they choose to extemporize on that and go into a contemporary world.

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

I enjoy the freedom of modern dance as well as the constraints of classical dance.

You invest into the future, and that's how young people become human in best sense of it - through the great experience of listening a Müller symphony or to see a great play by Tennessee Williams, experience something in a ballet, in a film.

Everything I was being shown was ABT, so I grew up watching these videos of [Mikhail] Baryshnikov, Gelsey [Kirkland] and Paloma [Herrera]. Paloma and Angel [Corella] were the first people I ever saw dance live.

Once, the arts were opera, ballet, classical music, and everything else deemed highbrow.

Any time I've performed on one of the major stages, whether it be Covent Garden or the Paris Opera or the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky, those are really the top memorable moments for me.

I grew up in Texas, and I think anybody who grows up in the Midwest or in the South, it's just a different way of life.

The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people.

I was raised with a lot of classical music. I loved ballet. I was a bun head for 10 years.

I want to see movies that explore different forms and new styles of dance, and also those that revive the old.

When I was filming in Budapest for ITV's 'Titanic,' I realised I'd never been to the ballet before so decided to see a production of 'Giselle.' I went on my own. As it was my first ballet, it was a very bizarre and interesting experience but very enjoyable.

In New York, my dad raised me to listen to everything like hip-hop, rock and country music. When I moved to Dallas, I started listening to whatever I wanted to listen to.

There are no taking days off. There are no distractions. If I had that, I physically wouldn't be capable of going onstage and performing live theater. It's extremely demanding. I have to be in ballet class every day.

I've been very lucky to have a family who has welcomed me and not been hung up on anything racial, almost overlooking the fact that there was a racial difference. But I can honestly say I do feel like I missed out on some lessons of what the African-American experience is like growing up.

Ballet is the fairies' baseball.

When I was young, I couldn't think about ballet because I had to focus on my own field. But once you secure your own performance area, you can indulge yourself in different territories. Fashion is one. And ballet is absolutely a fantasy, because it deals with the bodies in a different way.

I had some ballet training but didn't like it. It was like a game to me.

I'm not a trained dancer in the slightest.

I think that I'm so fortunate to have found classical ballet. It completely changed my life and it shaped the person that I am today, on and off the stage.

People get inspired to write, paint, draw, sing, sculpt, dance in many different ways. And there are many types of art. But the one thing that they all have in common is that they are all a sort of magic. Sometimes the magic flows from one’s fingers, other times it is transferred to the person who experiences the result. Magic has always worked in mysterious ways.

Just as a child, before I ever knew what ballet was, there was something in me where I was always searching for something structured, something that was bigger than me, and something so historical that I could be a part of. I didn't find that until I stepped into the ballet world, and it was overwhelming, the feeling of being a part of something that's bigger than you.

When I was nine, I started doing ballet. That's when I knew that I was down to keep doing it.

I did ballet, jazz and flamenco from when I was five years old. And my professional career started with dancing in musicals.

I've just always liked watching people dance. I can't explain it. It used to just make me laugh. Sometimes you can tell a lot about a person by the way they shake their ass.