Nigel Lythgoe Quotes

I always wanted to thrill people with my dancing - just as how K-pop dancing thrilled me.

You get used to working with one choreographer. You kind of get stuck in that vein and you work your way out of it, picking up someone else's style, their flavor. It takes a bit of time.

There's no point pretending that all of Martha Graham's pieces are equally strong.

'So You Think You Can Dance' comes on as a high-minded leap up the evolutionary ladder from other reality shows - on this one, you're supposed to learn something, and the guest judges are fellow dance professionals rather than actual celebrities.

As a dancer, it's hard because there's such a perfectionist quality that you really have to let go of while you're acting, because nobody wants to a watch a perfect person on screen.

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.

I was always the kid down the street who got the other kids to put on a show. But it was only when I was 19, and discovered ballet and contemporary dance, that I got interested in the fact that you could have a whole evening of dance - rather than just waiting for the dancers in a musical.

I go through phases of watching a ton of dance/performance, and I am bizarrely well-informed on the subject.

In theatre or in ballet, the ballerina always passes on what they know. It's a hands-on craft. You can't really learn the soul and the pathos of it if you just see a video. It has to be taught by someone who is in the know.

I've been working on it a lot, trying to find the artistic balance, trying to find purpose in my movement combined with the jumps.

When dancing for mass numbers, you can throw your hands and legs anywhere, but contemporary dance is a whole different ball game. Every move has to be pointed, graceful and must look elegant. It's not easy trust me, but is a lot of fun nevertheless.

Ballet is like any other art form in that we all start out knowing nothing about it.

I'm the first one out on the dance floor. In college I had to take jazz, ballet and tap dancing, but, before that, it was just social.

I can't make up my mind whether I want to dance like Josef Brown or dance with Josef Brown.

I was in a competing company and have been dancing since I was four - ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop - so it's a huge part of my life and my music.

Who a dancer is physically feeds into character for me. Always has.

I'm a fantastic dancer!

I found I loved musicals as much or more than the pure dance world. I also think I became tired of dancing for other dancers.

I frequently go to the ballet, but I don't miss it in the sense that I wish I were still dancing.

I don't have an 'actor cry.'

I really developed an early love for ballet. Like most dancers, I am still 'first' a dancer. I'm very proud of it. Once you are a dancer, the physicality never leaves you, nor does the strength. Hopefully, it keeps you like an athlete.

I started dancing when I was 5 years old. Ballet. Flamenco.

I began to fear that the Graham work was not in lots of ways sufficient for me. I suppose it came about from looking at other dancing and being involved with the ballet - something about the air and the way she thought about dancing.

I've been training myself and listening to other artists and seeing where their emotion comes from, singing a heartbreak song when they're in a happy relationship.

My body is an object of work. That's why I think to be an actor is one of the most violent jobs. If you're a pianist, you have your piano. If you're a guitarist, you have your guitar. But if you're a dancer, or you're an actor - your instrument is your body.