Robert Wilson Quotes

My parents were opera singers and voice teachers, so growing up, I admired musicians and dancers.

My first vocation was dance.

Dance has been a big passion for me.

Opera is the most complete art form. It includes drama, acting, technology (lighting), art (the sets), dance, and the epitome of the human voices. But mostly, go for the glorious music. The arts are crucial to the life of every community.

I watched 'Fame,' and I just love the choreography. It just gives me a place to be in another zone.

I have a penchant for playing God's clowns. Actually, I played Nijinsky once, and he used to call himself God's clown.

Dance is definitely what I love doing much more than anything else.

I think I just have this need to be a storyteller. That's why I wasn't a great dancer - I couldn't articulate a story. I was a better choreographer. I have the need to to just express myself in that way. I can't explain it.

Since I was a child I've loved going to the opera, theatre and ballet.

When I first began choreographing, I never thought of it as choreography but as expressing feelings. Though every piece is different, they are all trying to get at certain things that are difficult to put into words. In the work, everything belongs to everything else - the music, the set, the movement and whatever is said.

I competitively ice skate, and I also dance, and I do a lot of theater, which also involves a lot, a lot of physicality, because you have to do a lot of fast changes.

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 was a dancer for many years. I was a premier dancer with 'Porgy and Bess,' the opera. And I taught dance some, in different places.

I grew up learning ballet, and then I took up contemporary as I got older. I probably thought I was going to be a ballet dancer when I was younger, but at a certain age, I really was more interested in acting.

I don't know if I would write an opera, maybe because of the words. But yes, I would be really excited to do it. I would certainly write a ballet or... I've done a lot of stage before.

It is entertainment; we mustn't forget that. Dance is entertainment. You can have the best technicians in the world, but they'll be boring to watch. It has to be about entertainment as well, but it's quality, grace.

Dance has always been my number one. I started when I was seven years old and I've had the opportunity to work with some really amazing artists.

Dances have a second and third life. You feel they are never ready. They always have a chance for another life.

For me, you say the words 'concept record,' and the first thing I think of is theater or the opera or something.

My favorite dancer is Sylvie Guillem.

Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.

My dad photographed a lot of beautiful dancers. My mom was a dancer.

Music is my life. I love doing it, so I just do it nonstop all day. And with dancing, I wanted to put on a show for people. I don't want to just be sitting there doing nothing, so that's when I started to dance.

I dug up my dad's old Fred Astaire tapes, and now I find him super-inspiring. He's, like, one of the best dancers.

The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.