Cultural Performance Quotes

You can't get down and dirty at the opera.

The performance of black American identity feels very different from actually living in a black body. There's a dissonance between inside and outside.

The Chinese seemed to be mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion. But I wondered how many of their tears were genuine. People had practiced acting to such a degree that they confused it with their true feelings.

Modern tourist guides have helped raised tourist expectations. And they have provided the natives- from Kaiser Wilhelm down to the villagers of Chichacestenango - with a detailed and itemized list of what is expected of them and when. These are the up-to-date scripts for actors on the tourists' stage.

Much of a leader's responsibility in creating a positive, high-performance culture is setting the right tone and acting on it consistently. That day-to-day execution - the tenor and tone - really makes the difference. One deviation - one exasperating meeting - and the CEO legitimizes bad behavior.

From my opinion, 'geisha' means a woman skilled in the arts. Like dancing, singing and playing musical instruments.

Because of my Asian-ness, I couldn't be anonymous - what I said, what I ate, what I did at the weekend were startlingly different to what everyone else did. I was also a performer, quick and chameleon-like, good at accents, so that made me stand out.

For any cultural performance involving me, the response from Kolkata is the most critical. If I pass here, I will pass elsewhere.

When I was 5 years old, I saw people dancing in my head. In college, I would choreograph for the cultural shows, and in my notes, I would actually create formations of people. It was how my whole brain worked.

It (the double-clarinet in India) was primarily used for snake charming, since the snake would do almost anything to get the Indians to stop playing it.

A set of Bollywood actresses are coming through Dallas soon in a live tour; I'd pay a lot to see them, but alas, I'm fully booked elsewhere.

Having done 'M. Butterfly,' I'm conscious of the choices women make with their clothes and makeup on screen.

This idea that my work is about hip-hop is a little reductive. What I'm interested in is the performance of masculinity, the performance of ethnicity, and how they intermingle across cultures.

Why, in the Peking Opera, are women's roles played by men?...Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act.

In Asia, I didn't feel like I was Chloe. I felt like I was acting like someone in Asia. I was acting like Chloe Wang, a pop star, that was like a character for me, if anything.

I am thankful that 'Jhalak' made me a professional dancer now from just a 'barat' dancer.

The teacher of history's work should be, ideally, not simply a description of past cultures, but a performance of the culture in which we live and are increasingly taking our being.

I'm Italian, but some people think I'm Jewish because I work the Yiddish. I also work the Italian, by the way.

I got kicked out of Riverdance for using my arms.