Judith Jamison
Judith Jamison
Judith Ann Jamisonis an American dancer and choreographer, best known as the Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDancer
Date of Birth10 May 1943
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
names games african-american
Excellence is the name of the game...
fall opposites soul
I've always felt that complement of opposites: body and soul, solitude and companionship, and in the dance studio, contraction and release, rise and fall.
competition trying being-the-best
I've been in a competitive situation almost all my life. I've been having a competition with myself and trying to be the best I could be.
light people negativity
So many people dwell on negativity and I've survived by ignoring it: it dims your light and it's harder each time to turn the power up again.
mother father eye
I'm moved by contraries, by opposites, the strength that was my mother's eyes, the beauty of my father's hands.
cutting order people
I've danced all over the world, and people are people. We cannot cut off from each other in life. In order to lead, you can't do that.
dancer black world
Maybe its a generational thing, but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I just wanted to be the best.
dance thinking white
I can't really hear the audience applause when I'm on stage. I'm totally immersed in the piece. But sometimes I get a lot of it and wonder, "Now, why did they applaud here?" If it's a white crowd, they usually applaud because they think it's a pretty movement. If it's a black crowd, it's usually because they identify with the message.
people vision generations
I want people to have their own visions for the dance. Some generations will sit back and relate to the music. And the young people ...they'll have the dance right in front of them.
vocabulary suffering
The word 'suffering' is not in my vocabulary.
moving dark light
The first time I started choreographing was in the dark, in my living room, with the lights completely out, to some popular music on the radio. I put the radio on full blast and I started moving. I didn't know what it looked like. I didn't want to see it... I had to start in the dark.
dancing people giving
Dancing is being trusted with other people's guts; choreographing is trusting other people with yours. When I choreograph I'm giving a dancer something to do and trusting the dancer to do it and build on it.
want humans persons
I want to know who you are as a person, and then I want you to develop as a whole human being.
sacrifice thinking dancer
I haven't had a family, but I don't think of that as a sacrifice: my dancers are my family.