25 Quotes by Gelsey Kirkland

The nature of my compulsion was such that I danced in my sleep. The entire household was sometimes awakened by loud thumping sounds coming from my room.

As soon as you become afraid to make a fool of yourself, you’re in trouble. I decided I may as well just see if I can live with myself making millions of mistakes and learn something from it.

Often, when you’ve reached a very high level of achievement, you almost become paralyzed by the idea that anything you might do might be imperfect. Perfection is just the striving, the effort, the struggle, but it’s hard to remember that.

I know my body. What happened is that I got so caught up in the applause I forgot how I should dance. All my life I’ve been what others wanted – in dancing and in life. Now I’m doing it my way.

Within the holy circle of the stage, geometrical principles are used to organize physical energy so that the beauty of the human form reveals a web of drama and truth – that is the essence of dance as I have come to know it.

You’ve got to break through this idea of being light as a ballerina. The heavier you’ll feel, the lighter you’ll look.

The first year with ABT I learned 13 new roles. Most were lengthy ballets, more complicated than I was used to. I have suffered from tendinitis since I was 13, and it flared up again until the pain was paralyzing. There were times I prayed I’d be sick so I wouldn’t have to go on.