Robert Gottlieb Quotes & Sayings (Page 12)

“What makes a publishing house great? The easy answer is the consistency with which it produces books of value over a lengthy period of time.”

“When you can't follow a ballet's action, you can always read the program notes.”

“Writing happened to me. I didn't decide to start writing or to be a writer. I never wanted to be a writer.”

“You may feel that Peter Martins' 'Beauty' is too compressed and inexpressive, but it's loyal to the text.”

“Young women today, as in the fifties, find themselves entering the big world and having to make choices.”

“Almost the first thing you see after entering the Houdini exhibition at the Jewish Museum is a large-screen film of Harry Houdini hanging by his ankles upside-down from a tall building, high over a sea of men in fedoras, and thrashing his way out of a straitjacket.”

“Despite the rigid classicism of the famous Paris Opera school and company, the French have done more than their share to unmoor la Danse from its traditions and standards.”

“A lot of people have a lot of faith in Karole Armitage. They see her as bold, inventive, indefatigable. 'America isn't working out? There's always Europe. Ballet? No? Go modern. Keep going! Show 'em!'”

“After all these years of saying the same thing about the Alvin Ailey company - terrific dancers, awful repertory - I'm finally accepting the inevitable: I'm not going to change my mind, and they're not going to change their ways. And why should they, given their juggernaut success all over the world?”

“As for the once-revolutionary 'Agon,' after more than half a century, its lessons and revelations have been so absorbed into the language of ballet that it now seems almost conventional.”