--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People have asked me why I chose to be a…" description: "\"People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.\" — Martha Graham" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eef/martha-graham-2832_chosen_people-have-asked-me-why-i-chose-to-be-a_188390.png" --- # People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not… ![“People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.” quote by Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eef/martha-graham-2832_chosen_people-have-asked-me-why-i-chose-to-be-a_188390.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eef/martha-graham-2832_chosen_people-have-asked-me-why-i-chose-to-be-a_188390.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eef/martha-graham-2832_chosen_people-have-asked-me-why-i-chose-to-be-a_188390.png) > “People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer, and with that, you live all your life.” [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A dancer's path is not a personal choice but a destiny that shapes a lifetime. **In simple terms:** Dancing is a calling, not a choice. Key Takeaway Embrace your innate purpose. Themes art identity calling destiny career passion Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - professional dance - teaching - choreography - personal growth Key Concepts self-discovery creative expression lifelong commitment Questions to Reflect On - Do you feel chosen for your craft? - How does destiny influence your decisions? A Different Perspective Not everyone can accept a predestined role. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) [Dancer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dancer/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [I trained as a dancer and did all that kind of stuff. And as a dancer, pressure's a good thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-flack/i-trained-as-a-dancer-and-did-all-that-kind-of-stuff-and-as-a-dancer/) [Caroline Flack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-flack/) > [I was more of a dancer back then, I did choreography, but I was nothing like 'Powerline'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tevin-campbell/i-was-more-of-a-dancer-back-then-i-did-choreography-but-i-was-nothing/) [Tevin Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tevin-campbell/) > [I did not choose to be a dancer. I was chosen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/i-did-not-choose-to-be-a-dancer-i-was-chosen/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/practice-is-a-means-of-inviting-the-perfection-desired/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Dancers are the messengers of the gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/dancers-are-the-messengers-of-the-gods/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [To me, this acquirement of nervous, physical, and emotional concentration is the one element possessed to the highest degree by the truly great dancers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/to-me-this-acquirement-of-nervous-physical-and-emotional/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [A dancer must listen to his body and pay homage to it. Behind the movement lies this terrible, driving passion, this necessity. I won't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/a-dancer-must-listen-to-his-body-and-pay-homage-to-it-behind-the/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [How many leaps did Nijinksy take before he made the one that startled the world? He took thousands and thousands and it is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/how-many-leaps-did-nijinksy-take-before-he-made-the-one-that-startled/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [...Although, as the Latin verb to educate, educate, indicates, it is not a question of putting something in but drawing it out, if it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/although-as-the-latin-verb-to-educate-educate-indicates-it-is-not-a/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Dancers today can do anything; the technique is phenomenal. The passion and the meaning to their movement can be another thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/dancers-today-can-do-anything-the-technique-is-phenomenal-the-passion/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [It takes ten years, usually, to make a dancer. It takes ten years of handling the instrument, handling the material with which you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/it-takes-ten-years-usually-to-make-a-dancer-it-takes-ten-years-of/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [I don't try to tell the dancers exactly what a dance means before they do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/i-don-t-try-to-tell-the-dancers-exactly-what-a-dance-means-before/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery - what it all means, the way the little bone near the ankle relates itself to the floor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/dancing-is-just-discovery-discovery-discovery-what-it-all-means-the/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [What makes a great dancer is not technique. What makes a great dancer is passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/what-makes-a-great-dancer-is-not-technique-what-makes-a-great-dancer/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [I think it's useful to experience other types of dance and other cultures, and the life of a classical dancer these days is certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-bull/i-think-it-s-useful-to-experience-other-types-of-dance-and-other/) [Deborah Bull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-bull/) ## More by Martha Graham > [The body never lies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/the-body-never-lies/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [You have no right to go before a public without an adequate technique, just because you feel. Anything feels - a leaf feels, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/you-have-no-right-to-go-before-a-public-without-an-adequate-technique/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/there-is-a-vitality-a-life-force-an-energy-a-quickening-that-is/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Misery is a communicable disease.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/misery-is-a-communicable-disease/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [All things I do are in every woman. Every woman is Medea. Every woman is Jocasta. There comes a time when a woman is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/all-things-i-do-are-in-every-woman-every-woman-is-medea-every-woman/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/the-body-is-shaped-disciplined-honored-and-in-time-trusted/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [The secret to dancing is that it is about everything except dancing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/the-secret-to-dancing-is-that-it-is-about-everything-except-dancing/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [What makes a great dancer is not technique. What makes a great dancer is passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/what-makes-a-great-dancer-is-not-technique-what-makes-a-great-dancer/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [The body is a sacred garment. It's your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/the-body-is-a-sacred-garment-it-s-your-first-and-last-garment-it-is/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/you-are-unique-and-if-that-is-not-fulfilled-then-something-has-been/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/you-see-when-weaving-a-blanket-an-indian-woman-leaves-a-flaw-in-the/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery - what it all means, the way the little bone near the ankle relates itself to the floor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/dancing-is-just-discovery-discovery-discovery-what-it-all-means-the/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [Theater used to be a verb; it used to be an act. But nowadays it is just a noun. It is a place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/theater-used-to-be-a-verb-it-used-to-be-an-act-but-nowadays-it-is/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [There is a force, a quickness that is translated through you into action. If you block it, the world will not have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/there-is-a-force-a-quickness-that-is-translated-through-you-into/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [I don't try to tell the dancers exactly what a dance means before they do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/i-don-t-try-to-tell-the-dancers-exactly-what-a-dance-means-before/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) [Explore all 148 Martha Graham quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) ## More Chosen quotes > [The emerging church movement has come to believe that the ultimate context of the spiritual aspirations of a follower of Jesus Christ is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samir-selmanovic/the-emerging-church-movement-has-come-to-believe-that-the-ultimate/) [Samir Selmanovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samir-selmanovic/) > [My Chosen Daughter, No one can define you without your permission. I want you to be so secure in who you are in Me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/god/my-chosen-daughter-no-one-can-define-you-without-your-permission-i/) God > [I would have let you shoot me without further ado! But it is not possible to hang the German Reichsmarschall! I cannot permit this.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-goring/i-would-have-let-you-shoot-me-without-further-ado-but-it-is-not/) [Hermann Goring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-goring/) > [People have a whole lot more choices than they've had in the past, and I have only earned the right to be considered -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-cole/people-have-a-whole-lot-more-choices-than-they-ve-had-in-the-past-and/) [Kenneth Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-cole/) > [You basically have a group of four spies who are chosen for a mission they feel for the fact of how competent they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-leblanc/you-basically-have-a-group-of-four-spies-who-are-chosen-for-a-mission/) [Matt LeBlanc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-leblanc/) > [ \[In science any model depends on a pre-chosen taxonomy\] a set of classifications into which we divide the enormous complexity of the real world...… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-e-boulding/in-science-any-model-depends-on-a-pre-chosen-taxonomy-a-set-of/) [Kenneth E. Boulding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-e-boulding/) > [It seems that the whole world is beginning to decay, and that its putrefaction has chosen to spread outward from here, from the land…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmina-khadra/it-seems-that-the-whole-world-is-beginning-to-decay-and-that-its/) [Yasmina Khadra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmina-khadra/) > [At a time when painting itself often seems to be a threatened, even despised, form of artistic activity, Andrew Salgado emerges as a dazzlingly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-lucie-smith/at-a-time-when-painting-itself-often-seems-to-be-a-threatened-even/) Edward Lucie-Smith > [Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giuseppe-mazzini/love-your-country-your-country-is-the-land-where-your-parents-sleep/) [Giuseppe Mazzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giuseppe-mazzini/) > [You'd chosen to be an upright biped on the surface of a small planet of a minor sun on the edge of a minor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bach/you-d-chosen-to-be-an-upright-biped-on-the-surface-of-a-small-planet/) [Richard Bach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bach/) > [The Tao is the center of the universe, the good man's treasure, the bad man's refuge. Honors can be bought with fine words, respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-tao-is-the-center-of-the-universe-the-good-man-s-treasure-the-bad/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [The Republicans have chosen to neglect young Americans who need assistance with the costs of higher education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-conyers/the-republicans-have-chosen-to-neglect-young-americans-who-need/) [John Conyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-conyers/) > [When adults come together to form an intimate relationship, each person releases into it unresolved issues from their trans-generational pool of unconscious fantasies. Partners…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-raphael-leff/when-adults-come-together-to-form-an-intimate-relationship-each/) [Joan Raphael-Leff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-raphael-leff/) > [Here's my advice to you: don't marry until you can tell yourself that you've done all you could, and until you've stopped loving the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/here-s-my-advice-to-you-don-t-marry-until-you-can-tell-yourself-that/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [I am responsible. Yes, I have chosen to be single.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadya-suleman/i-am-responsible-yes-i-have-chosen-to-be-single/) [Nadya Suleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadya-suleman/) Browse all 1,955 Chosen quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. 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