--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be…" description: "\"Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png" --- # Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers… ![“Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love.” quote by Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a6b/robert-gottlieb-2761_art_yes-bad-or-mediocre-ballets-can-be-usefu_1776984.png) > “Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love.” [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Lowering artistic standards may provide short‑term enjoyment but ultimately harms the art’s integrity. **In simple terms:** Compromising standards hurts the art long term. Key Takeaway Uphold high standards in art. Themes art quality standards Mood critical thoughtful Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - theatre productions - dance schools - audience expectations Key Concepts integrity culture education Questions to Reflect On - How can we improve standards without stifling creativity? - What defines a “good” ballet? A Different Perspective Balancing innovation with tradition is challenging. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-form/) [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Dance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) [Dancers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dancers/) [Fun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fun/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Lowering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lowering/) ## Related quotes > [Nothing is harder to create than brilliant comic ballets, except maybe brilliant full-evening comic ballets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/nothing-is-harder-to-create-than-brilliant-comic-ballets-except-maybe/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > ['The Sleeping Beauty' is the greatest, most challenging and most vulnerable of classical ballets. Everything can go wrong with it, and all too often,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/the-sleeping-beauty-is-the-greatest-most-challenging-and-most/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good ballets are different from each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/tolstoy-may-be-right-about-happy-and-unhappy-families-but-in-ballet/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-baryshnikov/i-have-been-very-lucky-to-work-in-so-many-new-ballets-but-that-is/) [Mikhail Baryshnikov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-baryshnikov/) > [Sometimes I feel as if sections of my ballets were done for me - that I didnt do them myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-tudor/sometimes-i-feel-as-if-sections-of-my-ballets-were-done-for-me-that-i/) [Antony Tudor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-tudor/) > [I was not influenced by concerts as a child, but I was very strongly influenced by the ballets I saw.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bebe-neuwirth/i-was-not-influenced-by-concerts-as-a-child-but-i-was-very-strongly/) [Bebe Neuwirth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bebe-neuwirth/) > [Dancing and ballets would undoubtedly take on a new lease on life, if the customs established by a spirit of fear and jealousy did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-georges-noverre/dancing-and-ballets-would-undoubtedly-take-on-a-new-lease-on-life-if/) [Jean-Georges Noverre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-georges-noverre/) > [As long as my ballets are danced, I will live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-nureyev/as-long-as-my-ballets-are-danced-i-will-live/) [Rudolf Nureyev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-nureyev/) > [In the world of classical ballet there are only a handful of story ballets, so getting a new one is cause for excitement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-kain/in-the-world-of-classical-ballet-there-are-only-a-handful-of-story/) [Karen Kain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-kain/) > [I love all of the ballets that have a really strong story in them where I get to play a character. I don't enjoy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-hayward/i-love-all-of-the-ballets-that-have-a-really-strong-story-in-them/) [Francesca Hayward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-hayward/) > [I keep starting supergroups, writing ballets and things like that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhiannon-giddens/i-keep-starting-supergroups-writing-ballets-and-things-like-that/) [Rhiannon Giddens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhiannon-giddens/) > [There are some ballets you can do for a long time. With others, you have to know when to stop. Some are very destructive.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvie-guillem/there-are-some-ballets-you-can-do-for-a-long-time-with-others-you/) [Sylvie Guillem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvie-guillem/) > [I've always thought of the process of creating ballets as being this kind of team effort. It's not like being a painter, where you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-peck/i-ve-always-thought-of-the-process-of-creating-ballets-as-being-this/) [Justin Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-peck/) > [All Ballets' fundamental steps are derived from the folk dances of Western Europe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ninette-de-valois/all-ballets-fundamental-steps-are-derived-from-the-folk-dances-of/) [Ninette de Valois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ninette-de-valois/) > [I'm trying to do things I have never done. Like I recently went to 3 different ballets. And I loved trying to learn how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-regan/i-m-trying-to-do-things-i-have-never-done-like-i-recently-went-to-3/) [Brian Regan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-regan/) ## More by Robert Gottlieb > [Paul Taylor's 'Offenbach Overtures' has lots of zip and charm, and its pair of dueling soldiers in red, who end up starry-eyed about each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/paul-taylor-s-offenbach-overtures-has-lots-of-zip-and-charm-and-its/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Jodi Melnick is hotly self-absorbed. Her onstage musicians are much too loud, and like so many narcissistic performers, she goes on much too long:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/jodi-melnick-is-hotly-self-absorbed-her-onstage-musicians-are-much/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Increasingly, editing means going to lunch. 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But it sounds just like me after I've made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/many-people-say-to-me-particularly-about-my-dance-writing-it-sounds/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Schumann's 'Quintet in E flat for Piano and Strings' is one of the sublime moments in Romantic music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/schumann-s-quintet-in-e-flat-for-piano-and-strings-is-one-of-the/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [What makes a publishing house great? The easy answer is the consistency with which it produces books of value over a lengthy period of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/what-makes-a-publishing-house-great-the-easy-answer-is-the/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [For me, the real pleasure in writing is in having an excuse to pursue my curiosity about people who have meant something to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/for-me-the-real-pleasure-in-writing-is-in-having-an-excuse-to-pursue/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Ballet in September used to be dead as a dodo. 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You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. 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