“We all need an escape into fantasy. The popularity of the ballet proves that point, and what better way to is there to forget your troubles than through glamour and beauty? It is not – how you say it – ‘appropriate’ for women to go to gala places in anything but their loveliest evening dresses.” — Mia Slavenska
Source: 1942
Photo: Peter Basch (1944)
“To be a great ballerina, one must be in the best physical condition not just once in awhile but every moment. One must have the fitness of Joe DiMaggio or a Willie Mays, the theatrical sense of a Judith Anderson or a Katharine Cornell, the musical sense of a Horowitz or Heifetz, and the dedication of a St. Francis of Assisi. And to be in top form every moment, the ballerina must worl at being a ballerina 24 hours a day.” — Mia Slavenska
Source: 1955
Photo: Alfredo Valente
