I think especially in a world where you have so little say about what goes on in your life, or in the politics of the world around you, it is wonderful to go into that studio, and tell yourself what to do.

In fact, ballet companies did not exist in the Midwest when I was a child.

You don't learn from a situation where you do something well. You enjoy it and you give yourself credit, but you don't really learn from that. You learn from trial and error, trial and error, all the time.

Of course, in the art class, I was the model.

On the other hand, I think it is wonderful for everyone to take ballet classes, at any age. It gives you a discipline, it gives you a place to go. It gives you some control in your life.

When you are on stage, you don't see faces. The lights are in your eyes and you see just this black void out in front of you. And yet you know there is life out there, and you have to get your message across.

I'm thought of as a cool, unemotional dancer, but inside I'm not.

When you get on stage, you can be anything. You are removed from reality in a way, the real world.

Once I started dancing, I was not the spoiled brat or the rebellious child that I was as a child.

There is pain and sacrifice in everyone's world. That's why, when I was dancing, I had no pain.

The particular ballet was not so important as the fact that I was physically healthy, and capable of getting out there and dancing as often as possible.

The body can do amazing things in a situation when it is really called for.

That the work involved, the willingness to take chances, the commitment, the opportunity to get on stage and make people happy, was more important than becoming famous, or even what I was dancing.

So dancing was not something I had a great desire to do.