I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.
Dancers are made, not born.
No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.
When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I'll tell you who you are.
Soviet regime in a way deprived me from my childhood in my homeland, because my father was in military, and after the Yalta agreement he was sent to teach in military academy in Riga, and I was born then.
The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know.
I am a performer. I go on stage and make a fool of myself.
When I see people on the street, I look at how they walk. It's like a signature, a fingerprint.
People dance at any age.
I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.
I like to go to anybody else's birthday, and if I'm invited I'm a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don't care.
I want to do exactly what I want to do. I'd rather gamble on the box office than beg for a grant.
I kind of lost interest in the classical dance. I was very much interested in the modern choreography.
Everything I do, it's a bit painterly. I like being surrounded by objects, mostly on paper. I like the images. I like the painting. I like good photography. It's something that makes me an emotional connection, and I feel comfortable around it.
People of art should never get married and have children, because it's a selfish experience.
Dancing is my obsession. My life.
I go a lot to see young people downtown in little theaters. It's great. If you start somebody's career, it's so exciting.
I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is.
You open a section of 'The New York Times,' and there's a review or a story on a choreographer or a dancer, and there's an informative, clear image of a dancer. This is, in my view, not an interesting photograph.
I adored my mother, and I will always have extraordinary memories about her and remember her, and she opened the doors for me to appreciate arts.
