Then I did the simplest thing in the world. I leaned down... and kissed him. And the world cracked open.

Dancers aren't made of their technique, but their passion.

Many other women have kicked higher, balanced longer, or turned faster. These are poor substitutes for passion.

I want one word on my tombstone - dancer.

I learned three important things in college-to use a library, to memorize quickly and visually, to drop asleep at any time given a horizontal surface and fifteen minutes. What I could not learn was to think creatively on schedule.

I had had to learn the difference between the bearable fatigue and the unbearable, the fatigue of fear. The first can be cured by a night's sleep; the second kills.

When I dance I am really meditating rather then performing for an audience. I am completely absorbed by the music and the steps I choose to respond to the music.