If Fred Astaire is the Cary Grant of dance, I'm the Marlon Brando.

My mother had gotten a job as a receptionist at a dancing school and had the idea that we should open our own dancing school; we did, and it prospered.

I never wanted to be a dancer. It's true! I wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

There's nothing revolutionary about Saturday Night Fever . You can see the same kind of movement at your local disco.

In the 1930s there was this tendency in Hollywood to portray everyone as rich. Even if they were doing a poor man's dance, they were all so nicely clothed, gowned, coiffured. That's why I decided to wear white socks, loafers, T-shirts, and blue jeans. I had a sociopolitical context in front of me: I was a child of the Depression who danced in a way that would represent the common man.

America now has more and better dancers than they have ever had in the history of the country, but that won't account for the public wants to see.

I'd studied dance in Chicago every summer and taught it all winter, and I was well-rounded. I wasn't worried about getting a job on Broadway. In fact, I got one the first week.