I've danced all over the world, and people are people. We cannot cut off from each other in life. In order to lead, you can't do that.

I have been guilty of watching Westerns without acknowledging that Native Americans have gone through the same madness as African Americans. Isn't it extraordinary that sometimes the most offended have not seen others being offended?

Every dancer lives on the threshold of chucking it.

We can go on talking about racism and who treated whom badly, but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to wallow in that or are you going to create your own agenda?

I was a protege; by the age of 10, I was studying with ballet choreographer Anthony Tudor in a class of adults.

People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.

Maybe its a generational thing, but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I just wanted to be the best.