Beyoncé says it was Mathew Knowles, her father, who made her understand discipline and work ethic, what it means to come in early before class starts to stretch, or to work on your dégagés or your pirouettes or whatever it was. I was a turner! So to come in early and then to stay afterward and to just soak up everything that the teacher has, that's really what it's about - the striving for excellence.

When you train as a dancer, you understand you have to work exceptionally hard. I think dancers are the hardest - working people in show business. You have to push your body beyond where you thought it could go. It's athleticism. Perfection doesn't exist, but with classical ballet, there is an ideal, and I got obsessed with that ideal. In some ways, it was problematic because I don't have an ideal ballet body, but the discipline is what I carry with me to this day. That's my park, the discipline of dancing.

I honestly just want to make myself happy most, and if other people like it, then that's great. If they don't, then I'm still happy.

By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better.

When a trans woman gets called a man, that is an act of violence.

We are born as who we are, the gender thing is something that is imposed on you.

The preoccupation with transition and with surgery objectifies trans people, and we don't get to really deal with the real lived experiences.