To achieve some depth in your field requires a lot of sacrifices.

I remember vividly seeing 'Tarzan' and Fred Astaire, the Chaplin films, Fred Astaire musicals, MGM, because of my mother. She was just interested in everything and she took me to opera and ballet, and then ballet got me hooked.

I have some Russian friends. But probably only 10 percent. I don't hang out usually in the big Russian communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey.

You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes.

The Russian people get so insanely close to each other as friends. Their lives are interrelated so much on an everyday basis.

A country like Belgium, or socialist countries in central Europe spend more money on art education than the United States, which is a really puzzling thought.

I am not the first straight dancer or the last.