I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second best. There is no such thing.

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.

Nobody is born a dancer.

The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep.

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.

Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important.

I cannot belong to a nonprofit organization because when you receive grants, you have to make such great compromises with your artistic plans.