When you see the body outside of a costume and see the strength that it takes, people would look at dance a different way and see how athletic it is. You're not just born like that.

Physical fears change and shift depending on the role and depending on the mindset I'm in.

You're always working to improve, and you're always being critiqued on your next performance. It's not about what you've done. There's always room to grow.

The path to your success is not as fixed and inflexible as you think.

I'm a pescatarian, so I don't eat red meat or pork. So my dinners usually consist of seafood in some way. And maybe cookies after!

I absolutely love what I do. And I want to dance for as long as I can and feel good about what I'm putting out there on the stage. But my goal has always been to be a principal dancer with ABT. Before I knew that there had never been a black woman, that was always my goal. I wanted to dance Odette-Odile and Kitri and "Don Quixote" and Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty." So that's still my goal. But knowing that it's never been done before, I think makes me fight even harder.

I just try to approach every opportunity on stage, as if it's my first time and my last time.