My first ballet class was on a basketball court. I'm in my gym clothes and my socks trying to do this thing called ballet.

I know there are a lot of eyes on me now from young girls, and it makes me so proud. The only Black woman examples aren't Rihanna and Beyoncé. It makes me proud that I am a classical ballerina and they can look at me and see another way to succeed. That is setting a new standard.

I think that training is the key, definitely, and I devoted my life to it.

I will push myself in different ventures that I believe will make me a better artist, dancer and person.

I absolutely love what I do, and I want to dance for as long as I can and feel good about what I am putting out there on the stage.

Maybe I'm seeing myself in a different way than the people in the audience see me, 'cause to me, I think I look like a ballerina and I feel like a ballerina. But maybe I'm not seeing what other people are seeing.

I learned how to communicate and articulate myself from ballet. It's just insane to me, when they don't think of that as a part of our education.