I'm a classical ballet dancer, and at the end of the day I want to be with American Ballet Theater, performing classical ballets.

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.

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.

I think anything that affects me in my personal life is going to help me be a better artist on stage.

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 had no idea what I was walking into, and the years and years of hard work it would take. I felt like an outsider and like it was never going to happen. But even if I would have known, I think I still would have done it. Dancers are perfectionists, and that's what keeps us going and growing.

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.