I want to be free... free to develop my art.

Technical things are getting more mechanical. Take 'Swan Lake,' the Black Swan pas de deux. Now, my goodness, they're turning not just 32 fouettes - but double or triple pirouettes.

Being spontaneous, it's what saved me.

I was born to be a ballerina - my physique, my spirit, my feeling for music. What I am can only be expressed in dance. I am an erotic woman and that's what dance is.

Because my profession is the body, it is a relaxation for me to get out of physicality and concentrate on more mental things.

Usually, English personalities are difficult; they dont take criticism easily.

It is the body, subject to the harmony of the steps it is executing, which speaks. And it speaks to the heart in as direct a language as does music.