Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.

That's what improvising is like for me. There's no tollbooth between my impulse and my action.

Any comic is a tragic soul. Comedy is one of the things that allows one to survive. Particularly if one has been in the process of separating off the emotions, it's one place you can process them.

The disasteris not the money, although the money will be missed. The disaster is the disrespect--this belief that the arts are dispensable, that they're not critical to a culture's existence.

Destiny, quite often, is a determined parent. Mozart was hardly some naive prodigy who sat down at the keyboard and, with God whispering in his ears, let music flow from his fingertips. It's a nice image for selling tickets to movies, but whether or not God has kissed your brow, you still have to work. Without learning and preparation, you won't know how to harness the power of that kiss.

The rewards of dancing are very different from choreographing.

Obligation is a flimsy base for creativity, way down the list behind passion, courage, instinct, and the desire to do something great.