There are so few people who can really take hold of art and sort of eat and chew it up. Somehow it's got to be held special, sacred in a corner, and if you don't do the same thing with it, if you're not equally reverential, serious, and pompous about it, well, then you're not a great artist. Who needs that?

This is not a pleasant route for many young people to consider. You have to be either hopelessly passionate, or very stupid.

I often say that in making dances I can make a world where I think things are done morally, done democratically, done honestly.

The way I enjoyed spending time most was dancing. That's from the time I was a very small child, When I was 4 or 5 years old, I remember already having a regime. It was the way I always identified myself.

When you're in a rut, you have to question everything except your ability to get out of it.

I feel I can handle the architecture of dance as well as anybody.

I understand things that are American, for better or worse.