Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Depending on the level you're at in your company, the higher you go up in rank, usually the longer you can dance.
Before dance came into my life, I don't really remember having any major goals or dreams of wanting to be anything.
Perseverance has always just been something that was in me. And it was a tool that came in very handy as a ballerina.
I believe that I definitely developed into a refined and graceful woman due to ballet. It has shaped me in every way.
I think I get almost every piece of clothing that I buy altered and taken in just to fit me exactly the way it should.
At least in my performances, the audience has become so diverse in a way that I don't think ballet has ever experienced.
If I'm put in a situation where I am not really sure what's going to happen, it can be overwhelming. I get a bit anxious.
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.
When I was younger, my feet would hurt a lot, but you build up calluses and strength and you don't feel as much pain there.
I think that the ideal physique and look of a ballerina is always changing with different eras. And it's continuing to change.
Once I became a professional, maybe 19 or 20, I really started to try to figure out who I was, as a woman and as an individual.
Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.
I'm a classical ballet dancer, and at the end of the day I want to be with American Ballet Theater, performing classical ballets.
Going on stage and transcending the audience and becoming this otherworldly thing makes you a dancer. It's not so black and white.
I think, as a child, there weren't dreams. I can't recall as a child having some ultimate dream and thinking that it was possible.
I'm a pescatarian, so I don't eat red meat or pork. So my dinners usually consist of seafood in some way. And maybe cookies after!
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.
That it's possible to do positive things and I think that's how we're going to set an example to be respected as women in the world.
Dance kind of was always just a part of my natural state as a child. It's something that, whenever music was playing, I was dancing.
I know that I'm talented, and I know that I'm not in American Ballet Theater because I'm black - I'm here because I'm a gifted dancer.
I don't eat a ton of pasta or bread. But I eat dessert almost every night, and I drink. You need a bit of balance, and I've found mine.
There are muscles that we have in our feet that most human beings don't even know that we have. The strength that we have is so detailed.
I never thought of myself as special or particularly good at anything. But once I started ballet, suddenly I had a new identity: prodigy.
I think that having a platform and having a voice to be seen by people beyond the classical ballet world has really been my power, I feel.
I remind myself everyday just how lucky I am to do what I love! I feel so fortunate and I'm just trying to take my life one day at a time.
It's all so surreal, and I'm living my dream. And you know, principal or not, I'm getting to dance all the roles that I've dreamed of doing.
It's difficult to exist as a woman, especially I think as a powerful woman. You want to stand strong and you want to be considered and equal.
I know that I'll forever be involved in ballet. This is where my life was meant to be, and I don't see myself straying completely away, ever.
I don't want to be anything else other than a ballerina. I love what I do outside of my work, but at the end of the day, I have to sacrifice.
40 years old is about the time a principal dancer would start to think about retirement, but some go on to dance a little bit longer than that.
I'm definitely very careful about the things that I want to be a part of, but it's also important for me to get dance out there to more people.
It's weird for minorities even just to buy tickets to the ballet. We feel like it's not a part of our lives and we're not a part of that world.
It's a European art form, and you're used to seeing a certain type of person as a ballerina. And I don't look like a lot of the girls around me.
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.
Hopefully, I'll be a part of ABT, in some way, forever. I think I'll always be a part of ballet and try to push diversity, for as long as I live.
Ballet is number one, everything else is scheduled in the small windows when I'm not in the studio taking class, rehearsing, on stage or on tour.
It takes a lot of money to be a part of the ballet world. Both the training and the supplies are expensive, the shoes, the leotards and the tights.
I don't feel like my life is that of a superstar! Every day I wake up, I take the train, I go to my ballet class. My everyday life is pretty normal.
The best piece of advice that I remember probably on a daily basis is to accept everything about me that is different. That is what makes me special.
When people meet me in person, they're usually surprised at how petite I am because there's this idea that because I'm black, I just look a certain way.
It's hard to be the one that stands out when, you know, in a ballet company, you're trying to create unison and uniform when you're in a corps de ballet.
Different mentors throughout my life have supported and guided me to remember that I do have the strength, courage and talent to do whatever I want to do.
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.
I think that I'm so fortunate to have found classical ballet. It completely changed my life and it shaped the person that I am today, on and off the stage.
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 didn't know anything about it.
Barack Obama being President of the United States doesn't mean racism has disappeared. It's all a process, and we have to be aware that the work never ends.
When people meet me in person, they're usually surprised at how petite I am because there's just [an] idea that because I'm black I just look a certain way.
I grew up poor in San Pedro, California, sleeping on the floor of shady motels with my five siblings and not always sure when or where I'd get my next meal.
I was aware of my race from a very young age. Not in a negative way. Coming from an interracial background, I think it is important to understand who you are.
It's really amazing that I was discovered and that I've been given these great opportunities to travel the world and work with amazing artists. I'm very blessed.