Any Man Who Looks Like A Sissy

In The 1930s There Was This Tendency In Hollywood To Portray Everyone As Rich. Even If They Were Doing A Poor Man's Dance, They Were All So Nicely Clothed, Gowned, Coiffured. That's Why I Decided To Wear White Socks, Loafers, T-shirts, And Blue Jeans. I Had A Sociopolitical Context In Front Of Me: I Was A Child Of The Depression Who Danced In A Way That Would Represent The Common Man.

When I Would Create A Dance, I Wouldn't Have The Luxury That Ballet People Do When They Take A Piece Of Music And Impose A Dance Upon It. What We Did In Motion Pictures Was Have A Song And Within That Song Try To Elaborate. My Usual Method Was To Do What A Writer Does: Get A Plot.

I Had Been Asked To Open A Nightclub In Atlantic City. They Offered Me A Ridiculous Amount Of Money. They Literally Overpaid Me. So I Did One Show A Night. Then They Asked Me Back By Popular Demand. So I Went Back. Then I Said, "to Hell With This." I Was Only Doing It For The Money, And I Was Doing Easy Routines. It's Just Too Much Work To Get Up Every Day And Practice.

Like An Athlete, [dance] Is An Everyday Job. You Have To Stay In Shape - Unless You Just Want To Loaf Through A Couple Of Hoofing Routines. But That Just Didn't Satisfy Me.

I Wanted To Invent Some Kind Of American Dance That Was Danced To The Music That I Grew Up On: Cole Porter And Rodgers And Hart And Irving Berlin. So I Evolved A Style That Certainly Didn't Catch On Right Away - But I Had Some Good Mentors In New York Who Encouraged Me.