I Danced With Passion To Spite The

The Voices Of Moral Authority In The Theatre Demanded Only Punctuality And Physical Performance. In The Light Of Continuing Pressure And Stress, The Occasional Lip Service Paid To Moderation Was Meaningless. Starvation And Poisoning Were Not Excesses, But Measures Taken To Stay Within The Norm.

I Embarked On A Risky Course Of Plastic Surgery And Silicone Injections, Major Dental Realignments And Gruesome Medical Procedures. I Pray That Young Dancers, Those Who Imitate Me At Their Peril, Will Avoid This Blind Alley. It Is More Than A Dead End; It Is A Dead Beginning.

Classical Virtuosity Is More Than Technique, Line, Proportion, And Balance. It Is As If The Performer And Spectator Come Together To Hold In Their Hands A Bird With A Broken Wing. The Creature Can Be Felt To Stir, To Struggle For Freedom. Its Life Responds To Human Warmth; Its Wing Might Brush Your Check As It Flies Away.

At This Stage Of My Life I Would Rather Try And Have Some Small Impact Within A Company And Suffer Through Those Things Than Make Such A Big Stink That Nobody Can Trust To Work With You. It's Very Important In An Environment Of A Big Institution That People Don't Feel Threatened That You're Going To Expose Them In Any Way.

There Was A Stage When Balanchine And I Didn't Talk. I Was Trying To Develop My Classical Technique As Opposed To The Fast-track Technique That He Was Pushing. We Were Very Quiet With Each Other. But After Two Years He Saw What I Was Doing And Sent Messages Through Other People That, Yes, This Is Good.