Wendy Whelan Quotes

Technical things are getting more mechanical. Take 'Swan Lake,' the Black Swan pas de deux. Now, my goodness, they're turning not just 32 fouettes - but double or triple pirouettes.

And then you have the classical ballerinas, they're like sopranos. Applied to the dance.

Classical ballet will never die.

At 7, I was at the barre and dancing at folk festivals. Then I was a student with the ballet school of the Metropolitan Opera.

I am passionate about ballet.

Certainly, when you train as a classical dancer, you are very much influenced by 'Giselle.' You see it all the time; you start to learn the steps a little.

When you're a dancer, you start with the basics. You don't all of a sudden do a grand jete and pirouette. You start with first position, second, third.

You cannot dance an arabesque in 'Swan Lake' and 'Nutcracker' the same way.

When I was younger, people would always say, 'Are you a ballet dancer?' I had that look - one of those skinny kids with my hair in a bun.

I danced six hours a day. My cross to bear is that my children have no interest in ballet. I think they could smell how much I wanted to put their hair in a bun.

Ballet was just something that I always wanted to do.

I've been practicing ballet since I was three years old.

I really enjoyed watching a ballerina named Denise Dabrowski who used to dance at California Ballet. She was a beautiful ballerina and role model for a lot of young dancers.

I had never a thought of training to be a ballerina. I was a normal child. I never dreamed of the tutu.

By the end of 'Swan Lake,' you know how there's all the corps on stage, and she keeps running in the back, doing arms? You can't feel your arms. You're just like, 'Ow.'

I trained as a ballet dancer - well, I started when I was two and a half, and was serious about it from when I was eight until I was 18.

Ballet is an incredibly difficult, beautiful art form that takes a lot of training, a lot of time, and a lot of hard work.

I'm always ballet ready.

In ballet class, I felt like Ralph Wiggum.

Before founding Ballet Beautiful, I was a ballerina with the New York City Ballet.

I took ballet when I was eight, like a lot of other people.

There was a period of time when I studied ballet a lot when I was growing up.

I was a ballerina for 10 years growing up, but I stopped.

My favorite dancer is Sylvie Guillem.

I wanted to be a male ballet dancer.