Dance Journey Quotes

When I was 16, I moved to Torrance, California to train at a more advanced studio, and by 19, I joined the American Ballet Theatre in New York. It all happened so fast - it was pretty unheard of that someone could train for so few years and become a professional at one of the most elite dance companies in the United States.

It wasn't until I did a musical revue in Paris in the 1980s called 'Black and Blue,' and met the great men and women responsible for the progress of tap dance, that my relationship with the dance really began.

I've always had a passion for dancing, and I wasn't lucky enough to go to stage school, so when I got onto the show, I was like a kid in a sweet shop. I went into it just to have fun. The support was overwhelming, to say the least. It wasn't until the end of the show that I realised how much I really wanted to win it.

I think the inception of my interest in arts was when I was around 9 or 10 and I started dancing. I was really convinced that I was going to go to New York and be onstage in 'A Chorus Line.'

One day, I just wandered into a dance class full of girls, and that was it. I thought, 'Hang on! I'll have a bit of this.' I went back a week later and got dragged up by the teacher. It wasn't a massive calling.

No matter what I try to do or explore, my Kirov training, my expertise, and my background call me to return to dancing after all, because that's my real vocation, and I have to serve it.

I love dancing and practiced ballet for ten years until I realized I wouldn't make it professionally - then I started taking salsa classes. I learned to dance samba in Rio and Salvador when I lived in Brazil.

'ABCD...' was a dance movie, but it had an emotional story, and now 'ABCD 2' is a very emotional film, too.

Ballet found me, I guess you could say. I was discovered by a teacher in middle school. I always danced my whole life. I never had any training, never was exposed to seeing dance, but I always had something inside of me. I would love to choreograph and dance around.

The best thing about 'Strictly' is it doesn't matter what level you start at, if you've never put a foot in front of the other in your life.

My personal style at this point in my life is more audio; it's more driven on less visual and more musicality. But because of my upbringing, my fabulous mentors and teachers that I've had throughout my dance journey or career, I also possess a style that is of the past. It was just a matter of me reaching back.

I've loved and been so passionate about dance since I was three years old, and it's really what I wanted to do as a career.

I just want to continue to pursue dancing. I want to focus on making it out there and showing everybody my heart and soul through dance... and do it until I can't walk anymore.

So, I think I would say, enjoy the process of learning to dance. The process of our profession, and not its final achievement, is the heart and soul of dance.

I don't see myself going back to 'Strictly' as a professional in the same capacity as I started. But I'll definitely keep dancing.

I've had a lot of little girls write to me saying that they want to be dancers and that I've inspired them.

Though films have established me as an actor, dance has given me an identity and a boost to my career, and I am thankful to God for that.