Dancing Career Quotes

Since finishing my professional dancing career, I've been conscious of not letting myself go.

A dancer, more than any other human being, dies two deaths: the first, the physical when the powerfully trained body will no longer respond as you would wish. After all, I choreographed for myself. I never choreographed what I could not do. I changed steps in Medea and other ballets to accommodate the change. But I knew. And it haunted me. I only wanted to dance.

From the time I was twelve I was dancing for bread and butter, but in my heart I was always an actress.

I don't really dance for pleasure much." "Uh--so you, uh, usually dance professionally, or what?" Seb asked. "Yeah," said Nick. "The ballet is my passion.

I've been acting my whole life, which people don't realize. I just haven't had the opportunities that I've had with my dancing.

I was a backup dancer at one point for a group that was on RCA.

At 19, I turned professional, and I moved to New York. Then I got the call to do 'Dancing With The Stars,' so I moved to L.A. when I was 20 and did it for 18 seasons - about two a year - until I was 30.

When I first moved to L.A. as a dancer, all I wanted to do was dance. I never even considered trying to act or direct.

I started dancing when I was four years old and then was in class until I was about 20 years old or so, and then primarily was dancing just in shows that I was doing, but not really studying and training.

At nine years old, I was presented an opportunity to move to Toronto to train for pairs dancing. As soon as I heard that that's what it entailed, I was out of there. It's like a past life. I hung up my skates and never looked back.

I was always performing as a child, and then I was determined to act and sing and dance, so I travelled for miles every day to go from home in Kent into London.

I was in ballet classes, I took singing lessons, I started taking acting classes as a hobby. When I was younger, I had my mind set on dancing or singing.

I love Abby Lee Miller. Honestly, if there's such a thing as past lives, I was definitely a dancer.

My journey has practically been a typical Hindi film script. I was a boy from a small town who wanted to make a future in dancing. Everyone though that I won't be able to do anything.

In fact, I wasn't going to dance in Xanadu, but several journalists told me that Olivia Newton-John kept saying how sad she was that she wouldn't get the chance to dance with me. So I finally said, "All right, throw in a number." But I'm through with dancing.

Growing up, the last thing I ever thought I'd do is be an entertainer.

My first passion was to create for young girls the idea that you have to be brave and courageous, it's not easy taking big steps and saying, 'I'm going to be a professional dancer'.

I've done everything. I've sung, done records, plays... It just so happened my first professional job was as a dancer. I've done the whole shebang, darling. But dancing was my first professional engagement in 1974. I got paid for it, so that was it, my vocation. But my parents weren't keen. They wanted me to be an accountant in Italy. Or a lawyer. They were furious. I had to run away. I had to leave the country.

I was never a dancer before 'Shake It Up'.

I liked to read but, being a dancer, I didn't have a lot of time to read.

My brother and I had a wonderful mentor when we were younger who helped fund our dancing career so we could travel the world.

I had been dancing in competitions in South Africa since the age of four, before going on to compete internationally.

At 15, you have to decide if you're going to go into professional dancing and really pursue it. I just a) knew that I couldn't stop acting, and b) I had that sort of foresight to understand that when I was 35 - if I was lucky and if I hadn't gotten injured - my career would be on its way to ending. Now, at 34, I really understand that. But at 15, I understood that as well. I was like, "I can't. That's just too risky.".

Before I was an actor I was a break dancer, one of those street performers you see. I guess my introduction into the professional world of performing was a stint as back up dancer for Lionel Richie and I performed at the closing ceremony at the '84 Olympics.

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.