Professional Dance Career Quotes

When I left Michigan and I came to New York, that was my goal, to be a professional dancer. And I sort of fell into singing by accident in a way.

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.

40 years old is about the time a principal dancer would start to think about retirement, but some go on to dance a little bit longer than that.

I went to Indiana University for college for a couple of years where I double majored in dance and journalism, and after my sophomore year there, I went to the San Francisco Ballet school for the summer, but then they offered me a scholarship to stay for the year. That's where I danced after the year they offered me a contract with the company.

I went to ballet school for nine years, and there was an agent for the whole school who happened to be there visiting one of the performances. She suggested an audition.

I went away when I was 9 to a ballet school. I thought I wanted to be a dancer, but eight years of ballet cured me of that.

I went professional with my partner, Erin Boag, 11 years ago, and we had success competing round the world, but appearing on 'Strictly' has changed my life.

It was not until I had graduated from college that I made a professional commitment to it. Frankly, I didn't think it wise. I was my own interior parental force, and it's very difficult to justify a profession as a dancer.

I was a ballet dancer growing up and that's what I was convinced I would be.

I had classical training at London's Royal Ballet School, and my first job was with the Semperoper Dresden ballet company in Germany.

To become a classical ballerina, you have to move to New York when you're 12 or 11 and that becomes your life. I just wanted to be good in my company in Charleston and I wanted it to always be part of my life.

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 was born in Toronto and studied with the National Ballet of Canada. I went to school to study dance, slept on the floor, ate nothing, waitressed - and then there was a Mary J. Blige audition.

If I wasn't going to be able to dance professionally, I wasn't going to dance. That's my all-or nothing personality coming out.

How many dancers in their life get a job that will last 15 years? Not many.