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.
There was a period of time when I studied ballet a lot when I was growing up.
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.
I had never a thought of training to be a ballerina. I was a normal child. I never dreamed of the tutu.
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.
In ballet class, I felt like Ralph Wiggum.
Classical ballet will never die.
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.
For a ballerina, the center of balance is everything - creating a strong center of balance begins with building strong abdominal muscles.
Ballet requires movements which are very unnatural. With every step, you do a circular movement of the hip. You turn out from the hip and make your knees point out to the side instead of forward.
You cannot dance an arabesque in 'Swan Lake' and 'Nutcracker' the same way.
I'm always ballet ready.
Ballet was just something that I always wanted to do.
I am passionate about ballet.
Ballet targets smaller muscles that you don't often use - instead of working your quads, it works the inside and the back of your leg.
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.
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.
Ballerinas are often divided into three categories: jumpers, turners and balancers.
Sometimes I miss being en pointe, but not a whole lot. Every once and a while, I would love to float for a minute on a shoe. But for the most part, I did it long enough that it's OK.
I've been practicing ballet since I was three years old.
And then you have the classical ballerinas, they're like sopranos. Applied to the dance.
