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I grew up studying dance, taking ballet lessons.

I had gone to the High School of the Performing Arts in New York City.

In the Thirties, when I was in New York, I did the first surrealistic ballet in a show of mine.

I've studied dance since I was very young, and I continue to study ballet.

I grew up studying ballet; I grew up honing my craft.

At the ballet classes I took when I first came to New York, I would see great dancers like Cynthia Gregory and Lupe Serrano. I would look at them and study what they could do, and what I couldn't do. And then I'd think maybe they should try what I could do.

I am passionate about ballet.

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.

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.