Well, it's not full time - my dancers are only paid for six months of the year in two three-month blocks; but yes, it is possible we could do it in another year.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A lot of professional dancers become professional when they turn 15 or 16 years old, when they're still children. So you've trained every single waking moment up until that point for a career that could maybe only last 10 years, maybe longer if your body holds up, if your injuries are kept at bay.
Independent dance - and, fine, it's a very good thing that it remains independent - is a much tougher life: all dancers expect that, and accept that there will be periods of not being able to work, provided there are choice moments during the year when they really can work.
No one can hand you anything as a dancer. You have to earn it.
I've always questioned the way dancers, myself included, must do the same role year in and year out. It's important for me to be able to say to myself, 'O.K., I don't want to be a prince anymore. I want to put on a leather jockstrap and pose.'
I have done the company lifestyle for 16 years, and ballet has changed.
I always want to have more dancers in my company.
Yeah, about sixteen to twenty weeks a year. For example, we can do America in six or seven weeks. You can do Europe in three weeks; England in two weeks. South America you could do in three weeks; Asia you could do in three weeks.
There are 365 days in the year, and as a working actor, you might only work 17 of them. You might only need to do two ads and you can afford to live for the year, but it doesn't make for a very satisfactory or fulfilling life. The point isn't to not work - it's to work.
If they'll have me and the show does well, I could do this another two or three years.
A dancer's career is short - you just keep going until your legs pack up.