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Obviously, the young dancers lack a certain air of maturity.

As you get older, the physical abilities decrease, which is particularly frustrating because your brain gets so good! So as you are becoming less technically or physically able, younger dancers are emerging who need the space to perform.

People dance at any age.

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.

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.

I haven't danced since 1973; I'm too old.

Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.

But you do have to start young as a dancer if you're going to achieve the physical skills necessary.

I know that dancers, especially ballet dancers, can't do it forever.