Ann Reinking
The joy is in the work. The travel is the dues you pay.Collection: Travel
Dancing is the personification of music, and music is an abstract expression of the human spirit. But still it's the act of communication, of making one feel. Otherwise it would just be gymnastics.Collection: Communication
It was sad to leave 'Pippin' because it was a kind of inspirational turning point in my life. But it was time to move on.Collection: Inspirational
Mr Fosse was obviously influenced by Brecht and Weill, as well as Bergman and Fellini, and you could see the influence of vaudeville and African American hoofing - and Fred Astaire, too.
If you can't trust, it's harder to love and if you can't love it's harder to be happy.
In sixth grade my teacher said that we had to do a talent show. You could sing or recite a poem... I went a wrote a little sketch for myself called 'Our Big World' about how many ways you could use a scarf.
One of the good things about accomplishing something is that it helps your self-image of yourself.
The human spirit is the greatest thing on earth.
You have no control over how tall you are or how long your legs are, but you do have control over how much you concentrate.
I have a wonderful husband, sportswriter Peter Talbert.
You get to a certain point in your life and you think you can do it all. And then you do do it all, and then you have to top yourself.
I wanted to have children.
The hope is that in rediscovering 'Chicago,' audiences will rediscover what theater was. It was sophisticated, complicated, adult.
To tell you the truth, I see any revolution as basically a penmanship exercise. It all loops around and winds up where you started.
You can't force kids on people.
Herb was a great husband.
Pippin' was, I guess you can say, the break that everyone needs and you hope that you have the talent to back up the opportunity.
You have to have tunnel vision as a dancer to get to where you're going. But once you get there, you have to save yourself by spreading your horizons. It's the paradox of this profession. The very thing that makes you very good will destroy you.
I wanted a way to pass on all the gifts, all the instruction that I've been given.
We all grow.
Dance saves lives.
Dance is such a wonderful, universal expression, even if the bugle beads are wrong.
The one good thing about dance is that if you are truly yourself, then it's all good.
When you're a teenager, you don't want to look different. So being very tall can set you apart, not being able to see very well can set you apart... and you just want to fit in. We all do.
All great directors - however, they do it - make you want to be good. I hope I do it. It's like being a parent, a psychiatrist, a disciplinarian and a friend.
To meet someone who you look up to like they are gods and goddesses, sometimes that person can disappoint you a bit.
In theatre or in ballet, the ballerina always passes on what they know. It's a hands-on craft. You can't really learn the soul and the pathos of it if you just see a video. It has to be taught by someone who is in the know.
Every great dancer has so much to offer.
Creativity is not a mysterious thing, it's a historical thing.
I ripped both hamstrings.
Bob's work gleaned from hoofing, from vaudeville, from ballet.
One of the things that made Bob so unique and wonderful is that he had a genuine style, like Balanchine, like de Mille.
Bob was beloved by people, very intelligent people, for their entire lives, and he had tremendous loyalty from everyone. I know he has a reputation for being abusive, but he's not.
Once Bob commits to something, it's almost like a child. He doesn't want anybody else to take care of it, even if it might be to his detriment.
The reason why I believe faith is important for a person is that it teaches you to trust.
I think it's hard to live without some sort of faith.
Once a star... No matter what, there's something there, they give you something that's special.
Bob taught me extraordinary discipline and love.
It's hard to dance after a certain age. All those athletic things - like looking up at my kneecaps - they're just not there anymore.
If you're a woman and you're working, you're already set up for conflict.
It's a good idea to have your career intact and then have children.
Ingenue parts are plentiful. And once you get old, they'll start hiring you again for character parts. But the middle years are tough.
That's very important when you're doing an ensemble piece, that you give it a variety of levels so it doesn't get too homogenous.
There's a lot of heart to Bob's work that doesn't always get recognized because of all of the sensuality, dark statements and wit of his work.
The Fosse technique really does have to have a delicacy and an elegance to it.
Michael Bennett, Tommy Tune and Agnes de Mille fought to be director-choreographers. They were just not going to do it any other way because the choreographer is so often at the bottom of the creative totem pole when you put a show together. So with that power you get a more direct point-of-view and that helps something called style.
It's all cyclical. Sometimes things just come in packs. At one point you had this collection of great choreographers where you would see eight bars and you would know definitely who did it.
It's to your advantage to work your brain as well as your body. The rest is up to fate.
I announced at the dinner table when I was 11 that I wanted to be a ballet dancer. But my goal changed to musical theater after the choreographer Robert Joffrey saw me perform while I was on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School.
Something can be said for quitting for a little while. You can get completely drained as a performer and creator. You have to fill back up.