Like An Athlete, [dance] Is An Everyday

I Saw Mikhail Baryshnikov Do Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite On Pbs. I Have No Numbers To Prove It, But I Bet That Kids Who Saw That Loved It. I Think You Will See Younger Dancers, Who Certainly Have The Artistic Sense And Capabilities, Start Going Back To Romantic Numbers.

I Had Been Asked To Open A Nightclub In Atlantic City. They Offered Me A Ridiculous Amount Of Money. They Literally Overpaid Me. So I Did One Show A Night. Then They Asked Me Back By Popular Demand. So I Went Back. Then I Said, "to Hell With This." I Was Only Doing It For The Money, And I Was Doing Easy Routines. It's Just Too Much Work To Get Up Every Day And Practice.

When I Would Create A Dance, I Wouldn't Have The Luxury That Ballet People Do When They Take A Piece Of Music And Impose A Dance Upon It. What We Did In Motion Pictures Was Have A Song And Within That Song Try To Elaborate. My Usual Method Was To Do What A Writer Does: Get A Plot.

There Is A Strange Sort Of Reasoning In Hollywood That Musicals Are Less Worthy Of Academy Consideration Than Dramas. It's A Form Of Snobbism, The Same Sort That Perpetuates The Idea That Drama Is More Deserving Of Awards Than Comedy.

It Fit Into My Scheme Of Things For Many Reasons. At The Time It Was True That Male Dancers Were Looked Down Upon, And It Was True That A Lot Of The Male Dancers Were Effeminate. But What I Was Really Trying To Do Was Develop Something That Would Be American.