Quotes

'Swan Lake' is the most difficult thing to portray for a female ballet dancer; it really requires such specific qualities of articulation, agility, strength, and the arm work is something that takes a lot of training.

I did grow up in France, and even though I didn't go to the school or dance with the Paris Opera Ballet, I absorbed similar ideas in my training. I understand the scale of a big company. I danced for one for almost 20 years.

I could have stayed in Paris for another five years, or 10, but for the first time in my life I was afraid of losing my energy. If I'd stayed I would have become a different person.

Directing is very close to choreography; you deal with space, time, emotions, lighting, making beautiful images.

Most dancers have no awareness of how they look; half of them think they're fat. There is anorexia in the ballet world; there are those things.

Nowadays I actually cook Italian-style food more than French heavy sauces. I make a good salad, some great roasted vegetables, grilled fish. I'm crazy about L.A. because at the farmers' market you find all kinds of wild mushrooms.

I am passionate about ballet.

I was born in France. I grew up in Africa.

Ultimately, the problem is with the nature of classical ballet. In the contemporary dance world, there's a ton of female choreographers. Some of the most successful modern dance choreographers have been women. And very honestly, the work of choreographers like Pina Bausch, for example, these works are by very, very smart women, who use narrative and draw from literature.

I'm completely attracted to the idea of working with retired dancers; some dancers retire early and are in fantastic shape. Carla and Janie still have a lot to say and want to, and I'm happy to give them an outlet.

It's not a coincidence that women have been drawn to contemporary dance, because I think ballet has been very weak for a long, long time. There's very little ballet that I like. I'm not interested in most of what's happening in ballet. And so I think that women have been drawn to contemporary dance because it's a more interesting field where you can see more interesting work. It draws upon more fields of art, there are more diverse influences. I think the problem with ballet, in general, is its insularity and the education that results from that. You certainly can make great dancers who know only ballet, there are fantastic dancers who have no education. They can be the most fantastic, musical, intelligent dancers, but they're not necessarily cultured, just gifted.