I Took It As It Came And

In The 1930s There Was This Tendency In Hollywood To Portray Everyone As Rich. Even If They Were Doing A Poor Man's Dance, They Were All So Nicely Clothed, Gowned, Coiffured. That's Why I Decided To Wear White Socks, Loafers, T-shirts, And Blue Jeans. I Had A Sociopolitical Context In Front Of Me: I Was A Child Of The Depression Who Danced In A Way That Would Represent The Common Man.

At The Time The Quickest Way To Establish Yourself As An American Was To Throw A Little Bit Of Tap Into Your Dance - Even When It Wasn't Called For. But What Also Helped Me Was The Fact That I Was Dancing In Roles That I Had Played.

Kids Talk To Me And Say They Want To Do Musicals Again Because They've Studied The Tapes Of The Old Films. We Didn't Have That. We Thought Once We Had Made It, Even On Film, It Was Gone Except For The Archives.

I Miss The Romance. I Keep Saying This Over And Over Again, But Dance Follows Music. And If The Accent Today Is Percussion And Rhythm And Loudness, Then That Is The Way The Dance Numbers Will Be. But It Is Pretty Hard On Romance With Seven Guitars, Three Drums, And No Melody Instruments In The Band.

At 14 I Discovered Girls. At That Time Dancing Was The Only Way You Could Put Your Arm Around The Girl. Dancing Was Courtship. Only Later Did I Discover That You Dance Joy. You Dance Love. You Dance Dreams.