I Got Started Dancing Because I Knew

I Didn't Want To Be A Dancer... I Just Did It To Work My Way Through College. But I Was Always An Athlete And Gymnast, So It Came Naturally.

Mentally, I Write Myself A Little Story. Of Course, Sometimes You Have A Song That Says, "do That." My Best Example Is Singin' In The Rain. Arthur Freed Had Insisted That The Song Should Be In The Picture, But He Was Very Anxious About It.

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.

The Only Time I Feel Pressured Is When Some Woman's Husband Comes Over And Says, "will You Go Ask My Wife To Dance? She's A Great Dancer And Would Just Love To Dance With You."suddenly There's A Crowd Of People Standing Around Us And They Expect That They're About To See Fred And Ginger. Here The Woman And I Have Just Met, And These People Think That It's Showtime. That Is The Only Time I Think It Is Really Embarrassing.

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.