If I ever have any back-up dancers, I want the penguins from Madagascar.
When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers I kind of wanted to be a vampire.
I regret that I didn't enjoy it all more. I didn't savour it until the end because I was so hard on myself. Life goes by so quickly. A dancer's career goes by so quickly. You've got to enjoy those moments when you know you've done your best.
I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon it.
Before I got into stand-up, I used to be a hip-hop dancer in a crew, and my name was J. Smoove, and my partner was J. Groove.
I haven't had a family, but I don't think of that as a sacrifice: my dancers are my family.
When I first moved to New York I wanted to be a dancer, I danced professionally for years, living a hand-to-mouth existence.
Dancing was a big part of my life, but I would never consider myself a dancer. I adore singing, and music has always been a huge part of my life, but I also enjoy acting.
I grew up as a dancer, and music and dance are so closely tied, that in ballet class you're listening to all this classical music, and in modern class you're working with a live drummer. It was something that always made me feel really comfortable and I've had a connection to since the beginning.
Dancers work really hard, they don't make any money. It's hard.
I was a Ukrainian folk dancer in my teens, and I toured the country in 1991, shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union.
You see, dancers are quite mature people because they start performing so early. They become professionals when they start to take everyday classes.
I started as a tap dancer in Durban, which is on the coast. That was an important part of growing up, turning on the radio in the morning and hearing Zulu singing or the news in Zulu.
I was using tape loops for dancers and dance production. I had very funky primitive equipment, in fact technology wasn't very good no matter how much money you had.
My dad is a directorproducer and my mom is a dancer; she performed with Alvin Ailey, but I didn't even think about becoming an actress.
I was never a dancer before 'Shake It Up'.
I became an ardent, but never a specially good, dancer.
My son is a better dancer than me. I always try to encourage him in his endeavours.
If you just work on your upper body, you're not going to be a full-range dancer or performer. You've got to work in all directions as much as you possibly can.
Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye, but the dance lives on.