Alvin Ailey

I wanted to explore black culture, and I wanted that culture to be a revelation. ”

I always want to have more dancers in my company. ”

Choreography is mentally draining, but there's a pleasure in getting into the studio with the dancers and the music. ”

We still spend more time chasing funds than we do in the studio in creative work. ”

The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off; it's with you all the time. ”

I am trying to show the world that we are all human beings and that color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work. ”

Its roots are in American Negro culture, which is part of the whole country's heritage, but the dance speaks to everyone... Otherwise, it wouldn't work. ”

From his roots as a slave, the American Negro - sometimes sorrowing, sometimes jubilant but always hopeful - has touched, illuminated, and influenced the most remote preserves of world civilisation. I and my dance theater celebrate this trembling beauty. ”

Nothing personal; I just don't have people over. ”