Dancer Quotes

"The older I get, the more I realize the importance of maintaining an even temperament - not getting too emotional, focusing on the task at hand. You don't want to make a business deal based on your emotions."

"A lot of times, we look at jazz in eras. How can we not keep those eras separate and think of the language as one complete continuum? It's all interrelated, and it's all evolutionary."

"It's much like playing jazz, flying. It's multitasking in real time. You have a number of instruments that alone won't tell you exactly what the airplane is doing but together give you a picture of everything that's going on."

"My father, I think he played percussion in high school. My mother played piano when she was very young, but only for a brief while. I don't think she had a great teacher. In any case, neither of them were really into music at a young age."

"I had experiences or exposure to music in church. I went to a church, it was very unique. It was a predominantly African American Catholic church. So they would have - one mass would be traditional church music, and then the other mass would be gospel music."

"I consider myself very fortunate. I mean, I think there's that old saying, 'Where there's a will, there's a way,' and I just have such a passion for jazz music and playing the piano that I just find a way to make it work, so to speak. Fortunately, I have so far."

"I'm not saying that in order to be a great jazz musician you have to be a great classical pianist first. But I am saying that it makes things easier when you can get around the instrument, and you have some idea of how to approach the various hurdles."

"There's a huge part of me that's thinking about perfection. I have to fight that urge, to try to live in the moment, reach for something that I might be hearing, and not second-guess myself."

"When I see young people interested in music. I always look out for that passion in their eyes. You never know where that might lead."

"I really want to bring ensemble playing back to the forefront - not just for me, but for everyone in jazz. When you have a group, a true co-op group, you can really heighten the possibilities of all the treasures of jazz."

"Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses."

"Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter."

"Customs form us all, our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed beliefs; are consequences of our place of birth."

"Reason gains all people by compelling none."

"Youth is ever apt to judge in haste, and lose the medium in the wild extreme."

"What position didn't I play last season?"

"I'm a good teacher and am great at observation and picking out what's wrong and fixing it."

"My wheelchair is like the Cadillac of wheelchairs; it goes up and down and back, and I can lay down in it."

"My success rate speaks for itself."

"TV's a big deal in prison. A big deal. People watch it nonstop."

"I made lots of mistakes - the number one mistake being trusting other people with my money."

"I made bad decisions. I'm not denying that I made bad decisions."

"I try to be vegan... I really, really try. I don't eat any red meat, and the whole animal thing really upsets me, so I've tried."

"Do your job. Do it the best you can. Do it right, because somebody, sometimes your best friend, is waiting for you to screw up so she can take your place."

"I have dreams, and I want to see them come to fruition."

"If you have the ability to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and start over, you come out stronger because you learn from whatever mistakes you made."

"For the general public or psychos on Facebook, for everyone who's made one negative comment about me, I've probably gotten 250-300 positive comments."

"I want to be an executive producer."

"I was told that someone on Facebook said something 'horrible' about me. Who cares? At least they're watching the show."

"I saw 'Magic Mike,' and I thought it was great."