Aging gracefully means being flexible, being open, allowing change, enjoying change and loving yourself.
— Wendy Whelan
I really miss dancing all day long. But something I really love is not dancing all day long. I love that I can't rely on dancing all day long to stay creative.
There are many ways to lead a life. It would always be ideal to have a paycheck coming in. But I really love this fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants approach. It's scary and wonderful at the same time. I feel very open to many possibilities.
A lot of my career and my drive and my passion and my striving to be better and better was built on insecurity.
I really only had one audition in my life, and that was when I was 14 or 15. When I was that young, I listened to what my teachers would say, like wearing a certain kind of leotard that you'll be noticed in.
I knew I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but what kind, I wasn't sure. My two dream companies had been New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater.
As I aged and I got stronger artistically, I really started to value my voice in performance - my 'voice' meaning my body, my technique, and my style. Then I started to really feel that flower as well. That's when I started to feel like, 'Wow - now I understand what my beauty is.'
The moment is everything. Don't think about tomorrow; don't think about yesterday: think about exactly what you're doing right now and live it and dance it and breath it and be it.
I liked the structure of ballet.
I have a lot of energy, a lot of interest, a lot of desire.
As ballerinas, we don't use our voices. Our voice is the body and the movement quality.
I was so comfortable with my ballet power, my dancer power, that to have a voice, the comfort with having a voice, is slower to come to me.
I love that moment of, 'Remember when?' I love to waft.
So much is made about the beginnings of ballet careers, the rosebud, and then once the petals and leaves start falling off, is it beautiful anymore? Some people think it is; some people don't. The expectation is to focus on the very beautiful parts, not the ending.
Any time I've performed on one of the major stages, whether it be Covent Garden or the Paris Opera or the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky, those are really the top memorable moments for me.
My art form is my child, and that's what I give my focus to.
I feel the ticking clock. And at times, I've said if I don't dance, I'd rather die.
Being a ballerina, you don't ever want to show yourself less than perfect, ever. That's what your goal is: 24/7 perfection.
You have to decide when it is time to move on.
Sometimes I miss being en pointe, but not a whole lot. Every once and a while, I would love to float for a minute on a shoe. But for the most part, I did it long enough that it's OK.
I've let my body soften. I've let it relax.
Certain people have certain ways of focusing on things, and some arrange their lens to a pinhole in order to focus only on their goal. Others have a giant lens, and they take in the whole panorama. I was that pinhole kind of person.
I've always felt like a different kind of ballerina.
I look back, and I have no regrets, truly. Everything led me to the place where I am now.
I think the leotard for me became, after I retired, a sort of a symbol of the confines of still fitting into the ballet world in mind and body.
I always looked at the process and the career of being a ballerina as sacred. It's a true gift to have this talent and perform these masterworks; it's sublime.
When you are a kid, you find so much comfort in dancing. I was comforted.
I was dancing on Broadway for many years. Then everyone was either getting injured or retiring, and I was dancing with younger dancers.
