Part of the joy of dancing is conversation. Trouble is, some men can't talk and dance at the same time.

My mother told me I was dancing before I was born. She could feel my toes tapping wildly inside her for months.

Rhythm is born in all of us. To be a desirable dancing partner, you don't have to do all the intricate fancy steps that happen to be in vogue. All you have to do is be a good average dancer, and anybody who spends the time and effort can accomplish this.

I had been making films for almost ten years, and the head men at RKO thought of me only in terms of musicals. I found no fault with that, except I just couldn't stand being typed or pigeonholed as only a singing and dancing girl. I wanted to extend my range.

You know, there's nothing damnable about being a strong woman. The world needs strong women. There are a lot of strong women you do not see who are guiding, helping, mothering strong men. They want to remain unseen. It's kind of nice to be able to play a strong woman who is seen.

We walked into that conversation and were able to convey that we were in very, very big trouble. We wrote our story, and then we drank champagne.