Top Hat and Swing Time, the quintessential [Fred] Astaire films, define his special contribution: Mr Astaire never lost sight of the fact that he was dancing on film.

It is a paradox that those who flock to a repertory form like ballet because it preserves the classics also expect new works.

[Even the warhorses have been exercised. Five years ago, McKenzie came out with a new staging of Swan Lake that] whipped the audience at the Metropolitan Opera House into a frenzied ovation, ... a ballet for both the tired critic and the tired businessman.

I never one time saw John dancing on top of a grand piano.

Everybody was dancing, and by the last acts, they were jumping, and dancing and just having a great time.

This is no time for bowing and scraping. This is no time for buck dancing and genuflecting. Our people are dying in Iraq, are being drowned in New Orleans, and you're going to sit around scared?