I just always wanted to be a ballerina . . . The training is different from a modern dancer. The look and the line . . . But nobody had a Black ballet dancer in their company, there was no hope. American Ballet Theater -- I was a guest artist, and I said I want to be in the company. And [the Director] told me "I'll never hire a Black dancer unless I can have 16." That was the day before I was my revolutionary self, because I probably would have created quite a storm if she had told me that these days. But then I was just crushed and was really having to deal with the fact that I was trained to be a ballerina . . . And so Béjart, with him, I had an opportunity to dance as a ballet dancer.