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" Whether it is Jimmy Slyde or Lon Chaney or Gregory Hines, their dance shows what they experienced, what they had to go through. "

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" You can go to see a singer and love the show, but you don't need to know all the songs. What you want to do when you leave is go and find out more about the music. "

" What does genius mean? God has put us here specifically... every person has a job or journey to do. It's just a matter of finding what we're here to fulfill or execute. That's genius to me. "

" I'm inspired by breath, by the human body - by so many things. "

" I don't deal in terminology, I deal with expressions: colors, shapes, tones, characteristics. "

Characteristics

" A tapper sticks to existing routines. Whereas hoofing... a hoofer pushes the art form. "

" I realized early on, I'm more interested in Baryshnikov than some dancer who wants to do a rock show with ballet. "

" Jimmy Slyde was more a musician than a dancer; Greg Hines was more musician than dancer. "

" I like to express myself inside of the work that is given, and I let the dancers do the same. "

" There are many different styles of, and approaches to, tap. My own leans towards a more intellectual view: tap dancing not just for the sake of entertainment but to educate and spark emotion. "

" Tap is still the central driving force of my life. I think and talk in dance. "

" I'm committed to the purity of my art form. "

" My show mode is that the dressing room is like going into the cockpit. Going down the stairs is like going on the runway, and once we begin performing, it's flight time. I'm just floatin' on that stage. "

" My mom always had me and my brother watching old Fred Astaire movies. "

" Frank Sinatra changed people's approach to singing. Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, van Gogh, they were all part of movements that allowed people to think about their craft differently. They changed the game. These people changed the game. "

" I like to be around dancers who are totally committed to the art form, totally committed to the men and women around them. "

" When Puffy asked me to do the video, I said yes. Cuz it's all about the Benjamins! "

" Everything has to do with meditation. It's a conversation; it's a joy - it's everything. "

" We need these figures who don't exactly go against the grain but create a new grain. "

" My mom couldn't afford dance shoes, so she put me in these old cowboy boots with a hard bottom so I could get some sound out. I used them for seven months. When I finally got real tap shoes, I was nervous. I kept moving my feet, thinking, 'Oh, so this is how it's supposed to sound.' "

" I'm going to continue to tap until I can't move. "

" I don't like being too serious. I'm the type of person that, if the mike isn't in the right place when I go on, I just move it. Other people, they'll be all frantic. I'm more relaxed. "

" Authenticity is the most important thing. You have to know where it all comes from, study who pioneered it. "

" I feel it's my duty, my job, now to allow people to hear the dance to different genres of music, to ensure audiences have the chance to listen to tap dancing up against all these other styles. "

" If someone wants to be very tight about authenticity or ownership, it just sounds kind of competitive to me. "

" I'm happy that people think of me as the greatest tap-dancer that ever lived. But it's just a rumor. Because the greatest dancer that ever lived knows everything, and I don't. I'm still learning. I still have a lot of work to do. "

" I'm just blessed, man. I'm just happy to share my art form with everyone. That's cool. "

" I want tap to be something danced in arenas. Sort of like a rock group. Other art forms happen every night. Take theater, opera; there's always opera happening every night. "

" I was always looking at footage of dancers from Nicholas Brothers to Ralph Brown to Sand Man to Miller Brothers and Lois, and I grew up looking at old footage. "

" La Cave was a great platform for me to learn and be able to listen in on conversations and just get a lot of notes and teachings from those older guys. "

" When I wake up in the morning, I just go. "