Dancer

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 can hold a note, but that's about it.

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

I was a drummer in a group called Three Plus. We were performing at a club in New York, and my mother signed me up for tap classes. I fell in love from the door... so you can blame it on my mother.

Every now and then, someone comes along - we used to call it 'New Jack' - tries to do something new, tries to take all the credit, without acknowledging the past.

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

Tap dancing is like... it's equivalent to music, not only for the African American community, but also for the world. Tap dancing is like language; it's like air: it's like everything else that we need in order to survive. I'm blessed and honored to be knowledgeable of the art form and to be a part of the art form.

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.

What I'm trying to do is bring young people into doing tap so that the art form will keep going.

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

I don't really care what the visual is looking like. I've gotten away from - not shenanigans, but spectacle.

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

They all come from the street - tap, jazz and flamenco. And the streets are always changing. If it comes from the streets, change is the only thing that's consistent.

I'm more a percussion instrument than a dancer.

I try to convey the musical notes through dance, take on the music.

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

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.

I've changed my whole angle for dance. I'm moving towards moving back rather than hanging out with my peers. I'm reaching back to older dudes for a second.

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.

What we're looking for at my school is intellectuals. People who want to talk about the art and be knowledgeable about it. People who want to know the history. Not everybody needs to be performing.