I wanted to give people - which is fairly bizarre considering my whole life is contemporary dance really - I wanted to give people a really fulfilling sense that they had seen a white classical ballet - in a very pure form.

If the year 2000 can help us move into the future, that's fine, but I am afraid that people see it as a full stop and that one can take a big breath afterwards - you can't.

It's the emotional trigger points that are important to me because I know if I could believe in the characters and try and imagine how they felt then I'd be able to do something quite honest.

We can't afford big symphonies but we commission works that sound rich and symphonic because of the nature of the instrumentation and the people we work with.

I look at the dancers and I get the inspiration for the work from them.

I always figure I have this tree and there's always some green fruit that's not ready to pick or blossoms that are ready to flower; there are always some ready to drop off too.

And dance is wonderful because dance is so immediate.

Dance is so joyous.

I actually build my dreams around the dancers I've got in my company.

I don't think people we'll miss the fact that SDC is way up there and that our profile is high.

I mean, I think in the early days we were pretty... pretty British in our entertainment leads.

I think it requires a bit of honesty, Swan Lake.

I think the Olympics could help us reach more people.

I'm in the position to pick the cream of the crop.

I'm interested in people who can take the movement somewhere.

I'm thrilled at the moment because our audiences, you know, they... the demographic is 50% male.

It's not a company of exponents of my style.

Mostly, I'm in the very enviable position that no one dictates what I do.

No one was creating and I always wanted to be created on.

Normally our season is seven weeks in the Drama Theatre and four weeks in the Opera Theater.