DAVID HALLBERG

I have one coach and one coach only. His name is Alexander Vetrov. They brought him in for me when I joined the Bolshoi. He was a dancer with the Bolshoi, and we work very intensely together.

Every company has its own texture, vocabulary, and singular place in dance history, and I have always wanted to share my perspective of these world renowned institutions.

I walk like a duck: very straight up and down. Or like a penguin. It's a dead giveaway that I'm a dancer.

Bejart is almost never performed in New York City; critically, he just gets attacked here.

I'll never be satisfied in classical ballet. It'll never be good enough. I'll never be happy with most of my product.

I'm not one who goes to a lot of fashion shows or tries to infiltrate that world, really.

The Bolshoi style is bigger and more emotional, in a way that I love. It has the freshness and intensity that is like what I've tried to achieve in my dance-acting roles.

No one around me was obsessed with Fred Astaire except for me. It just snowballed, really. I started with tap lessons. When I didn't have tap shoes, I taped nickels on the bottom of my penny loafers.

Ballet is certainly appreciated in New York, but it has been a part of the Russian culture, history and heritage for hundreds of years, so it's much more instilled in the Russian blood.

Russians are very discerning about ballet. They're very opinionated about what classical ballet is.

I love the dancers in the Bolshoi, but all of my Moscow friends are outside the company. A friend introduced me to Vika Gazinskaya, a well-known Russian designer. I met her group. The rest is history.

New York at times runs me dry because there's so much to do. There's never enough time to do everything. It's nice to have the balance in Moscow.

I will never stop questioning. I will never stop wanting more and discovering other things and wanting to do other things. That will always be a part of me, and it's something I've come to terms with.

I think I'm the same dancer everywhere. But I've learned a lot with Bolshoi - the history of the theater, the technique of the theater, different nuances in my technique.

Certainly, when you train as a classical dancer, you are very much influenced by 'Giselle.' You see it all the time; you start to learn the steps a little.

Having done so many versions, I never felt like an artist in 'Swan Lake.'

Ballet is incestuous. This world is smaller than small.

Because of the way I'm built, I constantly have to strengthen. This is sort of a ritual: I put on my tights first, and right when I'm about to put on my costume, I get down on the floor, and I plank.

There are certainly some artists in New York that I would love to work with. One is Sarah Michelson.

I've always questioned the way dancers, myself included, must do the same role year in and year out. It's important for me to be able to say to myself, 'O.K., I don't want to be a prince anymore. I want to put on a leather jockstrap and pose.'

When stress sets in, and pressure, I focus.

Ballet needs figures that people can recognize and relate to. People don't know ballet dancers as well as they know other artists.

If I can relay anything, it's that if someone has a dream, and it isn't the norm of what others are doing around you, it doesn't matter. Reach for it. Go for it - because I'm a shining example of that.

I sew my own shoes. Other male dancers don't, but I like it one way, and I've learned to do it that way.

With Bolshoi technique, the movements are quite large, the jumps are big, and I'm a tall dancer, so I've learned to use my height more, to elongate my moves, jumps and positions. I'm physically using my body more to my advantage.