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

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

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

And dance is wonderful because dance is so immediate.

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

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.

We moved, and there was a golden era in the '40s when we were so conscious of who we were as Australians.

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

Dance is so joyous.

We also tour nationally and internationally.

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

I think the Olympics could help us reach more people.

There's a line of dancers waiting to get into Sydney Dance Company.

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

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.

For me it was really important to get the essence out of the music for the story and not, sort of, press the music into the service of the whimsical telling of it.

But I also wanted to give them an intelligent emotional journey, without having to suspend reality - to be able to look at those characters and see reasons for the relationships and why what happens happens.

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.

And currently, there are four to five new works in the pipeline for upcoming celebrations such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Australian Federation, my 50th Birthday, and Sydney Dance Company's 25th Anniversary.

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

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

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

Yes, Carl Vine stuck around. He's now number one composer for choreography.

SDC has a great reputation for putting live music on stage.

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.

Sydney is a very good market for us - we have a very strong following here.

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

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

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

Times have changed since George Herbert... but the principle and spirit in which he ministered as a priest remains an inspiration and model for all priests.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Yes, and I can sit down on a white piece of paper and work because I don't believe too much into inspiration, only I'm waiting for inspiration, work and then inspiration may come. It's a little too easy to say that.

Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain.

If the script is telling the story well, that is your inspiration, and you do not need to go somewhere else.

You know, sometimes I get moments of inspiration when I'm writing something and then the task seems so daunting that it just kind of scares me away.

Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

The prophets, who were very many, proclaim and declare the one God; for, being filled with the inspiration of the one God, they predicted things to come, with agreeing and harmonious voice.

One of the things I try to be very careful of is not taking a movie when I know I have no inspiration left.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

Because I don't play guitar any more, African harmonies and rhythms have been an inspiration to me. I love the raw origin of the sound. It complements my voice and words naturally.

Inspiration doesn't really work like that - you're not looking out for it. Inspiration is something that tends to capture you rather than you capture it.

Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

I don't really care who gets their inspiration from where, it's the end results that count.

Inspiration in Science may have to do with ideas, but not in Art. In art it is in the senses that are instinctively responsive to the medium of expression.

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best - that is inspiration.

Part of Michael's uniqueness, I think, comes from the fact that he worked with music. He had a tape which he gave me with many different compositions, really eclectic. These pieces of music were sources of inspiration.

I'd seen the current stage production and the 1975 production of Chicago. I liked them both very much, but I didn't use them necessarily as inspiration.