Paula Kelly

“I decided I wanted to be a dancer. Juilliard was in walking distance from home, so I very stupidly went and applied, not realizing the money it would cost which my parents didn't have. It took a hundred dollars just to apply for a scholarship. But I made it.”

“I'm fond of chitterlings, but they have to be carefully prepared.”

“By the time I started to study, it was a conscious decision. It wasn't just something my mother wanted for me, as it is with most of those little girls. So I really worked at dancing - from 8 A. M. to 10 P. M. every day - and I loved it.”

“I didn't have the opportunity to study dance until I was old. I was 17.”

“We were poor, yea, but I can't say there was anything terrible about my youth. It was a Manhattan kind of life. There were lots of kids on the block, and we played in the back lots. We invented games and skated and played ball.”

“Parts are becoming interchangeable, so that it doesn't matter what color a person is. And that's what it's all about, right?”

“I am more than just one thing. I think my acting has helping my dancing, and vice versa. And I write.”

“My main objective is to introduce students to dance and the other arts, not necessarily for them to pursue, but as a method of discipline. When they learn to apply themselves freely they can learn to enjoy themselves and apply that tool of discipline to other interests.”

“I found myself defending America a lot in England. They were always asking me racial questions. I'd say, 'You've got prejudice here, too. At least in America we're trying to deal with it.'”

“Both of my parents always worked.”

“I'm not interested in being a really big star. I want to be in control of my life. I don't want to worry about the rent.”

“I eat lots of mustard greens and collard greens. My mother cooks all the traditional southern food.”

“I love doing 'Cope.' It allows me to do all three things I love: singing, dancing, and best of all, acting!”

“I'd love opportunities to try anything although I'm best at comedy now. But no one benefits taking on anything he's not right for just to be doing another big movie or show.”

“The only time I feel complete expression is when I'm dancing. Then, I have no problems, no worries, no hang-ups. I feel I could do anything in the world.”

“Producers have stopped hiring Blacks just because of pressure. They see there's a market out there. The name of the game is money, and we're making money for them. That's all.”

“With a camera right in my face, my movements would have to be more subtle; stage techniques would have to be left behind and that would be hard. So many things kept whizzing through my mind, yet I never doubted once that I could do it.”

“You're never too old to develop some new aspect of yourself.”

“I was in my last year in high school when I began to think of becoming a dancer. I had never seen a Broadway show; we never even read the theatrical reviews.”