Simon 'Blue' Robinson

But he was getting thinner and thinner and weaker and weaker.

And the rumors started coming and dancers would maybe talk behind their hands.

And I told them to mind their own business.

Would you like people talking about your health and your background?

And that soon shut them up.

He did.

But what vitalized, what energized him was being on stage.

People said he was dead on stage.

He was dead off stage.

He was driven by stage.

And so there was one period we went to Milan to choreograph The Nutcracker, and it was an extraordinary performance.

There were three Nutcrackers being performed in Milan, opening that same night around Christmas.

So it was this real race to be the best.

And he did it at La Scala.

It was one of the most extraordinary moments of my life, hearing the applause for the dancers and for him.

And it was beautiful.

So he did that.

He was a great choreographer.

Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein had each individually told him to conduct.

He had so much music inside him.