Having said that, feeling isolated is tough. In those times, you need a place where you can be by yourself, and friends. Company colleagues won’t do it because they’re generally self-centered (laughs). You need friends who have nothing to do with the company.

I couldn’t have asked for better collaborators on the stage play than John Tiffany (director) and Jack Thorne (writer).

I love that there is no privileged access to information. I love that we’re able to all contribute to solving a problem.

My assistant, Mike Dunn, helps me with that.

What I think you’re asking is, “Does it change the movements on stage if you have people come and watch it?” I would say, yes it can, but not always. Not every comment will lead me to go back to the stage and change something… but it can. Often you don’t know how stuff is landing, so it can be helpful to get a viewer’s perspective. Since I’m in the piece, I’ll never be able to see what it looks like from the outside.

Laurel and I collaborated with director Katherine Helen Fisher and other talented artists on the dance film REVEL IN YOUR BODY and that continues to screen all over the world

Obviously, it’s different for everyone. And actually there is a difference for each thing I do. But one way it happens is to just move. [ laughs ] I mean, obviously, you don’t just sort of randomly throw yourself around the room. You move with these ideas and sometimes I find that I’ve already got images in my head that I imagine my body in, or sometimes I have sequences in my head. I think a lot of time I’m listening to what comes next because sometimes the body will tell you that. Often I don’t document it too early in the process because sometimes if you forget stuff it’s worth knowing that the things that you forget maybe weren’t worth keeping. The things that have settled are the things that need to be kept because they seem most urgent. I don’t know. I mean, sometimes it’s about going to the studio and nothing happens for a long time and you just sit there and you’re not feeling it. That’s awful. It’s like when you’re writing and sometimes you go to the coffee shop and you’re like, “So, we’ll just see what happens.” And you end up on Facebook. I think the answer to this is… I really think the answer to this is I don’t know. [ laughs ]

You may think it is the worst thing ever, but you will grow from it. People will forgive and forget.

Do it. It is the hardest thing you will ever do and it will bring you immense joy. You won’t be alone, there is an entire community here for you.

I understand my definition does not meet most people’s definition of disability.