Q&A with Debbie Allen
PAGE 3
KF: In the opening credits of Fame, you tell students "fame costs." What have you sacrificed for fame?
DA: Oh my goodness, one of the main sacrifices is that you have to give yourself to the art. You become a slave to your creativity. I can count the number of resting days I've had in the last 25, 30 years. I've been working constantly, because I'm just driven by that.
I have children. I took my children everywhere I went. I was nursing Thump, my son, on the concord, and Vivian, I was holding. She was a toddler. So that was tough. I took my kids everywhere, and sometimes, they would tire of it. They'd be like: "Mom, no. Don't sign anything else. Come on. Don't talk to those people, Mommy. You don't know them." So it did take me away from my family a bit.
Fame is a byproduct of the work. Fame was never what I was after. I was always in it for the art, and fame is a path. It's a journey. It's not like one event. You could do one thing, but does that sustain you? Here I am, all these years later, still directing and staging Mariah Carey. Why is that? I've stayed current. I'm in the mix. I'm not trying to be youthful. I'm just on top of things. Interested, current...it's just who I am.
DA: Oh my goodness, one of the main sacrifices is that you have to give yourself to the art. You become a slave to your creativity. I can count the number of resting days I've had in the last 25, 30 years. I've been working constantly, because I'm just driven by that.
I have children. I took my children everywhere I went. I was nursing Thump, my son, on the concord, and Vivian, I was holding. She was a toddler. So that was tough. I took my kids everywhere, and sometimes, they would tire of it. They'd be like: "Mom, no. Don't sign anything else. Come on. Don't talk to those people, Mommy. You don't know them." So it did take me away from my family a bit.
Fame is a byproduct of the work. Fame was never what I was after. I was always in it for the art, and fame is a path. It's a journey. It's not like one event. You could do one thing, but does that sustain you? Here I am, all these years later, still directing and staging Mariah Carey. Why is that? I've stayed current. I'm in the mix. I'm not trying to be youthful. I'm just on top of things. Interested, current...it's just who I am.
NEXT STORY
