Wes Phillips

"When the news reached my father's ears that I was running around the streets with gangs, he said to my mother, 'We have to do something, Maria, otherwise we're going to lose the boy.' Our neighbour Candida, whose nephew was one of the principal dancers with the Cuban National Ballet, had a suggestion: 'You say he likes dancing? Why don't you send him to ballet school?'

"My father's eyes lit up. Ballet! Suddenly there was hope. I was only nine, but I still remember that day when my parents told me their plans.

"'What's everyone in the neighbourhood going to think? They'll say I'm gay!'

"'Listen, you're my son and the son of the tiger shares his father's stripes. If anyone calls you gay, just smash his face in, then pull down your trousers and show him what you've got between your legs.'"

Father knows best, they say. Obviously not your typical growing up to be a dancer story.