Dance

The reason I started dancing was so that I could be like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in those old Hollywood musicals. I particularly liked Kelly in An American in Paris (1951), which I first saw when I was tiny, and I loved the way that Astaire experimented with rhythms and found clever ways of involving props. Then, when I was a student at the Royal Ballet School, I saw a tape of a Russian dancer called Vladimir Vasilyev. He looked very masculine on stage, unlike a lot of male ballet dancers of that era. He was the pinnacle of what I wanted to be as a dancer.

Music

I love jazz: the expertise of the musicans, the fact that they can improvise for hours. My Dad, who is a musician, introduced me to Oscar Peterson’s Night Train when I was quite young. It is really great, chilled, piano jazz. I also loved Blur’s last album, Think Tank. The thing that annoys me about bands such as Oasis is that they don’t experiment, whereas every record of Blur’s is different.

Television

My wife, Sarah (Wildor, the dancer), and I are heavily into Friends. It’s such an easy watch: the writing is good, it’s funny and the characters are all likeable, and very good looking, which helps. But the next series is the last and I think it has probably run its course. They are planning a spin-off series for Joey, whom I actually find the most annoying. He’s played the stupid card one too many times. However, I’m sure it will bring in the audiences.

Film

The one that made a big impression on me when I was growing up was Once Upon a Time in America (1984). I’ve always liked period films and it’s so well acted by Robert De Niro and James Woods. I love following the journeys of the characters: you see almost their entire lives. You feel for them, even if what they’re doing is not right. That film got me into De Niro in a big way.

Books

I read quite a lot and being a choreographer I am always looking for good stories to work with. One of my favourite books is Memoirs of a Geisha (Vintage, £6.99) by Arthur Golden, which I have read three or four times. It evokes the world of a geisha so cleverly that I couldn’t believe it was a novel. It is amazing that an American guy entered so deeply into such a secret world and made it seem utterly real.

Theatre

I took my Mum to Our House (Cambridge Theatre, London WC2) and we had a ball. I was never a huge fan of Madness, but it was a great show. I felt I was getting involved in a story, it wasn’t just a collection of well-known tracks with some made-up rubbish around them.

Place

One area that Sarah and I have returned to is Palm Springs in California. When we were on tour in Los Angeles we found a fantastic hotel there called the Villa Royale, and we went back to it almost every weekend we had off. The temperature was in the 90s because it’s desert, but we took a cable car up into the mountains, where it was snowing. From desert heat to snow in 20 minutes. It’s just the most incredible place.

Pet hate

Modern British sitcoms drive me up the wall. I love oldies such as The Good Life and Yes, Prime Minister, but nobody seems to have any idea about how to write them any more. My Family, for example, is awful. I can’t believe that Zoë Wanamaker, who is one of my favourite actresses, agreed to do it.

Adam Cooper was interviewed by Ed Potton. He choreographed and is appearing with Sarah Wildor in On Your Toes, Festival Hall, London SE1, until Sep 6 (020-7960 4242)