After an early morning interview on Thursday, I raced to the Upper West side to meet with a new friend and colleague. He and his partner live in an enormous apartment that is modernly dressed and full of the most coveted dance and theatre memorabilia.

I stepped into his office, where vintage posters from famous ballets and Jerome Robbins’  shows were hanging on the wall. We sat and chatted about a book-project I’m working on with him, and then spent an hour dance gossiping.

My friend has quite a history. I suggested to him numerous times that he should write a book about his life. When he was 19 he was Robert Joffrey’s personal assistant (Joffrey created the Joffrey Ballet), then later after meeting Robbins’ at a dinner party the two became friends and he went to all of the company rehearsals and shows.

He pointed behind me to a shelf where a sailor hat was sitting.

“See that hat right there?” he asked. I turned and looked. “That’s the hat Jerome Robbins’ wore when he performed in the premiere of ‘Fancy Free.’”

I put my hand to my chest excitedly, and listened to the story of how he got it. Then he walked to the bookshelf (which is like a library of every dance book ever written) and picked up a pointe shoe.

“This is the shoe Suzanne Farrell wore at her final performance,” he said. It was signed.

We dance gossiped again and discussed City Ballet. He’s a huge fan of Kathryn Morgan (who used to dance with me and my sister in Mobile Ballet) and nearly fainted when I mentioned her.

“I love her,” he said. “She is so glamorous. Just so glamorous. Every season there’s some new girl that you just have to see, and when I saw her SAB performance I was calling everyone.”

We continued to chat and I learned that his partner won a Tony award recently. I kept forgetting to ask where it was so I could see it, but I’ll do so next time.

On my stroll back from his apartment, I reminded myself that I would get a chance to see Robbins’ “Fancy Free” for the first time that night. Coincidentally, on the same day I’d met his friend and saw his sailor hat.

It couldn’t get any better than that.