I'm an impatient person in many respects. I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations. It forces me to deliver.

I was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. I played their game, pretending. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB. Horrifying.

I don't drink milk, and I don't eat bread, pasta or rice. But I eat a lot of meat, chicken, fish and salads.

Working is living to me.

Everything I do, it's a bit painterly. I like being surrounded by objects, mostly on paper. I like the images. I like the painting. I like good photography. It's something that makes me an emotional connection, and I feel comfortable around it.

I read Russian literature a lot.

I go a lot to see young people downtown in little theaters. It's great. If you start somebody's career, it's so exciting.

In any art form, in Hollywood or in music, there is a handful of people who really, you know, move the envelope.

I like to go to anybody else's birthday, and if I'm invited I'm a good guest. But I never celebrate my birthdays. I really don't care.

I spend at least a couple hours a day in the studio, every day, whether I'm dancing or not.

You open a section of 'The New York Times,' and there's a review or a story on a choreographer or a dancer, and there's an informative, clear image of a dancer. This is, in my view, not an interesting photograph.

Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important.

My life has been immensely enriched by gay mentors, colleagues and friends, and any discrimination and persecution of gay people is unacceptable.

I'm a product of Russian culture, but I never felt it was my country.

I have been very lucky to work in so many new ballets, but that is what a dancer's work is.

I kind of lost interest in the classical dance. I was very much interested in the modern choreography.

You cannot be happy with your family while being personally unhappy with your work. It's a Catch-22 kind of thing.

Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind.

In the second part of life you get rid of stuff you've accumulated.

Dancing is my obsession. My life.

The Russian people get so insanely close to each other as friends. Their lives are interrelated so much on an everyday basis.

Dancers are stripped enough onstage. You don't have to know more about them than they've given you already.

Nobody is born a dancer.

No matter what I try to do or explore, my Kirov training, my expertise, and my background call me to return to dancing after all, because that's my real vocation, and I have to serve it.