“I hated life in the Soviet Union. You had to pretend something you didn't feel.”

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

“No one is born a dancer. You have to want it more than anything.”

“Dancing is my obsession. My life.”

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.”

“I have some Russian friends. But probably only 10 percent. I don't hang out usually in the big Russian communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey.”

“I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second best. There is no such thing.”