The Bolshoi style is bigger and more emotional, in a way that I love. It has the freshness and intensity that is like what I've tried to achieve in my dance-acting roles.

I love music, especially classical like Verdi; it's a great way to relax.

I love the dancers in the Bolshoi, but all of my Moscow friends are outside the company. A friend introduced me to Vika Gazinskaya, a well-known Russian designer. I met her group. The rest is history.

I sew my own shoes. Other male dancers don't, but I like it one way, and I've learned to do it that way.

I fell in love with the public, the public fell in love with me, and I tried to keep it that way.

I am really not of the school of naturalism. I like style, and you can use more style in theater than in film roles. I love to sink my teeth into a part.