Dear friends,

The book which you are holding in your hands now is my very first book. It is not an auto-biography, but a collection of pictures made by an extraordinary photographer Pierluigi Abbondanza, to whom like to express my personal thanks!

If you're wondering whyI chose to put mytrust in him, I'm sure you will understand it leafing through the pages of this book. He and his camera have followed me for around two years in many different theaters invarious cities and countries, including myf avorite Bolshoi and La Scala.

Only few people know how hard it is to take pictures of ballet dancers, to get hold of that ideal moment, to capture a beautiful position or movement and above all those live emotions which can often become easily inaccessible due to the distance from stage to people in the audience.

With the help of this book like to make that distance shorter and tell you a little story, showing my artistic life as it is, without any embellishment.

Svetlana Zakharova