This book, written by a prominent ballerina and teacher, is a revelation in several areas at once. First of all, this is a lively, fascinating story about the Russian intelligentsia, about people of art of the pre-revolutionary and first revolutionary years. Then - a deeply frank story about the fate of the Russian emigration in Berlin and Paris. And finally, for ballet lovers, it reveals a lot of new things about the creative activities of Russian ballet troupes in Paris and Monte Carlo. On the pages of these wonderful memoirs are portraits of M. Gorky, F. Chaliapin, B. Nijinska, O. Spesivtseva, D. Balanchine, M. Larionov and many other figures of Russian culture who found themselves abroad after the revolution. “My memories are by no means an autobiography, but only great gratitude for what my extraordinary family, the artists who shook my soul, and Dance, without which my life would have been too difficult, gave me.” Nina Tikhonova