Veronika Shatkova was our choreographer and quite a strict mentor. I remember her first class because they threw me out… It was actually quite difficult and unfamiliar for me at the beginning in Novogorsk (which is where our sports base was). After all, I was still small, and didn’t know the teachers or what they expected of me. I was given a very short introduction to Vera Shatkova – “This is your choreographer, come tomorrow to choreography”. At the very first session I stood next to a girl I knew – Larisa Kharchenko - (she was also from Tashkent) and she whispered into my ear what I had to do. And Veronika though we were talking. She said “So you’re having a conversation! – right then, get out of the hall!” And she threw me out. I was really afraid and thought that was it – the end. I thought they wouldn’t let me stay; they’d call me an ungrateful child who didn’t listen to anyone and tell me leave. But Irina Viner came over – I was sitting outside the door of the gym – and asked what I was doing. I told her I’d been thrown out of the choreography class. “But why are you sitting around here?”, she asked. “It’s cold, you’ll freeze. Come into the trainer’s room”. It was so unexpected I didn’t know what to say, but I was really pleased they weren’t throwing me out. Although that first lesson was not a success, my relationship with Veronika Shatkova quickly improved. I really loved going to her classes - they really did teach me a lot. Veronika taught us, her students, a sense of rhythm, how to listen to music, and she was the one who showed me how to be graceful in my movements.