A biography for Sergei Poluninhasn’t been written yet.
“The bad press started to play a big part in how people perceived me, and I started playing on that too, which was a big mistake.”
“For artists to feel a real emotion to your partner is very important.”
“Whoever thought of making ballet? I mean, what is it? It's so alien. You just look at people's behavior as well - people trying to show off on stage and people clapping.”
“Once you achieve something you just want to move on and achieve something else and keep achieving, like Alexander the Great - he captured one country and then he just kept doing it.”
“When I worked with David LaChappelle, I was stimulated... He was explaining how he does things, how he works. I realized what an artist is, so I thought that's what dancers should experience.”
“It is different in Russia. Here there is a television channel devoted to opera and dance.”
“Well, that's why ballet is one of the hardest disciplines - you kind of stay childlike, because you never really experience childhood, so you try to stay in that.”
“I danced in corps de ballet for 11 hours a day. That was the hardest work I have ever done in my life. I haven't seen anybody else work more.”
“The Royal Ballet School looked after me very well, they were like my family, and the company gave me everything. But I was unhappy and I didn't know how to express it.”
“I always wanted to become an artist who unites things.”
“I thought about my future. In 10 years' time, I would be in the same position as when I started - the best dancer in the world, but still sharing a flat. You're an adult, but you live like a kid.”
“It's not about being modern or classical or about being sexy: it's all about exchanging energies with the audience.”
“Art and war are opposites, so our goal as an artist is to build and create, not destroy.”
“A footballer in three weeks earns what a dancer makes in a year.”
“For many years I saw the world as two sides: east and west, two powers. And I was trying to search what is white, what is black. Both sides wanted me.”
“I couldn't come back to gymnastics because the floors were too dusty for my health.”
“You know when you believe in Christmas? I was like that with ballet. I thought I would reach a level where I'd have enough money to bring my family back together, and I would have freedom.”
“I started watching movies more carefully, watching actors - the way they act, the way the movie is filmed, just as a hobby in a way, but also something to progress to maybe in the future.”
“Being a ballet dancer isn't cool. Football, boxing, hockey... they're cool. And you make more money.”
“When you are low, you do tattoos and it gives you adrenaline for a couple of days and you're happy.”