Maria R. (EII) - Love is the most important thing in life

There is a kind of infatuation with beauty, harmony, music, and people’s talent. If someone plays a musical instrument with true skill, I get goosebumps—it's mesmerizing and lifts me off the ground. In the body, it feels like softness, delight. Love is, in general, an elevated feeling.

As a child, I loved to dance, and I “danced” love. Everything I heard in music, I poured into beautiful movements—as if that’s how the music looks in the real world.

I was never alone in my imagination; there were always people beside me, or a beloved person (for example, when I danced the ballet Sleeping Beauty—there are many characters, and I had to depict different roles). That was love; that was my life, my air, the breath I lived on. These were beautiful feelings. I portrayed rain, wind, love, passion, anger, tenderness, and the whole spectrum of emotions, depending on what I heard in the music. When I danced, imaginary outfits were born—fantastical dresses that I supposedly wore at that moment. They also had their own character depending on what emotion needed to be expressed.

As a child, whenever I heard music, I always imagined in my mind a dance of a man and a woman, saw what they were wearing. Even in songs, I perceived only the music and rarely heard the words.

And of course, I love animals: cats, dogs, horses, and so on. They evoke the same feelings one has toward children. They have the same spontaneity and innocence. I wonder what they think about and what they want to say. And when you see them, something rises inside you—in your body, your soul—like a light cloud sparkling with stars. That is love.

I want to love the whole world, life in all its forms—and above all, of course, people, nature, and music. I want beautiful relationships between people.