The interview contains several conversations with the world ballet legend Maya Plisetskaya (1925–2015), which Yulia Tikhonova conducted in the period from 2004 to 2009 during meetings and in the process of preparing documentaries dedicated to the work of the great ballerina: “Ave Maya” (2004), “An Element Called Maya” (2005), “Maya Plisetskaya” (2007), as well as the films “Nikolai Fadeechev” (2008) and “Agrippina Vaganova. The Great and the Terrible” (2009). The authors of the films, director Nikita Tikhonov and screenwriter Yulia Tikhonova, had warm, trusting relationships with Maya Mikhailovna Hence, the range of topics touched upon in conversations was wide: the nature of creativity, collaboration with outstanding choreographers, their ballet performances, friendship with Pierre Cardin, and the role of Agrippina Vaganova in the fate professional of Maya Mikhailovna. The sin­cerity, frankness and independence of some of the opinions of the great ballerina may cause bewilderment and even resentment in readers However, the authors considered it necessary to preserve the rhetoric characteristic of a freedom-loving and independent personality.