Mit - Index

Mit - SINFO March 2008 No.5 - Index

ANdrEj©kUfCaANdkatarinaVENTUrINI
championship; we wanted more. We also don’t want others to praise
us; we just want to prove to ourselves that we can be better today
than yesterday. I am not perfect, and I know that there are a lot of
things that can be improved − physically and mentally. Only when you
arrive somewhere can you see where you can go forward.
EvEN fOR SPIRITUAL AdJUSTMENT THERE
EffORT IS NECESSARy − THIS GROWTH IS
PREPAREd fOR US By LIfE ITSELf, ANd
ONLy IN dOSES WE CAN MANAGE − HOW
dOES THAT WORK fOR yOU?
It is always the way in these things, that you get a lesson depending
on your level, which means that the lessons get harder every time. I
cope with this as I go along. Of course, if I am very sad, I rummage
through my past, but when I look back, I see that we were saved by
optimism and the belief we placed in the same goal. We subjected
everything to this goal. Although we are very different, we have the
same goal. And that is why I sometimes say − we.
WHEN dOES THIS ‘I’ SEPARATE ITSELf
fROM THE ‘WE’?
Although we were as one on the dance floor, I am a unique personality
which differs from the personality of Andrej: I am Katarina, and a
woman; he is a man, and this is the first difference between us. ‘We’
always became ‘I’ in the evening, when I closed the doors of the studio
and went home, or to say it differently - in the part of life that wasn’t
dance. Which is an art in itself; it wasn’t easy, especially because we
were dating for ten years, and when we weren’t a couple anymore, I
still talked about ‘we’. I had to learn to say ‘I’.
25
P E o P L E
dO yOU SOMETIMES MISS THIS ‘WE’?
I do not miss it, because I got on with my life. And also, I have that
intimate ‘we’. I don’t miss it.
HOW MANy SLEEPLESS NIGHTS SPENT
IN CONTEMPLATION WERE NEEdEd
fOR SOMEONE WHO IS IN THE PUBLIC
SPOTLIGHT (WHICH CAN ALSO CREATE
ONE´S SELf IMAGE) TO SET BOUNdARIES
fOR ANd NEvER fORGET WHAT IT IS ALL
REALLy ABOUT?
You are strong, when you are weak. All these tears, hopelessness,
doubts, moments and periods of helplessness, crisis...Only when I
accept this, can I do something about it. It is not easy. Life for me was
dance; I had no personal life. Only then when our intimate relationship
ended, did I start to look on life from a wider perspective. However,
the experience I gained through dance − to achieve excellence and
cooperate, adjust, sometimes even subject yourself to another person,
are great, and they influence even my personal life. I am sure that this
was and is a great lesson in relationships.
WHEN I LOOK INTO yOUR BRIGHT EyES,
WHICH ARE OfTEN MOIST, I AM REMINdEd
By THE TENdERNESS Of BEING A MOTHER.
I SEE yOU IN THIS ROLE.
I want to be a mother. I can’t say when, because I don’t know. But
this is something I want, and I know that when I become a mother,
I will be 100% mother − I will not be dancing and carrying the baby
to competitions, no; then I will be a mother. I am very, very critical
and strict, I expect much of myself, and I do not want to be average
at anything. And that is why I don’t do many things, but whatever I
do, I do it in a way that I am satisfied with myself; in a way that meets
my standards.
THEREfORE, GIvING EvERyTHING ANd
dOING yOUR BEST IN A GIvEN MOMENT − IN
ALL THE AREAS IN LIfE?
Yes. I am hard and relentless on myself, but I think that is the key to
excellence.
ANdREJ ©KUfCA
dOES yOUR fIERINESS WORK fOR OR
AGAINST yOU; ARE yOU, BECAUSE Of IT,
MORE SUCCESSfUL ANd PENETRATING,
ARE yOU PUSHEd By IT TO WHERE ONE
MUST fACE ONESELf ANd fINd CAUSES
fOR SOME REACTIONS?
All of the above (smile). Some personal trait is not altogether good or
bad. Why do you think of me as fiery? Well, it is true actually. I can be
fiery - it gives me extra energy, but under some conditions this can be
quite inconvenient for me and the people around me.
february 08 sinfo