At ten, Yuliya is dancing in the streets of Shakhtinsk as part of a pickpocket team, and is noticed by Pototskiy, a former star of the Bolshoi, now a deadbeat drunk. He takes Yuliya to the third round of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy audition, asking his former teacher, Galina Beletskaya, to give her a chance. The other ballet mistress, Lyudmila Untilova, is put off by Yuliya's brashness, but Galina appreciates her cheek and charisma, and she is admitted.
