At 7, I was at the barre and dancing at folk festivals. Then I was a student with the ballet school of the Metropolitan Opera. Maria Karnilova More Quotes by Maria Karnilova More Quotes From Maria Karnilova My mother never learned English, but in Russia, the greatest thing was to give a child to the arts. And so they gave me to the ballet. Maria Karnilova never child me mother If you relax too much, the subconscious plays the role; the conscious does something else, rather than the other way around, which is the way it's supposed to be. Maria Karnilova you relax too-much way Once on stage, I was thinking of something else, and I forgot my line. I became so frightened. The girl I was playing with also became so frightened, she couldn't give me the next line. I just walked off stage. Maria Karnilova she me girl thinking