Ekaterina Galanova: “Ballet is the most understandable form of art. Ekaterina Galanova: “Ballet is the most understandable form of art Introdans: dissimilar ballets of three masters

“Winter Retreat”: minimalism and the music of Schubert

Alexei: Tell us how you put together this year’s festival program - at Dance Open you need to show both modern and classical choreography, something completely new and interesting. It's extremely difficult, but you always succeed.

Catherine: I can tell you that new is our priority, but not an end in itself - we do not set ourselves the task of bringing “the first and the freshest.” The most important thing is to show something really catchy. We recently went to Zurich for premiere of Christian Spuck's ballet Winterreise- these are 24 songs by Franz Schubert, but in a modern arrangement by Hans Zehnder. I realized how great it was and decided to include the performance in the program. And aesthetes will go to Shpuk - people who are ready to watch minimalist work, enjoy the graphics, musicality, beautiful legs... Zurich has an excellent troupe, which, by the way, has many first-class Russian soloists.

"Coppelia": a brilliant reconstruction with luxurious costumes

Catherine: The same applies to Vienna, where the ballet troupe is 400 years old, but all the leading roles are danced by our friends from Russia. (Laughs.) Manuel Legris, who heads the Vienna Ballet, as a competent leader, invited many Russian soloists and in five years, by leaps and bounds, created a very strong company. We deliver from Vienna "Coppelia" by Pierre Lacotte- this was a conscious decision, because the festival always includes one reconstruction production in its program. And Lacotte, of course, is a champion among reenactment choreographers. Large, serious, high-quality work with amazing scenery and stunning costumes. There are many characters, and so many dances that one gets the feeling that Lacotte had three ballets planned, and then he was not allowed to stage two and he decided to put all the costumes and dances into one performance. (Laughs.) And this whole huge landing force comes to us from Vienna.

Alexei: And a ballet troupe is always more visible in classical work: in modern choreography there is something to hide behind, but here, as they say, there will be a product with a face.

Catherine: Yes, these are three acts of absolute happiness. I haven’t been so happy as a child for a long time, because in this “Coppelia” there is so much beauty in one ballet.

"Alice": 3D video projection, alien choreography and musicians on stage

Alexei: There is also “Alice” by Mauro Bigonzetti in the program.

Catherine: Here I had a dilemma: I understood that the performance, on the one hand, is not new, from 2014, and on the other hand, Bigonzetti is not that prolific.

Alexei: But he is a wonderful choreographer!

Catherine: Beautiful, one of my favorites. Unlike anyone else at all. On the other hand, Dortmund, where this performance will come from, is definitely not the ballet capital of the world. But I really wanted to show it here! Here is the same Shpuk with his “Winter Retreat” - it is still modernized, but neoclassical: it is clear where its roots come from. And Bigonzetti is some kind of story from another planet. Plus absolutely amazing Neapolitan music, and the musicians are included in the action, on stage along with the ballet dancers. Incredible 3D video projection by Italian artists, which is not just a background, but becomes an active character. This is real art at the intersection of visual effects, music and choreography! And it is still unknown what is more important there - video, music or dancing.

Alexei: Unfortunately, I did not see this performance. But it’s better to see it once, of course, and this especially applies to ballet.

Catherine: Well, in St. Petersburg you’ll see.

Introdans: dissimilar ballets by three masters

Catherine: And we will also show the Masters program of the Dutch troupe Introdans - from my point of view, a win-win. These are three completely different ballets within one program. It all begins with the production of Cantus by Nils Christe to the music of Arvo Pärt - it is dedicated to the soldiers who died in the wars of the 20th century. If at the beginning it is sad and sad, then in the end it is a powerfully tragic ballet. He immediately throws you off balance. The second is “Polish Pieces” by Hans van Manen - a living classic, ballet Pushkin. Everything, as always with him, is minimalistic, graphic, subtle, intelligent. And the third one is Cayetano Soto with a very funny joke thing Conrazoncorazon. The troupe from the Netherlands is incredible: when it first came on tour to our country, in 1970, even before you and I, Lesha, were born, according to eyewitnesses, Soviet ballet dancers simply had their heads blown off. And since then Introdans has continued to develop in a very interesting way.

Alexei: Yes, an exceptionally diverse program, congratulations!

"The Nutcracker": a new version of ballet number one

Catherine: You are bringing your new ballet “The Nutcracker” to our festival. We have known you since childhood, since our studies at the Vaganova Academy; like her other students, as they grew older, they danced almost all the parts in Vasily Vainonen’s “The Nutcracker” at the Mariinsky Theater. As soon as I hear this music, I have no other associations - only the choreography from this performance, as if it were part of my DNA. And I don’t understand at all: how were you able to abstract yourself from Vainonen’s production?

Alexei: Yes, I absolutely agree. Vainonen's performance is wonderful, we grew up with it. And it was really difficult to abstract myself, but I had my own personal reasons for staging this ballet. At the Vaganova Academy, I studied at the choreographer’s department with the choreographer Igor Belsky, who, as you know, at one time headed the ballet troupes at both the Maly Opera (Mikhailovsky) and the Kirov (Mariinsky) theaters. Once I came to Igor Dmitrievich, who was already feeling very bad, and saw books about Tchaikovsky and The Nutcracker on his table. He tells me: “You must stage this ballet.” Naturally, I answer: “Why? There are so many wonderful Nutcrackers already out there.” And he: “Be sure to stage it, just use the fairy tale about Princess Pirlipat and solve the problem of the great adagio. Go! And I never saw him again. Years passed, in 2009 I moved to Perm, over time our Winonanovsky performance here fell into disrepair, and the question arose of what to do - simply “dress up” it with new scenery and costumes or create a completely new, albeit neoclassical ballet. insisted on the second option: Vainonen’s “The Nutcracker” is shown all over the country, from St. Petersburg to Novosibirsk, and I wanted to do something of my own. And then I remembered Belsky’s words - and whatever one may say, it was the creative testament of my teacher. As long as I can remember, everyone kept saying: “Yes, great music, but no one can solve the problem of the great adagio.”

Catherine: Yes, yes, the problem of the great adagio haunted choreographers from Lev Ivanov and Yuri Grigorovich to Maurice Bejart, Matthew Bourne and Alexei Ratmansky: in the music there is a monstrous tragedy, but in the plot it is a happy pre-finale of the ballet. Musical people experience some dissonance. And how did you solve this main ballet problem of the century? (Laughs.)

"The Nutcracker" is perhaps the most famous ballet in the world

Alexei: You laugh, but “The Nutcracker” is perhaps the most famous ballet in the world. Tchaikovsky truly wrote music on a cosmic scale, absolutely brilliant. It is surprising that even Balanchine, the most musical choreographer in the world, did not want to solve this problem: his artists, smiling, dance a pas de deux when an anguished cry is clearly heard in the music. I followed the advice of Belsky, who recommended paying attention to Princess Pirlipat: in Hoffmann’s fairy tale about the Nutcracker, Drosselmeyer tells Clara/Masha this story about how the prince turned into a wooden doll, deciding to free the enchanted princess from the spell. As soon as he himself became the Nutcracker, the ungrateful Princess Pirlipat turned her back on him. The girl reflects, she says: “I would never act like this princess.” But in my play, Masha almost does this: literally for a moment she doubts staying in the fabulous Blumenburg, and the prince again becomes numb before her eyes. Masha screams over him, stroking his terrible and beloved face - and then the tragic music of destruction that sounds at this moment becomes completely understandable. Tchaikovsky's sister died while he was writing it. Fortunately, this only happens to Masha in a dream. This is how I solved the problem of the big adagio. Our action takes place in St. Petersburg in 1892, when the premiere of “The Nutcracker” took place at the Mariinsky Theater - this is such a good old time, the era of Alexander III, when it was still calm, good, cozy, and decadence, revolution and nightmare were only ahead. Artist Alona Pikalova created an incredible scenography, which includes the fabulous Blumenburg, and references to the pre-revolutionary Maslenitsa booths from Alexandre Benois’ “Petrushka”, and even to the cobalt mesh of the Imperial Porcelain Factory.

Catherine: Yes, yes, our technical director Maxim Balandin usually cries at your performances - everything is always very complicated with the scenery, endless changes of plans. (Laughs.) Unfortunately, artists from Perm will not be able to stay for the gala concert that will end the festival. Alexey: We are also very sorry, but I am sure that you will have a traditionally brilliant line-up of artists performing at your gala concert.

Text: Vitaly Kotov

Photo: courtesy of the festival organizers (Bettina Stoess, B¦rn Hickmann, Hans Gerritsen)

The program for the 16th season of the International Ballet Festival Dance Open has been announced. Its founder and artistic director Ekaterina Galanova told the Izvestia observer about the main events of the forum starting on April 13.

Dance Open always has a wide genre palette, but for the first time you have included a children's performance in the program, moreover, you are opening up to it. Have you decided to radically rejuvenate your audience?

We have never really included performances for children in our program before, and I think it’s time to change that. There is an acute shortage of ballets for children. But ballet, I won’t tire of repeating, is the most understandable, relatable and democratic form of art. As soon as a little person begins to think about life, ask questions about love, friendship, fidelity, relationships between people, and this happens around 5–6 years old, ballet becomes both close and interesting to him.

“The Snow Queen” by Vyacheslav Samodurov performed by the Yekaterinburg Ballet is that very high-class product that is in short supply. On the one hand, this is a serious performance with deep philosophical overtones, on the other hand, it talks about simple, important and relevant things at any age. In addition, the performance is interestingly designed in terms of design and direction - it is a colorful quest fairy tale with a huge number of fantastic characters. The music was composed by composer Artem Vasiliev at the request of the choreographer and especially for this ballet. Such a creative alliance, rare these days, is always interesting, and this experiment, I believe, was a success.

“I realized that children would enjoy watching this ballet.” Will balletomane parents be interested in it?

I think yes. Here it is necessary to say separately about the choreography. Slava Samodurov is one of the most talented modern choreographers. Everything he does is subtle, elegant, fresh, with humor, an insane amount of quotes and allusions to a variety of dance styles. If you like, this is a “digest of world ballet”, but in an original interpretation.

The Bolshoi Theater strictly adheres to age restrictions, and this, I think, is correct. The age recommendation for “The Snow Queen” is “6+”. You won't let in those who are smaller?

Parents know their children best and we trust them. You just have to remember that all spectators in the hall should be comfortable and no one should distract anyone. Of course, “The Snow Queen”, and indeed a ballet similar to it, could also appeal to a small child: the performance is bright, with many fairy-tale creatures. But I would recommend viewing from the age indicated on the poster, only because this is not a completely entertaining production. And it requires not only figurative perception, but also intellectual participation.

A little person who has already matured to the first philosophical thoughts about the world and how everything works in it should definitely come to this performance. We have plans to continue the children's line, and I would be glad if over time it can be turned into another signature feature of the festival.

You invited the iconic Israeli troupe “Batsheva” to St. Petersburg. The attitude towards her in the ballet world is ambiguous. Some of my colleagues are sure that their performances are not ballet at all.

Judging by the rate at which tickets are selling out, “Batsheva” and its artistic director, Martha Graham’s student, dance esotericist Ohad Naharin have their own fan club in St. Petersburg (laughs). The Israelis will bring the “Naharin Virus.” This is the premiere in Russia, although the play, like our festival, is 16 years old.

Is this a dance? Is this about ballet? Definitely not about ballet. This is more of a dramatic plastic performance. Some kind of philosophical mark, symbol, idea, psychedelic experiment... Working in the gaga contact improvisation technique, which is developed by Naarin and “Batsheva”, is a complete emancipation, a merging of matter and thought. As a result, the body gains wisdom, and the mind gains animal intuition at the level of super senses. Words cannot explain it - you have to see it.

Petersburgers will see it. And for those who are far away, but would like to take note of this performance, how would you present it?

This is a performance for people immersed in dramatic art. This is a manifesto of neo-avant-gardeism - hence the adaptation of the text of Peter Handke's play "Insult to the Public". And this is the personal manifesto of Naarin and his brilliant troupe.

My personal joy in the program of your festival is the performance of the Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT 1). Special thanks to you for it. Moreover, what they will show has not yet been seen in Russia.

Oh, we chased this troupe for four years to sign a contract: its tour schedules are scheduled for many years in advance. On April 21 and 22, two evenings in a row, there will be a program of three one-act plays. “Shoot The Moon” and “Silent Screen” are absolute masterpieces by Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon. These are the masters and gurus of modern choreography, and everything they do is the absolute top, the freshest and sharpest that exists today. A magnetic spectacle with magnetic music by Philip Glass.

"Thin Skin" is directed by the irreverent Marco Goeke with music by Patti Smith and Kate Jarrett. Both of them absolutely need to be seen in order to understand the pinnacle of choreographic thought. And philosophical, expressed in dance, too.

NDT 1 is a gourmet treat. And the Perm Ballet with “Cinderella,” as I understand it, will satisfy the aspirations of the general public?

The performance is, indeed, huge, full-bodied, colorful, with an impossible number of costumes, scenery and actors involved. The decorations are traveling to St. Petersburg in five trucks. Choreographer Alexey Miroshnichenko wrote the libretto himself. The plot is moved to 1957, to Moscow. “Cinderella” is staged in the main theater of the country, and the action unfolds in two planes simultaneously.

On the one hand, these are scenes from a fairy tale, on the other, we have before us the story of a young performer who dances the leading role. Her fate intersects in some ways with the fate of Cinderella, but in others it does not. Aging primos are weaving intrigues around; passions are unfolding with foreign tours - some are going, some are not; a foreign soloist is invited to play the role of the prince...

- Dashingly twisted...

Not that word. Plus original direction, a wealth of pictures and episodes, luxurious Prokofiev, a lot of Soviet aesthetics, a lot of light and air, sparkling humor and a choreographic language rich in allusions... Personally, this ballet reminds me very much of old Soviet films - clean, bright, very positive and lively. Like “Jolly Fellows” and “Spring” by Grigory Alexandrov, like “Carnival Night” by Eldar Ryazanov.

When I watched it, I felt that I was very homesick for these films, for their atmosphere. And it seemed to me that Alexey Miroshnichenko was also sad. And there are still a lot of people with us. It’s as if this mood - aching but bright nostalgia hangs in the air.

- Last question about the final gala concert. What new are you preparing this time?

The Gala of Stars Dance Open will take place on April 24 and, I hope, will surprise: there will be many new names. There was a rotation - it lasted for a couple of years, and as a result we got a lot of dancers who had never come to St. Petersburg and did not participate in the festival. Of course, there will be world-class stars with both classic and modern performances, and with those that have been staged over the past year and a half in different parts of the globe, and have already been recognized as the best. As always, we will take a walk outside of time and space through the present, past and future of world ballet.

I will share the most long-awaited. We will bring to St. Petersburg two numbers by my favorite choreographer Yura Posokhov: an incredibly graceful duet from the ballet “Lolita”, performed by Masha Kochetkova and Sebastian Klobborg, and the stunning “Chimes” with Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan. This duet will also be choreographed by Edward Liang.

There will also be a new piece by Dutch National Ballet premier Remy Wortmeyer featuring Anna Ohl and Daniel Camargo. Tap fans will rejoice at the arrival of the legend Sevion Glover, who takes a lot of effort to get. But I won’t reveal all the secrets of the program: I always envy the audience very much, because I’ve already seen it all, but they haven’t yet.

The artistic director of Dance Open talks about the festival program, age restrictions, the wisdom of the body and five vans of scenery.

The program for the 16th season of the International Ballet Festival Dance Open has been announced.

Its founder and artistic director Ekaterina Galanova spoke about the main events of the forum, which starts on April 13.

As soon as a little person begins to think about life, ask questions about love, friendship, fidelity, relationships between people, and this happens around 5–6 years old, ballet becomes both close and interesting to him.

In addition, the performance is interestingly designed in terms of design and direction - it is a colorful quest fairy tale with a huge number of fantastic characters. The music was composed by composer Artem Vasiliev at the request of the choreographer and especially for this ballet. Such a creative alliance, rare these days, is always interesting, and this experiment, I believe, was a success.

“I realized that children would enjoy watching this ballet.” Will balletomane parents be interested in it?

The Bolshoi Theater strictly adheres to age restrictions, and this, I think, is correct. The age recommendation for “The Snow Queen” is “6+”. You won't let in those who are smaller?

Judging by the rate at which tickets are selling out, “Batsheva” and its artistic director, Martha Graham’s student, dance esotericist Ohad Naharin have their own fan club in St. Petersburg (laughs). The Israelis will bring the “Naharin Virus.” This is the premiere in Russia, although the play, like our festival, is 16 years old.

As a result, the body gains wisdom, and the mind gains animal intuition at the level of super senses. Words cannot explain it - you have to see it.

Petersburgers will see it. And for those who are far away, but would like to take note of this performance, how would you present it?

These are the masters and gurus of modern choreography, and everything they do is the absolute top, the freshest and sharpest that exists today. A magnetic spectacle with magnetic music by Philip Glass.

NDT 1 is a gourmet treat. And the Perm Ballet with “Cinderella,” as I understand it, will satisfy the aspirations of the general public?

The performance is, indeed, huge, full-bodied, colorful, with an impossible number of costumes, scenery and actors involved. The decorations are traveling to St. Petersburg in five trucks.

Choreographer Alexey Miroshnichenko wrote the libretto himself. The plot is moved to 1957, to Moscow. “Cinderella” is staged in the main theater of the country, and the action unfolds in two planes simultaneously.

- Dashingly twisted...

Not that word. Plus original direction, a wealth of paintings and episodes, luxurious Prokofiev, a lot of Soviet aesthetics, a lot of light and air, sparkling humor and a choreographic language rich in allusions...

Personally, this ballet reminds me very much of old Soviet films - clean, bright, very positive and lively. Like “Jolly Fellows” and “Spring” by Grigory Alexandrov, like “Carnival Night” by Eldar Ryazanov.

- Last question about the final gala concert. What new are you preparing this time?

Of course, there will be world-class stars with both classic and modern performances, and with those that have been staged over the past year and a half in different parts of the globe, and have already been recognized as the best. As always, we will take a walk outside of time and space through the present, past and future of world ballet.

But I won’t reveal all the secrets of the program: I always envy the audience very much, because I’ve already seen it all, but they haven’t yet.

Dance TV shows are not only about an army of fans and the brilliance of the stage. Chelyabinsk choreographer Ekaterina Galanova, who had a chance to see the life of the show from the inside, talks about the downside of such projects.

DH: Katya, in 2014 you went to the casting of the Ukrainian competition “Everyone Dances”. How did you decide to do this?

Catherine: The decision was made very easily. At that time, I was binge-watching the seasons of the British equivalent show “So you think you can dance?”. They even told me some of the background behind such projects. And then one day the five of us and some dancer friends decided to go to a casting in Yekaterinburg. Just out of interest.

DH: Have you passed?

Catherine: Yes, we went through all the pre-casting, and we were invited to Kyiv for the video casting. It was already tougher there: immediately after the performance they tell you whether you passed or not, and in case of doubt they leave you for the evening choreography. They immediately said “yes” to me; my friends were not so lucky. A couple of weeks later I came to the dance camp again - already to film the selection from TOP-100 to TOP-20.

DH: How much time did you spend on the project?

Catherine: Four days. Every day there was a dropout; At the first selections they took not even a hundred, but about 170 people. This time was enough to understand what exactly the directors wanted to see on the project.

DH: And what?

Catherine: Of course, in addition to dancing, the director cares about spectacles, emotions, and stories. Those guys who were involved in such projects more than once took advantage of this.

DH: How was your day going?

Catherine: Very dynamic. We slept two hours a day - we went to bed at 3 am, and at 5 am we got up and went to learn choreography. Then we went back to the hotel, completely packed our suitcases, so that in case of departure we could go straight home from the set.

DH: At what point did you leave the show?

Catherine: At the penultimate stage on the way to the TOP-20. This was the fourth of five days. Before this, everything was going great, I heard only positive feedback from the jury. But in the fourth round there was an unequal number of boys and girls, I was given two partners, with each of them I had to work out a number and then dance with each of them. One of my partners did break dancing, the other did hip-hop, and we were given Afro-jazz choreography. The whole number is supported! Perhaps the guys were not ready for this. I was left on the “solo for life”, but it was no longer possible to complete it.

DH: What did you take from the project?

Catherine: Initially, I was determined that this was primarily my experience, and it could not be useless. In terms of emotions, I enjoyed the jive performance the most. The trick of the act was that the partner was blindfolded for half of the dance. It's all about trust in your partner. And, of course, seeing this world from the inside was educational.

DH: Did you have any desire to go on to other dance projects later?

Catherine: I would be interested in working on such projects as a director. There you are practically unlimited in stage decisions: if you want super scenery, video projection, flying under the ceiling - it will all be there.

DH: Who has the best chance of successfully joining such show projects?

Catherine: Versatile dancers are valued. You need to prepare yourself for this, take on unfamiliar styles. Also, improvisers quickly leave projects. They move amazingly based on their sensations, but as soon as they are given the “horyag”, the guys don’t even know how to remember it all. It's hard for them.

DH: What about shocking behavior on set?

Catherine: This will work before the first TV broadcast. When the serious work begins, it's all over. On the other hand, you must be cinematic, interesting to directors, and you must have your own story.

DH: What advice would you give to those who are planning to get into dancing?

Catherine: Remember that such shows are not an indicator of your talent. It's just a resource that you can use to accomplish your goals. At the same time, the project requires a lot of dedication: if you play this seriously, you will have to leave everything you did before for a long time.

A student of the legendary Natalia Dudinskaya herself danced at the Mariinsky Theater, and then found herself in cultural management. , each year collecting an increasingly stellar lineup of participants and rave reviews from connoisseurs of modern choreography.

This year, the theaters of Perm and Yekaterinburg, which set the tone for Russian ballet, showed their premieres, leading troupes from Israel and Poland came, and tickets for the Dance Open gala concert were, as usual, the main shortage in spring St. Petersburg. At what price does all this come?

In general, it costs blood, of course. So, we persistently negotiated with NDT for several years. The gala concert program had been planned for a whole year, and three days before it, three participants were injured. Yes, we replaced them with artists of the same high level - we always do this in such cases. By and large, the audience didn’t even notice that there was any problem. But not once since 2001, when we began preparing for the first festival, have I been in such a panic as on the day before the current gala concert. After all, it was necessary not only to quickly find premieres and prima ballerinas of the world’s leading theaters who were available that evening, provide them with visas and bring them to St. Petersburg, but also to correctly fit their performances into the program. Because for a gala concert it is not enough for her to just be good - the balance of the lighting design of the numbers, slow and dynamic music, classical and modern choreography must be maintained. So that there is no monotony, so that everything works in contrast and the audience, getting from a hot shower to a cold one, perceives what is happening in one breath.

We also need to understand that we cannot bring ballet stars in advance - they are only free for one or two days. This means that the dress rehearsal turns from an ordinary run-through into a creative process. For example, this year the choreographers of several numbers included in the program were personally present in the hall. Yuri Possokhov, Remy Wortmeyer, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon commented, advised, complemented - in a word, they worked together with the dancers, bringing the performance to perfection. There were more technically challenging productions than ever before, such as Savion Glover's 15 Stepz to the music of Radiohead. This number required a special floor, separate sound and switching. An inhuman number of light positions had to be written literally overnight.

Every time at a gala concert we try to take a new peak, known only to us. And this year I felt that sometimes human strength has limits: there were more difficulties than usual. I just barely made it to the finale. We must give credit to our technical team. There was not a single troupe whose representatives would not come up to me after their performance and say: “We work like we do on our own stage,” and would not ask with admiration where we recruited such specialists.

Every day you have to get up and perform a feat

Do you notice that the audience grows with the festival, getting used to modern choreography?

Cool question. Once upon a time, we deliberately started at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall - we had not very expensive tickets and a much more classical, almost pop program. Then we also deliberately moved to the Alexandrinsky Theater - it is more convenient for us to work on its stage, the numbers look completely different there. Having reduced the number of viewers from four thousand people to nine hundred and eighty, we suffered financially, but we got the opportunity to make excellent footage, which is then shown by the Culture channel. Tickets for the gala concert are sold out in the very first days after the start of sales - the public believed in us. We value this trust and propose to expand horizons together and discover new things. So, I thought that I would be beaten after the extremely unconventional performance “Naarina Virus” by the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company at the current festival - but, fortunately, prepared spectators come to us. And I’m glad about it: we have to show a wide variety of choreography.

At the very beginning of your career, after graduating from the Vaganova School and joining the corps de ballet of the Mariinsky Theater, you worked there for ten years, and then suddenly left - are there many similar examples?

Only a few leave; usually they all work until they retire. In fact, I am very grateful to the theater, because it was a part of my life, a certain experience. At first, of course, you are very interested, but then you learn the entire repertoire and just dance it year after year. And there comes a moment when you realize that you will be standing in the second line of the corps de ballet in Swan Lake tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow - the realization of this drove me into a depression that the lack of money never did. Meanwhile, financially, it was very difficult in the 1990s: when my eldest daughter was born, we could not buy a stroller. I put the baby in a fur pillowcase, and so we went for a walk. I gave all my salary to the nanny, and in order to have money left for living, I had to earn money somewhere else in addition to the theater. But you don’t notice such difficulties when you are young and in love. This is exactly how we were then with my first husband Andrei Timofeenko, who also danced at the Mariinsky Theater.
The decision to leave the theater had been brewing for about five years, I studied part-time to become a manager of the socio-cultural sphere at the University of Trade Unions and at some point I reached a psychological edge - it seemed to me that I would go crazy if I spent even one more day out of place, where my brain simply dies from inaction. I was really on the verge of suicide. And then tragic events began to happen: my mother, who worked as the chief economist at the theater, died, and then Andrei crashed in his car. I was left alone with little Varya - and there was no one to tell us what to do next.

They say that we finally grow up when we lose our parents.

Agree. My dad died when I was four years old (Ekaterina’s father, Anatoly Yufit, was a professor at LGITMiK, the creator of the country’s first department of theater management. - Ed.), and I lost my mother at the age of twenty-six. I left the theater into emptiness, I was not afraid of any work - I was ready to wash the floors. The first couple of years after the death of my mother and husband, I even drove around Theater Square so as not to see her - because of my personal experiences, which had nothing to do with the theater. I created the Oasis travel agency, the authorized capital of which was a fax machine, and only one employee worked in it besides me. When I decided to create a ballet festival, I was surrounded by several people who were just as obsessed as I was. Over the years, the same team has formed around us that holds the Dance Open, the gala concert “Classics on Dvortsovaya” on City Day, and many other events. Every day I remember the kind words of my teacher at the Vaganova School, Natalya Mikhailovna Dudinskaya - she raised us all to be a little tanks. Her precepts were not needed in the corps de ballet; she trained the soloists! But they were very useful in business.

T ext: Vitaly Kotov.

Style: Anvar Zoirov

We thank the Exhibition Center of the St. Petersburg Union of Artists and personally Pavel Ignatiev for their help in organizing the shooting