Performances by Navka and Burkovsky as prisoners. Dancing with the Yellow Stars: Channel One show caused an international scandal

On November 26 in Russia, Channel One, as part of the “Ice Age” program, showed a performance by Tatyana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky “Beautiful That Way” based on the Italian film “Life is Beautiful.” Navka and Burkovsky took to the ice in the uniforms of concentration camp prisoners and with yellow stars.

The number caused, to put it mildly, mixed reactions.

There are also more loyal opinions, for example, the opinion of the editor-in-chief of the N+1 website Andrei Konyaev.

About the fuss that arose around the speech of the wife of Putin’s press secretary, for example, The Huffington Post. One of the Russian commentators wrote that Navka and Burkovsky should be “sent to where such pajamas are issued.” In particular, blogger @Lndcalling said that Channel One has gone crazy. The Daily Mail says the Russian president should force the show's creators to apologize for making a mockery of the Holocaust. A note about the disgraced program and The New York Times.

A photo posted by Tatiana Navka (@tatiana_navka) on Nov 26, 2016 at 11:22am PST

Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov also responded to criticism from his wife. In a conversation with Life, he said: “I don’t think this is an issue that concerns the Kremlin. And due to my work, I am limited to comment in any way,” Peskov noted. “I’m proud of my wife, that’s all I can say.”

“Life is Beautiful” is an Italian tragicomedy, released in 1997, directed by Roberto Benigni. The film tells the story of how, during World War II, a father tries to save his son from the Nazis by convincing him that the horrors taking place are just a game.

Tatiana Navka artistically reimagined the Holocaust. She received the highest score from the jury, a compliment from her husband, criticism from Internet users, and gratitude from the Jews.

frame from the official video of Channel One

Over the weekend, the Channel One show “Ice Age” became the second most discussed after the death of Fidel Castro. The wife of the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation and figure skater Tatyana Navka danced in a camp uniform with a Star of David on her chest. The interpretation of the Oscar-winning film “Life is Beautiful” turned out to be controversial. The athlete was booed even by the audience of Channel One, but was positively noted by representatives of the Jewish community.

The ninth day of the Ice Age show on Channel One was dedicated to world cinema. The couples chose recognizable bestsellers “Leon”, “Kill Bill”, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. The performance was completed by the Olympic champion in figure skating and the wife of the president's press secretary, Tatyana Navka, with her partner Andrei Burkovsky, an actor and member of KVN.

In the lead-up to the performance, presenters Alexey Yagudin and Alla Mikheeva reasoned that the title of Navka’s act could become the motto of the entire “Ice Age.”

"Apocalypse Now?" – Alla asked with her trademark coquetry. “Life is wonderful,” Yagudin replied.

Before the show, Tatyana Navka was also given the floor. “We are, of course, looking forward to it. Our movie is Hollywood. We took the music from the movie "Life is Beautiful." It’s about a concentration camp,” said the figure skater, wringing her hands.

And the number began. Heroes in prison uniforms with yellow Stars of David presented a cheerful pantomime. At the end of the performance, the hero was shot, the heroine’s face showed pain.

All judges gave the highest scores for artistry and technique. Navka and Burkovsky rejoiced and hugged. After the show aired, they wrote on their Instagram accounts: “Be sure to watch! One of my favorite numbers! Based on one of my favorite movies, Life is Beautiful! Show this film to your children, definitely. P.S. Our children must know and remember that terrible time, which I hope they will never know!” – wrote Tatyana Navka.

Burkovsky refrained from explaining: “6.0. 6.0)))".

The film “Life is Beautiful” was filmed in 1997. It tells about the concentration days of a Jew, his Italian wife (who voluntarily followed her husband) and their five-year-old son. The Jew convinced the child that the horrors of the Auschwitz (Auschwitz) camp were a game and one had to follow the rules. The child accepts the conditions and is saved. The father is shot. The film received three Oscars, including for music. At the 1999 awards ceremony, director Roberto Benigni jumped on chairs, jumped onto the stage and enthusiastically hugged Sophia Loren.

There was a reaction after the TV show. User Durevestnik wrote: “Navka showed everyone how much fun the prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps had. And whoever disagrees with this is a falsifier of history.”

The information surge has reached the Kremlin. Dmitry Peskov found an opportunity to praise his wife. AP Moscow correspondent Natalya Vasilyeva tweeted: “I asked Peskov about Tatyana Navka’s dance. He replied: “I’m proud of my wife - that’s all I can say.”

Navka in a robe was actively discussed abroad. The most popular adjectives applied to dance are “offensive”, “disgusting”, “inappropriate”, “incompetent”.

American comedian Michael Ian Black also took part in the controversy. He made a subtle joke about the number: “It might have seemed offensive if the ice dancing from the Auschwitz era had not been recreated with all the care.”

When Twitter users wrote to him that the Russians actually liberated Auschwitz and lost 22 million people in World War II, Black responded: “No one questions Russia's incredible sacrifice in the war. Maybe it’s just inappropriate to show this in ice dancing.”

The Israeli publication Haaretz also noted the ambiguity of using the Holocaust theme in entertainment programs: “Holocaust on Ice: Putin’s aide’s wife sparks controversy by skating in a concentration camp prisoner’s uniform.”

German Spiegel limited itself to describing Navka’s number, her social status (the wife of a Kremlin representative) and the message that the performance “caused criticism from the United States.”

“When you visit there, it won’t occur to you to do such numbers,” says Navka’s subscriber bahtinov.design.

“Elite” doesn’t know how to be sophisticated,” Igor.mironov.9615 couldn’t pass by.

“Drawing caricatures of a tragedy, for example, like in Charlie Hebdo magazine, is normal, but doing an act on ice that does not imply a desire to laugh or offend someone is blasphemy?” – anna_karelina1990 defended the couple.

A fan of Svetlanaleg53 wanted to please Tatyana Navka, but it turned out ambiguous: “You match the image incredibly. Bravo".

Following her, many also noted that striped clothes suit Tatyana Navka.

In the official Ice Age group on the VKontakte social network, historical allusions went unnoticed. The Holocaust was not discussed at all, the British press was criticized a little, and that was all. Only 48.8% of voters (235 people) said good things about the number.

“It seemed to me that this was an exploitation of the theme,” expressed the opinion of a fan of the show, Yulia Kalashnikova.

“Navka’s dancing is not experienced from the inside,” Irina Borzik does not believe the press secretary’s wife.

Under the video on Youtube, Navka and director Ilya Averbukh also got it.

“A blasphemous mockery of the memory of millions of those tortured...” – Jewgenia Komarova is sure.

User Maya Paz decided to answer for others too: “You spat in the face of every Jew. This number looks as ridiculous as a disco on the grave of your parents.”

Victoria Razhkovetsky discussed with them: “An excellent reading (of the film. – Red.) talented authors and performers of this three-minute production. People are deeply touched."

On the Channel One website, the release of “Ice Age” caused negative reviews.

“A completely inappropriate topic for an entertainment show. You leave the movie with a lump in your throat. And here - smiles, applause and praise for technique and artistry. I was only perplexed at how some could come up with such a thing, while others could cheerfully applaud,” writes viewer Pavel Riazanov.

Michael Ratinsky pointed out that the show consists not only of a number in which artistic reinterpretation is permissible, but also of an audience. And her reaction is very controversial: “You've gone crazy! Smiles in robes with yellow stars! The hall exploding with applause... No taste, no tact, no understanding... Incompetent direction.”

The chairman of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg, Mark Grubarg, said in: “The choice of topic is not forbidden. But a work of art is judged by whether it carries a quality message, whether it awakens people. I cannot evaluate this number as a great significant work. The skating did not cause any special aesthetic impressions. Did the characters manage to evoke a sense of tragedy in the audience? That's the question. But now many are looking for points of disagreement that are not conceptual.”

1998 Olympic champion in figure skating Oksana Kazakova supported Navka: “The program brought tears to many people. The guys did not teach the topic (the Holocaust) in a comical way. Figure skating is an art. Through dance we can convey emotions, problems and fear.”

Director Karen Shakhnazarov participates in the jury. He also gave it 6.0. Here is his assessment: “I remember and love this film very well, it is outstanding. There has never been a time when the horrors of the Nazi camps were spoken about in art in such a way that there was lyricism, humor, and the unshakable strength of the human spirit. The guys managed to convey the spirit of this picture, its essence.”

The head of the North-Western public organization of disabled Jews, former prisoners of fascist concentration camps and ghettos, Pavel Rubinchik, who was in the Minsk ghetto, admitted to Fontanka that he had not seen the film, and therefore could only say about the number: “Skating, pirouettes, lyrics - this is good, but they do not fit with what actually happened. We just wanted to drink and eat and sometimes wished for death. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the tragedy in the performance.”

The head of the public relations department of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Borukh Gorin, left a post on Facebook: “Am I shocked? I am terrified! I'm horrified by the reaction to this number. Do you want to talk about aesthetic dilemmas, about Adorno's maxim? This is after kilometers of film of kitsch “about the Holocaust”? After Schindler's List and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? “Life is beautiful” also outraged you to the point of nausea? Never mind - Navka has gotten you down the drain. And it is you who use the memory of the victims of the Holocaust for your own selfish purposes. And bow to her. Like anyone who is ready to wear a yellow star in memory of them."

Blogger Anton Nosik wrote in LiveJournal: “For today’s civilization, the Holocaust is nothing more than a historical plot that provides inspiration for books, films, scientific research and, as it now turns out, ice dancing. I’m not ready to evaluate a dance number based on a film, whether it’s good or bad, I just don’t know anything about choreography. But there is definitely no insult to either the Jewish people or the victims of the Holocaust. This is just an artistic treatment of a topic that has become global over the past 70 years.”

The performance that caused fierce controversy took place as part of the Ice Age show on Channel One.

A real political scandal on a global scale flared up in the media and blogosphere after Channel One aired the program “Ice Age,” where figure skater Tatyana Navka and her partner Andrei Burkovsky showed a number about concentration camp prisoners.

In the release of the project on November 26, Navka and Burkovsky showed the number Beautiful That Way based on the film “Life is Beautiful,” which takes place during the Second World War. The film tells the story of an Italian woman who voluntarily went after her husband. idhumkz and son to a concentration camp.

During their performance, Navka and Burkovsky were dressed in prison uniforms with yellow Stars of David on the chest.

The performance on “The Ice Age” with the participation of the wife of the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov was assessed very ambiguously by the world media.

For example, the American online publication The Huffington Post simply noted that the Olympic champion in ice dancing and actor Andrei Burkovsky took to the ice in the image of prisoners of Auschwitz, and the song Beautiful That Way by Nicola Piovani from a film about persecution was chosen as the musical accompaniment for the performance Jews during World War II "Life is Beautiful."

In turn, the Israeli publication Haaretz stated that this is not the first time on Russian television that the theme of the Holocaust is used in an entertainment project. Journalists recalled that in April 2016, Russian state television already apologized for the number in the project “Dancing with the Stars” to the composition of Frank Sinatra Fly Me to the Moon, which told about the romance of a German soldier of World War II and a Russian girl who were awaiting execution in end of the number.

The performance of Navka and Burkovsky caused a strong reaction on social networks. Thus, blogger @Lndcalling said that Channel One has gone crazy.

His post received over 500 retweets and many replies. Most users condemned the artists and the editors of Channel One.

However, there were also those who stood up for the number.

In turn, the members of the Ice Age jury assessed the performance positively, giving the artistry and technique of the performance a maximum of six points.

Navka and Burkovsky's dance about the Holocaust caused criticism in Western media.

The dance, which was performed by Tatyana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky in the Ice Age program, caused a lot of criticism and misunderstanding. After the release of the next program, in which Navka and Burkovsky performed a number on the theme of the Holocaust, unflattering reviews about the theme and nature of the performance appeared on the Internet and in the Western press.

The main reason that some users and journalists began to write negative and sometimes even offensive reviews about the Ice Age participants was simple ignorance and inattention. What is striking about this dance is that the dancers, dressed in the uniforms of concentration camp prisoners with the Star of David on their chests, smile, have fun and seem to be fooling around. This may seem like a mockery of the Holocaust theme only to those who did not know that Navka and Burkovsky took the famous film, the tragicomedy by Roberto Benigni, as the basis for their speech. Life is Beautiful", which received three Oscars at once. According to the plot of the film, father and son end up in a Nazi concentration camp, where children and old people are killed in gas chambers. To save his son and protect him from all the horrors that are happening around him, the father convinces the child that everything around him is just a funny game. To become the winner of this game, you need to follow certain rules - don’t cry, don’t complain, don’t ask for food, don’t show yourself to the soldiers.

However, despite the fact that the film was identified in the speech as the main plot, some foreign media, including CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, published unflattering comments about the speech, without failing to say that Tatyana Navka is the wife of the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

Tatiana Navka and Andrey Burkovsky dance “Life is Beautiful” video

On the “Ice Age” program on Channel One, Tatyana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky showed the number “Beautiful That Way” about concentration camp prisoners.

In the release of the project on November 26, Navka and Burkovsky showed a number based on the film “Life is Beautiful,” which takes place during the Second World War.

During their performance, Navka and Burkovsky were dressed in prison uniforms with yellow Stars of David on the chest.

Video: Navka and Burkovsky portrayed concentration camp prisoners

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The performance of the artists caused a mixed reaction from users of social networks: some were outraged by it, while others did not see anything offensive in it.

on the 1st they fucked up pic.twitter.com/9q7ZYnp6Jc

— enemies over the hill (@Lndcalling) November 26, 2016

Navka showed everyone how much fun the prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps had. And whoever disagrees with this is a falsifier of history. pic.twitter.com/zcY1Jqnkfb

— Time of Troubles (@Durevestnik) November 27, 2016

The wife of Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Tatyana Navka, skated the Kremlin's obligatory program: a pinch of racism, a little anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/kDqHgCduM0

— Taras Berezovets (@TarasBerezovets) November 28, 2016

If Navka had not danced on the bones of Holocaust victims, NATO tanks would have been skating on the ice in Moscow!

Apparently I was one of the last to watch "Holocaust on Ice"
I always knew that Navka... was more cultured... not very far-sighted, but THAT much?!

— YAGOZA (@Yagozarussia) November 28, 2016

Many world media outlets wrote about the incident, and residents of different countries expressed their bewilderment about what happened on social networks.

There's mental. There's batshit mental. Then there's a holocaust themed skating performance mental.

pic.twitter.com/XxVRn6GeIV

— Yashar (@yashar) November 27, 2016

— Matt Adams (@Maverick_Adams) November 27, 2016

“They're crazy. These are fucking psychos. These are crazy people in a Holocaust-themed room."

When brainstorming ideas for an ice skating routine how, the fuck, do you get to "the holocaust"? Wrong doesn't even begin to cover this.

Tatyana Navka, the wife of Vladimir Putin"s powerful speaker, did a holocaust themed skating performance tonight in Russia. pic.twitter.com/XxVRn6GeIV

— Yashar (@yashar) November 27, 2016

— Sarah Dimond (@SarahDimond) November 27, 2016

“While brainstorming an idea for an issue, how the f*** did the Holocaust come to your mind?”

As reported by Rosbalt news agency, President of the Holocaust Foundation Alla Gerber, who commented on the number on the radio “Moscow Speaks”, urged not to perceive the situation so unambiguously. “The topic is so painful, so bloody, how should we address it, what are the criteria? “This, first of all, it seems to me, should not be mockery, it should not be irony, there should not be a wry smile,” Gerber said. At the same time, she emphasized that “even in the most terrible conditions, people continued to live until the last minute... they wrote, they sang, they loved.”

Navka herself called this number one of her favorites.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNSPG26jQ4c/

The Israeli publication Haaretz noted that this is not the first time that the Holocaust theme is used in entertainment programs on Russian television. In April of this year, Russian state television already apologized after Dancing with the Stars aired a number to Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" in which a German soldier during World War II began an affair with a Russian woman. The apotheosis of the act was the execution of the lovers.