BALLET OR MODERN DANCE?
We are talking about modern dance with the director of the Ballet Moscow Theater Elena Tupyseva
Maria Shramova
Already in August, the festival of modern dance OPEN LOOK
gathers the best international dancers in St. Petersburg to show the most interesting things happening in the world of modern choreography. The festival brings both performances by foreign choreographers, local Russian troupes from Kazan and Chelyabinsk, as well as troupes of the most successful Russian institutions specializing in modern dance, one of which will be the Ballet Moscow Theater. In our interview, Elena Tupyseva, director of the Ballet Moscow, talks about the peculiarities of the existence of modern dance in Russia and the organization of the work of dance companies.
excode: During the 6 years of your management of the theatre, the performance level has grown significantly. How did you manage to bring the theater to today's level?
E.T.: The new team came to the theater "Ballet Moscow" in June 2012. There is nothing complicated here. In order to get out of the crisis, any organization needs a clear program and priorities. If a mission is formulated and there are priorities that it follows, then results and successes appear. To do this, it was necessary, on the one hand, to gradually develop the creative potential of the troupe, on the other hand, to gradually invite interesting choreographers, both Russian and foreign. But, the main thing is a formulated plan and strict adherence to this plan.
We had a task to become a professional theater in the field of modern choreography. To do this, we took certain steps: we invited various teachers to conduct master classes, specialists and choreographers to the troupe. For example, in April of this year, for three weeks in a row, our artists took part in master classes in eider (and improvisational technique created by Ohad Naharin, choreographer and artistic director of the Israeli company Batsheva Dance Company, editorial note). We got such a unique opportunity thanks to the Festival " Golden Mask" and educational program Theater Institute".
excode: How feasible is cooperation with foreign directors now? Considering the political situation, and even if not considering what difficulties arise?
E.T.: Cooperation is possible, there is absolutely no doubt about it. In my opinion, the main difficulty is economic, because the exchange rate has grown very much over the past six years, almost twice, so this requires more accurate financial planning. And from a political point of view, this is an ambiguous story. Yes, maybe not everyone agrees to come to Russia to work, but so far we have not encountered a refusal for political reasons. In general, no one interferes in our artistic policy, and during these six years the choreographers have never refused our offer because “we are from Russia”.
It has become more difficult because it has become more expensive. But in order to remain a successful Moscow theater, we must create an interesting product. In general, the laws of the ballet and dance genre are as follows: if we want to be successful and visible, we need to be integrated into the international dance scene. This is one of the success factors of any dance or ballet theatre. To produce only a national product, I think, is wrong. If you look at the European infrastructure, I do not know a single European theater that would work only at the expense of its internal national resources, both performing and staging.
excode: Your theater is known for having a modern dance troupe and a ballet troupe. How is ballet being transformed into "modern dance" today?
E.T.: Modern dance is the one that was formed in the 20th century, starting from Isadora Duncan, and so on. Modern dance came to Russia in the early 90s. As for ballet, it is a separate genre, with its own school, its own canons, its own aesthetics, its own market of choreographers, performers, and so on. These are two different genres, which sometimes overlap to some extent. Ballet in the second half of the 20th century is also actively engaged in modern choreography, the search for a new language, but taking into account other performing abilities of artists. After all, a modern ballet dancer dances ballet. It's pointe shoes, a different body, and a different choreography. In modern dance, there is also an established infrastructure with its own education and so on.
Photographer Vasil Yaroshevich
excode: Modern ballet - what is it like?
E.T.: When we think of ballet, we think of classic productions like Swan Lake.
We all need to be more educated, start to understand these two areas and not confuse them. In Europe, they are not confused: there are state theaters that are engaged in ballet, for example, in Dresden there is a ballet troupe - the Semper Ballet. The repertoire of this theater consists of works by contemporary choreographers: William Forsyth,David Dawson, Jiri Kiliana and so on, and that's ballet. And if you take the work of, for example, the German choreographer Constance Makras, then this is no longer ballet, this is modern dance. Modern ballet is looking for its own language, it relies on a different aesthetics of movement.
Yes, he uses work on the floor, yes, he has become more horizontal, unlike the classical one, there are no such canons. There are also plot ballets, such as the choreographer of the Zurich ballet Christian Spuk. But in general, when you ask a choreographer: “What do you put on: ballet, modern dance, neoclassical?”, they often answer: “I do ballet or dance today.” They do not really like to determine what kind of dance they should be attributed to.
In our theater "Ballet Moscow" There are two troupes: a ballet troupe and a modern dance troupe. Two troupes exist absolutely separately from each other, their working day even begins in different halls, but the audience that comes to the "Ballet Moscow" watches the performances of both troupes. If you ask (and we conducted such polls): "What did you watch: a ballet troupe or a modern troupe?", every second person will answer incorrectly. Therefore, I think that it is necessary to make interesting performances, and further, they can be called performances of "modern choreography", whoever needs to understand in more detail whether this is modern dance or ballet - he will figure it out.
excode: Is your theater still a "theater" or a "troupe"? Are you more about "dance" or "theater"?
E.T.: For me, these are all synonyms. We are a theater and the result of our work is performances. They can be both with a plot and based on some literary work, for example, "Cafe Idiot" Sasha Pepelyaev, "Kreutzer Sonata" Canadian choreographer Robert Binet, "In standby Godot" Anastasia Kadruleva and Artem Ignatiev, and plotless.
Photographer Vasil Yaroshevich
excode: Your theater is known for the fact that two troupes coexist in it: ballet and modern dance. How do you balance classic and innovative?
E.T.: It depends on what to invest in the concept of "classic". We are not a museum theater and we are not engaged in the ballet of the 19th century; we do not have such a mission and task. Theater "Ballet Moscow" was founded in 1989, it has no task to deal with the past. He has a task to deal with the present and the future. Accordingly, there are historical scenes in Russia: the Bolshoi Theater, the Mariinsky, which are engaged in museum art, but at the same time, they clearly have to create a new product. And we are a young theater and should deal exclusively with the present and the future. As for the music, yes, we use classical music, for example, children's ballet "Thumbelina" created for music Tchaikovsky "Seasons", but at the same time, modern samples are integrated into this music. We have ballet to music John Adams, is a composer of the second half of the 20th century, but nevertheless, this music has already become a classic of the 20th century. Our dancers of the ballet troupe are all graduates of ballet academies, but in addition to the classical baggage that they have gained in the academies, they are also familiar with modern ballet techniques. We had a performance in the repertoire "Sacred spring" in the modern troupe. Stravinsky- it's already a classic. Sometimes modern choreographers take classical music, if it inspires them, then why not?
excode:
How difficult is it to regularly give performances without a venue? Does the fact that you do not have your own space affect the performances themselves?
E.T.:
Our performances can be seen at three venues in Moscow - this is the Center. Sun. Meyerhold, the ZIL Cultural Center and the small stage of the Musical Theater of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. As a rule, the performance is played on the site where it was released. The absence of a scene has practically no effect on the artistic process and the final result.
excode:
Are you planning to expand the venues or experiment with locations? As many do now: use some kind of urban or industrial space.
E.T.:
As one-time projects, rather. Repertory performances with a certain adaptation can be shown in non-theater spaces. We work a lot with this, every year we perform as part of the project "Mask in the City". We danced at the Kursk railway station, in the atrium of the Bolshevik business center, in the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val. We participated in such projects as "Night in the Metro", "Night of Museums" and so on. Such projects become a prominent part of our work.
Photographer Vasil Yaroshevich
excode: Are these performances attracting a new audience?
E.T.:- I don’t know how “new” the viewer will be, but if we talk about the viewer who is already similar to our target audience, and who learns about the theater through these projects, then yes, of course. And, of course, we work a lot in open areas, every year we show our best performances at the Stage on the Water at VDNKh, and we recently took part in the Tolstoy Weekend festival at Yasnaya Polyana. The festival takes place in the open air in the forest on the territory of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum. We annually perform in the Hermitage Garden at the bottom of the city in a special program on the open stage, recently we danced on the open stage in Izmailovsky Park.
excode:
Why is the OPEN LOOK festival interesting for you?
E.T.:
In my opinion, OPEN LOOK
currently the largest contemporary dance festival in Russia. Therefore, it is important for us to be on the poster of the festival, to bring our new works that we made in Moscow. Our theater is coming to this festival for the third year in a row and it is very important for us.
excode:
That is, your performances are more of a festival format than a repertoire format?
E.T.:
Not really. The fact is that tour activity in Russia is so organized that the opportunity to go to another city is to perform at the festival, such is the infrastructure of the Russian dance market, unlike Europe. Because there, in addition to festivals, there is an opportunity to organize tours, when the same performance travels to several cities along the chain. In Russia, this is less developed, it is connected with finances and other factors, so we are a repertory theater, unlike European dance companies, we are just an exception to the rule, we are a repertory dance theater.
Our artists do not dance one or two performances, but dance from four to six, and performances by different choreographers. We exist according to the laws of the Russian repertory theater, we show the same performance every month for several seasons. We have performances that we released 5 years ago, which are still in the repertoire. And festivals are a great opportunity to acquaint residents of other cities with our performances.
The studio was founded in 1992. Since 1992, the head of the studio of modern choreography "OLIMP" is Sominskaya Elena Valentinovna. Teacher of the highest category, Winner of the Prize of the Government of Moscow "Grant in the field of education" 2004, 2013. Member of the International Dance Council of UNESCO. Laureate and holder of special prizes of All-Russian and International competitions "For the best ballet master's work. Member of the expert council of All-Russian competitions in choreography. Teachers of the studio: Antonova Tatyana Alexandrovna, teacher of the highest category in classical dance. Chashina Elena Igorevna, teacher of the highest category in modern dance.
The studio is for children from 9 to 18 years old. The preparatory department for the studio "OLIMP" is the children's dance studio "Takeoff Point" (Head Chashina Elena Igorevna - a graduate of the studio "OLIMP", a student of Sominskaya E.V.), in which children from 3 to 8 years old are engaged. The studio of modern choreography "OLIMP" is the owner of the prize of the Department of Education "Girl on the ball", the winner and owner of the title of "grand prix" of all-Russian and international competitions in choreography.
To constantly improve the level of mastery, students of the studio regularly take part in laboratories and master classes of leading experts in the field of modern choreography. The students also often travel to various competitions in Russian cities.
Training programs of the OLIMP studio:
- Jazz-modern dance. Joy of knowledge”, basic level (teachers - Sominskaya E.V., Chashina E.I.)
- Jazz-modern dance. The joy of dancing "(Teacher - Sominskaya E.V.)
- Jazz-modern dance. The joy of creativity”, advanced level (Teacher - Sominskaya E.V.)
- "Physical training of a dancer", basic level (Teacher - Sominskaya E.V.)
- "Classical dance for beginners", basic level (Teacher - Antonova T.A.)
- "Classical dance", advanced level (Teacher - Antonova T.A.)
- "Classical dance for cultivators", advanced level (Teacher - Antonova T.A.)
- "Acting skills", basic level (teacher - Chashina E.I.)
- "On the way to dance", advanced level (Teachers - Antonova T.A., Sominskaya E.V.)
Pupils are engaged in the studio according to the programs in a complex way.
Programs “Classical dance for perfectionists” and “Jazz-modern dance. The joy of creativity” are considered profile. Pupils who have been trained in these programs have the opportunity to enter a university with a degree in choreography.
In 2018-2019, the OLIMP studio won the Grand Prix title 6 times at all-Russian choreography competitions, including becoming the Best Team at the Winners Cup closed Grant Competition according to the Scarlet Sails Cultural Foundation.
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Sominskaya Elena Valentinovna studio manager |
Antonova |
Movement is life, life is movement.
There is a lot of movement in our life
and THEATER gives direction to this movement.
Plastic THEATER Victoria Yanchevskaya
A young, successful dance theater with a repertoire that is completely atypical for metropolitan dance projects: joy, jokes, lively emotions, unusual naturalism in self-expression, posing a simple question: “What is love?” and trying to live without being able to find an answer to it. It is no coincidence that she Victoria Yanchevskaya loves the words of the late Pina Bausch: "I'm not interested in how people move, I'm interested in what moves them."
Plastic THEATER of Victoria Yanchevskaya, or iTheatre, is a truly unique phenomenon for the Russian audience. The appearance in our country of modern dance as a direction of choreography dragged along the quilted blanket of modern dance as a philosophy in Europe. For the third decade now, the Russian spectator, who comes to the performances of modern dance theaters, has been carefully covered with this blanket, under the thickness of which it will not take long to suffocate. We are being imposed a philosophy that neither the audience nor sometimes the choreographer understands. We are asked long questions from the stage, which we never thought about, although we consider ourselves no more stupid than the artists on the stage. And we leave unsatisfied.
Artists Plastic THEATER Victoria Yanchevskaya they speak with the viewer with familiar images and about familiar problems. They talk about the relationship between a man and a woman, and you believe them like no one else, because the soloists of the theater - Alexander And Victoria Isakov-Yanchevskie- have behind them not only rich stage and ballet master experience, but also valuable experience in marital relations (Alexander and Victoria are married and have a wonderful son).
Alexander and Victoria were born and started dancing in different cities, but the desire to dance professionally led both to Moscow. they finished MGUKI, Faculty of Classical and Folk Dance, where we met. Studied with the masters: Victoria with M.P. Murashko at the Department of Folk Dance, and Alexander with E.L. Ryabinkina and A.A. Mikhalchenko at the Department of Classical Ballet.
Modern dance, timidly penetrating in the early 2000s into creative universities, but more on pop venues in Moscow, carried them away into the world of unlimited opportunities for mature dancers. Ballet shows, music halls, life-size puppets at -30 at Christmas were the first attempts to get out of the boring academism of dance. Later, Alexander was selected for the State Academic Theater "Moscow Operetta" for productions: "Romeo and Juliet" and "Monte Cristo", as well as in a modern troupe Chamber ballet "Moscow", where he was a soloist in the performances "Wedding" and "Smotriny". And Victoria at that time worked in the dance theater "Fortress Ballet" E. Prokopieva, and then in the musical "Witches of Eastwick".
But it was not enough for her to dance someone else's choreography, she wanted to speak from the stage not about what the director was asking for, but to become a director herself. So, on the basis of one of the Moscow universities, an amateur dance theater appeared « PLASTICQUE». Under the brand of this theater, the first joint work with Alexander Isakov appeared "Window"(2009). At first it was a 5-minute performance staged for the Black Cat festival in Ryazan, and then a 40-minute performance with video, live music and conflict on the topic of relationships. Work on the performance provoked even greater interest in the techniques of modern dance, in line with which the Isakov-Yanchevski spouses develop their own technique.
Victoria and Alexander together visited modern dance festivals in Yaroslavl, Vitebsk, Ryazan, St. Petersburg. In addition to participating in other people's festivals and competitions, they themselves are engaged in organizational activities: every month they hold the contemporary ART festival Trajectory of Movement in Moscow, where they give original, but little-known authors (choreographers, directors, performers and other experimenters of the movement theater) an opportunity to express themselves.
Teaching plays an important role in the life of Victoria and Alexander: they gave lessons and master classes at the Theater Mansion in Moscow, at the Dance Hotel in Novosibirsk, and at the exemplary ballet studio Debut in Serpukhov. Yoga occupies a special place in the life, worldview and dance technique of Victoria and Alexander. For several years they worked as instructors in various Moscow yoga studios.
In addition to performances, theater artists conduct master classes in contemporary dance, contact improvisation, and yoga for dancers. Also, Victoria and Alexander regularly travel to dance groups in different cities of Russia (Tula, Kostomuksha, Serpukhov and others) as guest choreographers.
The plastic theater of Victoria Yanchevskaya is a complex laboratory consisting of two choreographers, a creative workshop and guest performers (dancers, musicians). To date repertoire The theater includes three performances: "Window" , "She's... the first" And "Love Doesn't Stop" and some miniatures.