On 14 June as part of the evening Knights of Dance there will be a premiere of the ballet Le Divertissement du Roi which has been created especially for Mariinsky Ballet Principal Dancer Igor Kolb.
What does this artistic evening mean for you?
It was a great surprise and a great gift. It’s not my first artistic evening, though it is my first at the Mariinsky Theatre. I’ve always thought that for such an event something new has to be created. And I have to say a big “thank you” to the theatre because they’ve given me the freedom to do what I want. I’ll have a new ballet in the form of a divertissement – a sort of worship of the profession and the theatre.
Whose idea was it to get the choreographer Maxim Petrov?
It was my idea. I was looking for new people to work with. And I’ve known Maxim for quite a long time, I’ve seen his works at the Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers, and I was drawn by the slightly old-fashioned nature of the themes selected by Maxim. He’s not remotely connected with the times he speaks of in his works. At his age that’s unusual. And when we spoke about a ballet for me he also surprised me.
Was it he who proposed the theme of Louis XIV?
It was entirely Maxim’s idea – the plot, the music and the design. He’s dealing with everything and somehow I’m observing from a distance what’s happening, as if it wasn’t my own creation. And yet I’m part of it.
You won’t be alone on the stage?
Initially I wanted to be alone, that’s how I saw my participation in the evening. But I realise that any choreographer faces a hard task – they have to think up a very powerful plot to be alone on the stage for twenty or twenty-five minutes. And in terms of choreography it’s hard to do that so it’s not tiresome to watch. In the end we went for a cast of six.
You are not afraid to put yourself into the hands of young choreographers – for example Vladimir Varnava, that time not really well-known, and you did Beginning, now you’re working with Maxim Petrov. There are few principal dancers, performers of your status, who can work with young and unknown choreographers with such ease...
At the first meeting, when you come in and meet and talk with the choreographer, you understand: here it’s okay, there not really, here it’s possible and there that’s impossible. Somewhere you understand that with time something will pull together and in the end it works out. At our first meeting Vladimir was totally prepared: he had the music, the plot and the costume – all of what was required for the production. That totally amazed me as before that all of my experiences had been a kind of common search. But here he knew precisely what he wanted and what he needed from me for it to happen. The same thing happened with Maxim. And that’s important because there was little time for rehearsals, we had to conceive the ideas very quickly and start to do it.
Which choreographers do you find interesting?
I find it attractive when a choreographer sees me in a different light. As a general rule you know what you are capable of and when you meet someone new you want to reveal something and surprise yourself with something. You want the person you’re working with to see something in you that you can’t see yourself. That’s when something new happens.
Have you ever had to work with anyone on several productions by young choreographers?
I’ve done three pieces with Dmitry Pimonov. And all three were totally different, completely different revelations. The first production was made specially for an artistic evening with Farukh Ruzimatov in Japan, another on a theme from Faune – for the Saisons russes project – and the third was for a gala in Taipei. I have never danced any of them at the Mariinsky Theatre.
What’s most interesting for you in your profession – working on the stage or at rehearsals?
It’s a discussion, about what it will be. The closer I am to an event the greater sadness I have as I understand that it will soon be in the past. That’s probably wrong... You have to make the performance like a miracle, and I’m there thinking “what a pity that in a week’s time this will be over.”
Are you easily distracted?
Yes, I’m an adventurer!
Do you yourself seek any new creative opportunities?
Searching for things and agreeing about them is something I don’t do. But you always like it when someone creates something for you and with you. Generally it all happens as a matter of course. For example, I met Radu Poklitaru before he had become a choreographer. When he danced at the theatre in Minsk we discussed what could be done and then – years later – came The Swan and Two on a Swing which were made for my gala in Japan, then performed at Yulia Makhalina’s gala at the Mariinsky Theatre, while next season we plan to perform this one-act ballet on tour. I hope that I will works with Radu on many more occasions.
You travel a lot through Russia and you know what’s happening in other theatres. In your opinion is there a problem with the lack of choreographers today?
I don’t think so. At this theatre the situation is dealt with through the young choreographers’ workshop. For choreographers the chance to do something at the Mariinsky Theatre is like a helping hand! There is the brilliant Diana Vishneva festival Context, which lets people try themselves. Slava Samodurov has Platform in Yekaterinburg. There’s a great deal going on but maybe the choreographers just aren’t quick enough. Maybe it can’t go any further. I’ve always been bothered by the question about where people go after leaving the conservatoire or graduating from the Academy of Russian Ballet as a “choreographer” – they study and study, there are a lot of them, but where do they go? Now the situation is improving – there are festivals and workshops that provide the chance to showcase people, there are so many musicals – if you can do it you have the chance to do so.
Have you ever tried to create a work?
No, I’m completely useless at that. Everyone has their own field of expertise – some do the dancing and others do the staging. Some can dance and stage, like Alexei Ratmansky, who had a great career as a dancer but also staged works from his years at school. Natalia Ledovskaya, who was in the same year as him, told me that at boarding school they had entire productions that were staged by Ratmansky. At boarding school Maxim Petrov also staged parties and celebrations for pupils, so it all had a purpose. I have never been a good manager.
Speaking with Olga Makarova
The full text of the interview in Russian is available in the July issue of the Mariinsky Theatre newspaper.
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