Translated material
Under the sign of Scorpio
The Dance Theater is being destroyed in Yekaterinburg
To create a theater with a European reputation requires a lot of effort, time and talent. To destroy it, you need one municipal official and the indifference of the authorities above him. In Yekaterinburg, one of the few Russian troupes that actually exist on the map of the art world, and not just in city reports, will soon disappear - the Dance Theater.It was created twenty years ago by critic Oleg Petrov. He was tired of just looking at what the local opera and ballet theater offered, and he became a manager - he recruited a troupe of artists tired of the provincial academic routine, and invited choreographers. Of course, I found patrons; Of course, he was spinning like a squirrel in a wheel; the troupe survived a fire that destroyed the rehearsal hall; The name changed several times (there were “Ballet Plus” and “Institute of Dance”). The main principle of the artistic director has always been the principle of European quality - he was disgusted by the patriotic principle “even if it’s inferior, but it’s his own,” and he invited already established people to work. Suffice it to say that plays were staged for him by Pal Frenak and Karin Saporta; and for them, Petrov’s reputation was a guarantee of the quality of the troupe.
This troupe is unique for Russia - truly unique, the only one. In our country, the front line strictly divides the theaters: either “classics” - who graduated from the most pitiful, but standard choreographic school and are plowing through the muddy “Don Quixote” on the outskirts of China, or “contemporaries” - ardent enthusiasts who have gone through two dozen assorted courses and broadcasting existential sadness by crawling on the floor. The Yekaterinburg Dance Theater brought together people with a choreographic education, but ready for an absolute experiment. As a result, this experiment both looks human and looks like a German or French product, without any discounts on the Ural Mountains.
Or should we say “looked”? There will be no premieres next season. It is unclear whether there will be a theater itself.
It all started almost five months ago, on February 26th. That is, in fact, of course, earlier - as soon as Tatyana Yaroshevskaya became the head of the local cultural department. The theater, which has long become a municipal theater, is subordinate to her. At her behest, the theater began to sharply reduce its budget. And the budget means new productions; and Petrov did not see the point of the theater’s existence without quality premieres. Once a conflict, two conflicts... Knowledgeable people explained to Petrov that relations with Yaroshevskaya need to be improved, but these historians, candidates of sciences, they never know how to behave in such a situation. The artistic director passionately wrote a letter of resignation: “In connection with Yaroshevskaya’s boorish antics and her activities destructive to the city’s culture.” The boss said sunnyly: “You have a very strong troupe. She can do without you,” and she signed the statement.
What kind of nonsense is this, the creator of the theater? Just think, a figure! We will appoint whoever we want. And they appointed it.
The natural leader of the theater was (and is) the leading dancer Alexander Tikhonov - the troupe sees him as its leader. A man who was formed at the Dance Theater, his independent character more than once led him to conflicts with Petrov, but, sorting out the relationship, Tikhonov tenaciously peered at everything that Petrov was doing and studied - both as a dancer and as a possible manager. But Mrs. Yaroshevskaya did not consider his candidacy, not even wanting to meet with Tikhonov and find out his proposals for the future work of the theater. In mid-May, Svetlana Petrakova was appointed director of the theater, and Vladislav Bobrovich was appointed her deputy. Since then the troupe has been in a fever.
Mrs. Petrakova is the director of the Miss Yekaterinburg competition; Mr. Bobrovich is the art director of the Golden Scorpion restaurant. (The restaurant’s website lights up with a picture of a topless girl near a pole, offers a sauna and apartments.) That is, it is clear what the cultural department considers culture. When the dancers, startled by such stylistic prospects, rushed to write letters to the mayor, Ms. Petrakova said that the striptease art director had a ballet background. Well, yes. It happens that girls of a well-known profession graduate from a monastery school in their youth, but no one appoints them abbess after that?
In addition to the extravagant appointments, Mrs. Yaroshevskaya gave the Dance Theater another surprise - the troupe was organizationally united with Tatyana Baganova’s “Provincial Dances” theater. Baganova has been lobbying the city for a long time to make her troupe municipal - this raises issues of budget and ballet pensions, and in principle it is clear that a contemporary dance theater in Russia cannot exist on self-sufficiency. One can only sympathize with the famous choreographer - but what kind of manner is this to solve the problems of one theater at the expense of another? The dance theater always gave four performances a month, Baganova previously gave two performances a year. Mrs. Petrakova assures that the troupes will have a separate budget, but instead of these very usual four performances a month, the Dance Theater has only two planned for the next season... As a result, the Dance Theater artists are angry with Baganova. Does the situation remind you of anything? Taganka, Lyubimov, Efros... Push artists together to prove that it’s not them, but you, who are in charge here.
The other day the Dance Theater troupe wrote another letter to the mayor. There is no answer. Of the entire City Duma, artists are supported by only one deputy - Leonid Volkov. By occupation he is a computer scientist, that is, a person with an instinct for what the technologies of the future are. Whether the Dance Theater will have a future or whether the artists looking at job offers will simply go elsewhere, we will see in the near future. What if the mayor wakes up? What if the governor discovers that there is such a Dance Theater? The STD will begin to stir (they helped the Nizhny Novgorod Youth Theater last year, and there the situation was less egregious). If not, well, many troupes will gladly accept trained artists. And Yekaterinburg will have the theater it deserves.