The Wonderful World of Dance - Act 4 (preview)

The

WONDERFUL World of Dance

Artem Ovcharenko & Anna Tikhomirova ACT IV

THE BOLSHOI BALLET

8 Podcasts

C O N T E N TS

10 Artem Ovcharenko & Anna Tikhomirova, Bolshoi Ballet 24 Ivan Putrov, Principal Dancer 30 Rocio Molina, Dancer & Choreographer 38 Jasmin Vardimon, Jasmin Vardimon Company 44 Marjorie Goodson, Dancer 50 Paul Lightfoot, Nederlands Dans Theater 58 Donald Thom, The National Ballet of Canada 62 Maria Sascha Khan, Guest Artist & Producer 68 Alonzo King, Alonzo King LINES Ballet 74 Mayumi Enokibara, Miami City Ballet 80 Dance Wear 104 Theatre Fashion 110 Dance Beauty 118 Dance Travel Guides 146 What’s Online 6

Artem Ovcharenko and Anna Tikhomirova Photo by Darian Volkova 7

10

A rtem

Ovcharenk o and

Anna Tikh omirova Bolsh oi Ballet photography by Darian VolkovA gowns by valentin yudasHkin

11

16

17

18

19

22

23

Photo by James Bort

Mathieu Ganio “In the short time given to you as a dancer, any sound advice is very valuable. I’ve been very lucky in that sense. Destined, not really.”

When Ivan started dancing at the age of ten, his ballet parents, Natalia Berezina-Putrova and Oleksandr Putrov of Ukrainian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, were divided in their support, with his father less 26

enthusiastic in the beginning.

However, Ivan persevered and both his parents became deeply committed to his career, passing on their experience and sharing their unique perspective.

“Although they gave me the freedom to dance or not dance – to make the choice – in a way they opened my eyes to see what would be a waste of time and what wouldn’t be a waste

of time. Dad would prepare me with his books and with his stories.”

“My mum and dad gave me this total experience of what ballet is – it’s not just the moment when you are on stage, it’s all the preparation. It’s how you prepare yourself psychologically, how you research a character, what you do with the music; how you give an interview, whether you

Photo by Karolina Kuras

Katja Khaniukova prepare or not for a competition, what’s important, what’s less important. They are my mentors in a way.”

Ivan studied at The Kyiv State Choreographic Institute before taking an unexpected opportunity to train at The Royal Ballet School. Upon graduation, Ivan’s talent saw him invited to return home and join his national company as a principal or join

The Royal Ballet as an artist.

And again Ivan went against the stream, turning down the principal role to join The Royal Ballet.

“I chose to stay with The Royal Ballet and start from the bottom.

Everything that is good has side effects. My parents, being an advantage to me in one way, they were also a disadvantage to me, because no one wants

to see nepotism! I didn’t want to have fingers pointed at me - and there would certainly be fingers pointed at me saying, ‘He danced because of his parents.’

No matter how I would dance, it would be that. In London that would not happen.”

“Although it was very hard and maybe I wasn’t happy to begin with, The Royal Ballet repertoire is one of the best in the world, 27

Towards the end of Grito’s run, Molina says, “I had to adapt my energy levels above all and be very careful. That was what I enjoyed most - living the experience - that the baby also had a say in what I could do and what I couldn’t.”

The birth of her daughter, therefore, brings about the death of the work, because as Molina simply puts it, “I can’t talk about pregnancy if I no longer have the baby inside of me.”

Prior to the creation of Grito Pelao, Molina had been touring her show Caída del Cielo (Fallen from Heaven) for about a year-and-a-half. In this punk rock feminist roar, Molina uses the story of the fallen angel from Dante’s The Divine Comedy and the juxtaposition of the earthly and the divine to address female expression and sexuality.

Molina’s journey from Heaven to Earth captures her transition from “a body in equilibrium to a body that celebrates its femininity.” And that seemingly inoffensive transition managed to cause quite a stir.

The work opens in heaven, a stark white setting where time seems to move slowly, and Molina is relegated to repetitive movement. But the fall is imminent. As Molina stands centre stage, she peels off her white dress to reveal her plump and curvaceous frame, with her right arm covering her breasts and her left hand obscuring her pubis.

34

Her nude figure is beautiful in the low lighting - simple yet alluring. This is the fall – humanity’s fall – from Eden, and as God condemned, we’d forever be ashamed of our naked bodies.

Rocio is quickly wrapped in a robe, and her earthbound journey commences, but not without provoking bewilderment and outrage at her performance during the 2018 Jerez Festival in Jerez, Spain, one of flamenco’s birthplaces.

The shock at Molina’s discrete disrobing on stage was palpable amongst the packed audience.

It’s not often in flamenco that artists bare more than their soul.

However, the real bruhaha erupted on social media the day after, when a photo of the moment was posted online and commenters, many of whom hadn’t even seen the show, accused her of going too far and desecrating the flamenco art form.

Remembering the commotion, the normally sweet and serene Molina becomes visibly aggravated. “It’s a shame that some gazes cannot observe basic human beauty,” she says, ultimately placing more of the blame on the photographer than on the general public.

“We’d toured all over Europe, and the show was photographed by a lot of photographers, and it didn’t occur to a single one to photograph that beautiful

CaĂ­da de Cielo. Photo by Javier Fergo, courtesy Jerez Festival

35