Interviews

Unfortunately, we can’t foretell what this or that person would do in a given situation and under the influence of certain different factors. This unpredictability is part of human nature. Whether we like that or not, whether we are prepared to accept that or not and even regardless of whether we carry out some crimes or not, this does not at all mean that we do not have the potential to commit some extremely evil act. And we have no means of knowing what could serve as the fuse for such actions.

If I think about the constant calluses on my feet, my face in makeup, my hair sprayed down, my back and my legs hurting then I could start to feel like a victim. But that’s not how I feel because I love my profession.

I can safely say that far from every soloist can have the pleasure of performing on instruments such as those on which the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra’s musicians play. And, of course, the sound of the orchestra itself changes depending on what instruments are selected. One or two good instruments provide the foundation and all the remaining musicians are brought “into the flow”, and the sound becomes much richer and much more interesting.

The  main challenge a musician faces with a piece of music is not to reproduce all the technical nuances faithfully, however terrified you may be at the sight of the abundance of notes by the composer in the margins. The  trick lies in the listener having an emotional experience and feeling all the nuances of your play.

I came to the theatre because I wanted to be heard. In life, as soon as I open my mouth, people interrupt and, in the literal sense of the phrase, don’t let me speak. I don’t know what the snag is here, but I can only keep the audience’s attention and force myself to listen if I am singing, as opposed to speaking.

I am an artist by nature in the sense that I need an audience and its live response. Honestly, that is the only thing I go on stage for – to feel the audience’s reaction and to sense that they are happy.

I have to fall in love with a new role, then I start looking for literature, then – the most interesting part – the laborious work over the words and phrases begins.

Everyone values freedom. I’ve been lucky because I am doing something that I love and can do my whole life. That is one of the greatest freedoms that you can have at all.

The ballet Simple Things is based on historical events. It is essentially an attempt to express the main things that define the destiny of any man, his behaviour, his ambition and his despair. It is the instincts that drive us, a struggle and resistance against society in whatever form they come which we cannot avoid – in a word, simple things.

Everyone is a small world of his or her own where something is always taking place. And for me this is a daily struggle with my sins. I really wanted to express this idea in dance, and I think that this work is an ideal vehicle with which to do so.