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Natalia Sakhnovskaya and Robert Gerbek at a military base. 1943
The dancers Natalia Sakhnovskaya and Robert Gerbek, who, like many other performers after the company had been evacuated, had been sent on unlimited leave were “back to work to provide concerts for sections of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army”* in spring.
This was how Sakhnovskaya described their first performance: “There was a tiny stage in a large room and the audience was a small group of people in overcoats and quilted jackets, drivers who had undertaken many journeys across Lake Ladoga. The long forgotten stage-fright was like returning to life. But can we dance and will the audience watch us? We have changed so much.
The costumes are loose, we have to wear long gloves over our arms and capes on our shoulders. I wanted somehow to ‘screen’ my aged face... Familiar bars of the music. My heart was beating wildly and we nervously went onstage... My legs found it hard to keep up with the music, just a few movements, and we were almost exhausted. My head was spinning, it was as if it was getting dark, several times we collided, barely able to remain standing. Fortunately I was ‘as light as a feather’ and Robert Iosifovich was able – with a little trouble – to lift me. I wanted it to be over but we had to keep going! But what a joy the applause was! Applause. The people need us!!!”**
* Robert Gerbek’s registration card. Mariinsky Theatre Archive
** N. Sakhovskaya. Memoirs. From the Ballet Dancer's Diary // Soviet Ballet. 1983. №3. P. 58