Ukrainian Ballet Star Vadym PYSARIEV Wanted to Quit Dancing at Thirteen

Vadym Pysariev, legendary Ukrainian choreographer, gifted organizer, art director of the Solovyanenko Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Donetsk, premiered with Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty during the Days of Donetsk Oblast Festival in Kyiv, starring his younger colleagues and students of the ballet school bearing his name (see The Day’s coverage of the tour in No. 17 for May 27).

Vadym Pysariev’s talent is diversified. He is a noted actor, choreographer, and teacher. Also, he knows talent when he sees it and can put it to the best possible use. One of his pupils, Ndudi Jerlin, will vie in a Eurovision contest scheduled for June 29-July 4 in Amsterdam.

“Ndudi is 15, he is a student of my ballet school and is interning at our opera house; he dances as Basil in Don Quixote, as the black boy in the Nutcracker, performs the Chinese dance in The Sleeping Beauty, and is the Arab boy in La Bayadere. Jerlin has first-hand contestant experience. Last year he won the gold at the Ballet Youth Contest. I hope that he will be as good representing the Donetsk school in Amsterdam,” says Vadym Pysariev.

The Day: Mr. Pysariev, you were invited to stay with the National Opera after graduating from the Kyiv College of Ballet. Yet you chose to return to Donetsk, your homeland. You have been art director at the Solovyanenko Opera and Ballet Theater for the past decade, and the company has made spectacular progress. How did you manage this?

Pysariev: I owe it all to my ballet school. We staged The Sleeping Beauty in Kyiv with Yuliya Polhorodnyk as Princess Aurora. She has won a number of international contests. Her partner, Yevhen Kahunov (Prince Desire) was placed second at a recent contest in St. Petersburg, matching Bolshoi and Mariyinsky soloists in every way. See, I’m talking about Pysariev School graduates. In a couple of years our troupe will number 12-14 dancers, and I’m sure they’ll be made welcome at any leading company, anywhere in the world! We start enrolling children at eight years, children from all over Ukraine. We try to select those showing real talent, rather than having parents with money. Seventy percent of our students receive instruction free of charge.

The Day: What are your selection criteria — the foot, good pas, good leap, fluidity of movement, balance?

Pysariev: You’ve just mentioned everything we consider the most important criteria. We also pay attention to shape and line — the dancer’s body, legs, and arms. Of course, stage presence and musical talent are very important. A young student might start growing quickly, so that he or she is no longer fit for the corps de ballet and lacks the soloist’s skill. In such cases we place more emphasis on floor exercises. A ballet dancer must be extremely hard-working and dedicated, so he or she can turn shortcomings into advantages. I had bad feet as a boy, but I had overcome it by 24 years of age. I practiced every day. I come from a miner’s rather than a creative family. I had to live like a boarding school pupil after I enrolled in that ballet college. I was quick and smart, but practicing at the barre was so boring! I was fond of folk dancing, especially the fiery Ukrainian hopak. I’d wait to be 13 to get transferred to the coveted faculty... our graduates would make their names before long — I mean Kucheruk, Severtsev, Horbachev, Korostyliova, Kozlov. I watched them rehearse and gradually developed taste for the ballet. I realized that being so perfect onstage took long daily training sessions, seemingly so dull and unrewarding. It’s the only way to polish one’s technique. So I did just that, with great enthusiasm.

The Day: Your company has an impressive repertoire, over fifty operas and ballets. How do you manage to do it ? How do you keep your cast in shape?

Pysariev: A diversified repertoire is a great advantage. We perform both modern and classical works. Keeping every dancer in shape requires daily practicing, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to stage La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, or Romeo and Juliet at our current level. I supervise bar practice for 30-40 minutes a day, then we have classes and rehearsals, polishing every pas. Our ballet troupe numbers 55 dancers, young people all, averaging 20 years. Children from my ballet school are often included in the cast. Frankly, I wish I had a large troupe. We would then be able to stage performances on a larger scale. Well, like many other Ukrainian companies, we suffer from staff turnover; we can’t offer good pay and housing. But we attract young people by offering interesting material. Our cast is international, including dancers from the United States and Denmark.

The Day: Mr. Pysariev, we know that you have received offers to work and live abroad on more than one occasion. Why have you turned them all down?

Pysariev: I’m happy to work and live in Ukraine. It’s not a publicity statement. It’s true that I could leave Ukraine and be made welcome in practically any country, any time. Let me tell you frankly, I travel abroad to earn money for myself and my ballet school. I will tour Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Athens this July. I will perform with Inna Dorofeyeva, and I will stage ballets. I go on such tours using my free time, vacations. I would like to stage productions not only abroad, but also in Ukraine, especially where they don’t have companies of our caliber.

The Day: At 38, a ballet dancer usually enters the closing phase onstage. You keep in an excellent shape. What do you personally prefer: dancing, staging ballets, or teaching?

Pysariev: I like teaching, but I can also stage good productions, if and when inspired. For example, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, a Ukrainian-Norwegian project. It’s a sophisticated philosophical work, hard to convey in terms of eurhythmics, and it has all kinds of dancing, ranging from folk to classic to neoclassic to acrobatics.

The Day: You have cherished a project based on Aleksandr Borodin’s opera Prince Igor and you have wanted to stage it by the river Siversky Donets, the actual historical site. Do you expect to carry out this project? When?

Pysariev: Yes, I do, a year from now. We have 120 costumes ready, along with 100 swords. As we say in Ukraine, the horses are harnessed and the Cossacks are ready to mount up. If everything works out as planned, we’ll have a very interesting production. Among other things, I want real fire in the Polovtsian Dances and I’ve discussed the scene with circus stunt experts. Just imagine a shower of arrows, blazing campfires, the echo of bells from St. Nicholas’ Church, boats sailing down river, and horsemen fighting in the field — there will be actors and stuntmen involved. Huge mob scenes, choir, dancers... all this will be staged some 20 kilometers from Sviatohorsky Monastery, the actual historical site where Prince Ihor engaged the Polovtsians in 1185, and where he was taken prisoner. The audience will be part of the action; people will be keenly aware of events dating back hundreds of years.

The Day: And if the weather turns foul?

Pysariev: We could scatter the clouds and stop the rain. Modern technologies allow this, but it would cost a lot of money. We need big sponsors. We could also simplify the project, with awnings for the spectators, the cast, and the orchestra. Anyway, I’m sure that the performance we plan will be remembered long afterward. Prince Igor is a very special opera in our repertoire. In 1932, it marked the opening of the first season. At the time, the company was based in Luhansk, not Donetsk. And it’s important for me to have the leading parts performed by the best singers.

The Day: Your festival World Ballet Stars has been held to packed houses for a number of years.

Pysariev: Yes, indeed. We’re marking its tenth anniversary this year. The gala will take place in Donetsk on October 3. The city looks especially beautiful, and the weather is usually fine. The festival is quite popular, it has eager audiences, and it has involved top performers from the best dancing schools across the world, including Jennifer Gerfad (US), Erick Vung Ang (France), Tibo Kovacs (Hungary), Jose Careno (Cuba), Liudmila Semeniaka, Nina Ananishvili, Nadezhda Pavlova, Anastasia Volochkova (Russia), and others. Aldridge Sahimachev (the Czech Republic), Karl Sneider (Switzerland), Petro Gorneev (Bulgaria), and Dmitri Simkin (Germany). Among our rivals are Italian conductors D.Losavio, F.Ledda, and S.Frontalini.

Also, we have many friends. Our performances are often attended by students. I must say that our most dedicated supporters come from the medical world. We have been friends with the brilliant Ukrainian surgeon Hryhory Bondar for as long as I can remember, although, touch wood, he has never assisted me in his professional capacity, except when I had problems with my knees. This had a direct bearing on my career as a professional dancer; I didn’t pay much attention to my knees and would perform high leaps, landing on my knees, to produce a special stage effect. And then my knees started aching, there was some fluid accumulating there. The doctors I turned to suggested surgery, yet no one could guarantee that I would dance again afterward. I kept stalling, using Vishnevsky ointment. And then a miracle happened. I was told I didn’t need surgery any longer. Andris Liepa, a fellow student, wasn’t as lucky and had to cut his dancing career short because of similar injuries.

The Day: What other premieres do you have in store?

Pysariev: Bizet’s Carmen is the latest. Mind you, the government didn’t pay us a cent. We had earned 350,000 hryvnias and could’ve spent the money in whichever way, but we used the money for the project. The premiere starred Liudmyla Shevchuk (Carmen) and Serebriansky (Jose) as a guest star from Dnipropetrovsk. The stage director was from Spain. And Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty was based on Marius Petipa’s original choreography, staged by Yevgeniya Khasianova who would jealously care for the original concept, assisted by conductor Viktor Lemko and production designer Sergei Spevyakin. Ours is a more dynamic 3-act version, the cast boasting current primas and young performers. We’ll open the season this October with Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus and we’ll use stage settings based on the designs of Lviv artist Yevhen Lysyk. Actually, his designs were used in our production back in 1986. We’re now revising the original concept. I vividly remember the original one. I danced as Crassus at the time. I’m working on my current part as Spartacus.

The Day: Your company is named for Anatoly Solovyanenko and you stage Nightingale Voice contests.

Pysariev: Anatoly Solovyanenko was born in my native city and had his operatic debut in Rigoletto on our stage. His skill glorified Ukraine the world over. He was a singer of the world, eventually tagged the nightingale of Ukraine by the press. I can only marvel at his vocal talent. Together with my former colleagues we thought it only right to immortalize his name. There is a museum at our theater. We have had his statue unveiled and are staging contests as a tribute to this great Ukrainian vocalist. It’s the least we can do to honor this great Ukrainian tenor.

The Day: I was surprised to see a box of candies bearing your portrait and the inscription, Vadym Pysariev. Does it mean that you own a confectionery?

Pysariev: No, it was a present from my friends that do. Now I can give boxes of candies as presents during festivals and concert tours.

The Day: A female ballet dancer has to keep her diet. Even a little bit of overweight can cause her male partner a body injury. Do all the other dancers have to observe some kinds of diet? After all, the male partners must possess physical strength to handle their female partners.

Pysariev: Men have to keep their diet after age 34. They have to eat less. In my case, dancing with female partners has gotten easier as I get older. I’ve had no problems lifting my partner. I sometimes eat nothing before appearing onstage. And I may have no breakfast when teaching classes. But I can relax and enjoy myself afterward; I can meet and share drinks with friends at a sauna. You enjoy whichever leisure you prefer. On such occasions I try to forget all about the performance. Strain is the biggest problem. Relaxing afterward is what I think helps you live longer. I love my profession so much, I can make any sacrifices for its sake; once I felt that smoking was an impediment and I swore I’d never have another cigarette. I haven’t.

The Day: Inna Dorofeyeva, your wife, must realize that she is a lucky woman. After all, few women can boast being carried in their husbands’ arms every day, not just her wedding day. Yours was an early marriage, but you have kept your matrimonial bond, contrary to the adage about early marriages falling apart early.

Pysariev: There’s complete understanding between Inna and me. We first met as children at school. In fact, Inna was so cute that every boy in class was in love with her. And she was smart, getting A’s in most every subject. Every teacher admired her. Dancing was no exception, she was quick. She and I stayed together, and then I realized I couldn’t live without her. We got married when we were twenty. We argued and got adjusted to each other during the early years of our married life. By the way, working in DЯsseldorf, we heard the Swiss choreographer Sperle strongly object to having married couples perform together. Then we met and he made us an exception from his rule. We danced in his versions of Giselle and Swan Lake. My wife and I are in contact 24 hours a day, but this helps rather than hurts.

The Day: Your wife is an excellent ballet dancer. Mother of two, she is keeping up a spectacular career, although many other prima ballerinas had children only when it was time to step down.

Pysariev: We discussed having children and Inna warned me she would keep dancing afterward. Actually, three days after signing out of the maternity hospital she was back at the barre. I can only marvel at her dedication. Our son Andriy is 17 and daughter Oleksandra 3.

The Day: Your son is following in your footsteps. He is studying choreography abroad. Why?

Pysariev: Andriy decided to take a trip to New York. He took part in a ballet contest there and won a bronze medal, along with a scholarship to Stuttgart, Germany. He studied at my school, but I realized that it was hard for him; he couldn’t reveal all of his potential because I was there. He returned three months later on vacation, and I noticed how much he’d changed. He’d become more independent, and he was in the good hands of Professor Pestov, among whose students have been Bogatyrev, Fadeyechev, Karakulev, and Posokhov, ranking with the leading dancers of our times. My son decided to follow his own path, away from his parents’ care; he concentrated on professional training and studying foreign languages. He is in the data-accumulation phase. Frankly, I’d want him to return and perform in Ukraine.

The Day: What about your daughter? Will you encourage her to take up the ballet?

Pysariev: We will if she wants to. She seems to have talent. She has the right feet, but ballet dancing requires a lot of hard work and the utmost dedication. She will have to be head over ears in love with ballet. Otherwise she will have to look for a different occupation. Let me tell you that our son said years back he didn’t want to be a dancer and we didn’t press the issue. We took him to rehearsals and he saw that Inna and me had to work so hard later to appear onstage and dance with such apparent ease and fluidity of movement. Andriy took up karate and soccer. I remembered being forced to take up music, while I wanted to play soccer and hated playing scales. At one time my music teacher left me in her room under lock and key as a punishment for lack of progress and diligence — and forgot to let me out. I stayed there from nine a.m. to seven p.m., so I had to practice willy-nilly. I learned my lesson, but decided I hated music. Later, as a dance college student, I would be eager to enrich my knowledge and did it quickly. Although I never admitted that I could play the piano and guitar. Getting back to the point, my son was nine when he watched The Nutcracker. There were children on the cast and Andriy said, “Daddy, could I learn to dance?” I mean it was his own decision and he has been doing fine. He is still into sports. He is a good soccer player, but this sport is no good for a ballet dancer; you can damage certain muscles. By the way, I met with Donetsk Shakhtar players recently and told them they had to show more elasticity, that they should practice stretching, watch their feet and breathing. Then they would suffer fewer body injuries, and their performance in the filed would be more spectacular and effective.

The Day: Thanks to your talent, people abroad know about Ukraine not only because of its athletic attainments, but also because of its ballet.

Pysariev: I could certainly find a better place to live and work, but Donetsk is my home. I think it’s the best place in the world, so I’m determined to do my best to help our theater and my homeland.