The art director of NOVAT’s ballet company Denis Matvienko spoke about the “Peer Gynt” premiere.
Recently he held an artistic meeting as a part of the educational project “Open Dialogues”. The official matter for that meeting is the premiere: “Peer Gynt” will be put on the main stage for the first time. European choreographer Edward Klug, a man working all the way from Paris to St.-Petersburg, was the one to tell Henrik Ibsen’s play in the dance language. The leading part of the two-act ballet is performed by Denis Matvienko, who was the first to present the controversial performance to the Russian audience at the “Dance Open” festival in Saint-Petersburg. Anna Jarova, Russian National Artist, hosted that meeting and literally overwhelmed the company’s director with questions.
- It’s common to present you as a four time Grand-Prix winner of the International ballet dancer competitions.
- During that short period of time, when I directed the Ukrainian National ballet company, I was given a task to promote the ballet. And the problem was that no one wanted it there. But I had a great crew. And they created this catchphrase, “The world’s only four-time Grand-Prix winner”. I’m not sure, if I am really the only one, but what I know, is that it’s not easy to get one Grand-Prix. When I received the fourth one, the papers wrote that I’m a “Grand-Prix collector” – as if we’re talking about stamps. Actually the line of competitions in my biography started in the 90s, the time when the dancers had no agents to arrange the career. The competition was a real opportunity to show yourself, to be seen. So I would take part in the competitions for three years and get the Grand-Prix: Luxembourg In 1997, Budapest in 1998, Japan in 1999. I didn’t plan to go to the fourth one in Moscow.
- Why?
- At that time I was already 26, a bit too old for the competitions. They tried to persuade me for a long time, told me that the anniversary competition requires certain level, and I was worried and scared. These competitions are a lot like sport – things can happen to you on the stage, you can slip for example or fail to perform what you did easily on the rehearsals, and when you have three Grand-Prix you can’t afford to fall. Can you imagine what would have happened if I lost the second round? I thought about it a lot and took the competition seriously.
- What is the most difficult thing in the artistic competitions?
- At the competition you have to brace yourself and show the best you can. The performance lasts three hours – if you didn’t manage to accomplish something in the first act, you can perform such fancy jump in the third act, so everyone will forget what you missed in the beginning. On the competition you have 7 minutes, and you have to show what you’ve got. This is important, not every artist can answer that call. I saw brilliant dancers who didn’t have enough stamina. And the competitions are very important for the artists. Maybe nowadays they got less important, but they summon you up and build your character. This is again a matter of our profession – to prove every day to yourself and to everyone around what you already can do, what are you still capable of, where are your limits. This takes a lot of effort.
-Are you a winner for life? What features of your personality help you move forward?
- I’m a perfectionist in everything, at work and in personal life. A multifunctional sociopath, as I like to say. My longing for perfection always helped me on my way. I always wanted to accomplish things, to look nice on the stage. I never quite liked myself, never could watch videos of me on the stage. I didn’t like what I did, because I felt one thing, and it looked different. Self-improvement is an endless way in this profession. Even retired, the dancers keep being unsatisfied. This is true. I feel what I could dance, but it’s too late already. There is no limit for excellence. They often say that sportsmen and artists are limited people. That is also true. But it’s not about being stupid, it’s the other thing. Our work takes 90 percent of our life, we can’t abstract our mind from it. We must focus on we do: roles, performances, competitions. I’m asked a lot, what my hobby is. There is no hobby, none of it. I never tried skiing or skating, I can’t afford it. What if I break a leg or pull a muscle? My first visit to a night club happened when I was 22. People quit clubbing at that age, and I only started.
- How do you feel about negative comments on performances you take part in?
- Perception of a ballet is very personal. Some might like it, some might not. Discussions on this matter are eternal. I like to say, there is no bad dancers in the ballet. Each dancer will find his audience. The same thing may be applied to choreographers. As a chief of a ballet company, I must treat all equally. There are dancers, that I don’t like, and it doesn’t make them bad. I appreciate their work and effort, I just don’t happen to like it. It’s normal.
- How can you estimate the level of NOVAT’s company – advantages, problems.
- When I first met the Novosibirsk artists, I was pleasantly surprised by the female part. They are all high-skilled ballerinas – both the soloists and the corps de ballet. And all appeared to be raised in a local school. Disadvantage is lack of masculine personnel. When I entered the theatre, there were 32 male dancers. That’s few for a theatre with this huge repertoire that includes ballets like “Spartacus”. And the scatter is obvious: there are very good dancers like Ivan Kuznetsov and Roman Polkovnikov and there are really low-skilled guys. That’s the problem. In a ballet company everyone must be on his place – the corps de ballet, the coryphées, the first soloists, the second ones. The next season I’m planning to take my place. We have already added 12 people, many foreign dancers joined us.
- The foreign dancers in the Novosibirsk ballet – is it a new strategy to develop the company?
- It was not done on purpose – the rumor mill worked. The geography plays against the theatre (me personally, I have to live in two places – my family lives in St.-Petersburg, I work here in Novosibirsk), but the theatre itself is genius. The repertoire answers any call of the audience. If you like Nacho Duato, see "Sleeping Beauty". If it’s not Duato, see "The Nutcracker" by Winonaen. You like Kovtun - go to "Spartacus" and watch the show with the tigers. Not your thing? - see the performance with the choreography by Grigorovich. In March, there will be another ballet – “Peer Gynt”.
- Who decided to include “Peer Gynt” in the repertoire? I must admit, it’s not the most common title in the ballet world.
- I proposed that to the theatre management. Why is it exactly Edward Klug’s “Peer Gynt”? – There are many ballets of all kind in the repertoire, but this one is different. It’s half ballet, half drama performance. The choreographer stressed the acting part on purpose, though the choreography is very interesting. Only it’s few of it. The performance is a full time two act ballet with a plot telling us a lifestory of one man. The choreographer specifically asked not to lay too much face paint, to make it all look as natural as possible. Even the costumes are made of natural fabric. The performance will be featured with the real wooden stumps – 20 kg each and we will have to dance with them. Only the axe will be fake. You will hear the amazing Grieg’s music - “Peer Gynt” suite and the piano concert. The performance is really beautiful. Beside that, this performance represents the essence of contemporary ballet world. That is exactly the aesthetics. You are free not to like it – and that will be okay.
- You are one of the biggest Russian fans of Edward Klug’s choreography. Tell us your story.
- I’ve been working for 12 years with Edward. We met in Japan in 1998, but we only started to cooperate in 2005, right before the competition. I needed an item in contemporary choreography. So I called him, asked if there were anything new. And he told, that he just had staged the ballet “Radio & Juliet” – “Romeo and Juliet” with rock soundtrack by Radiohead. That was an amazing one act ballet. And so happened the beginning of our partnership. We showed it at the first round of the X Moscow International Choreographer and Ballet Dancer Competition. After that I put this dance on the stages around the world. It has become our trademark. Then, there were a lot of other ballets. I can talk long about this choreographer, but I’ll state the most important: his choreography leaves no one indifferent.
- A year ago you first showed “Peer Gynt” for the Russian audience – on the “Dance Open” festival, in St.-Petersburg.
- Edward staged “Peer Gynt” for the first time in Maribor, featuring his dancers. I brought Katya Galanova, the chief of “Dance Open” with me for the premiere. We watched it together and both left the house shocked. Katya had been thinking for two week whether she liked it or not, was it worth bringing for the festival. It’s an unusual performance, set as close for the real life as possible. For example, there is a moment in the first act, where I drink vodka with my opponent, my enemy. We’ve been rehearing this scene for 30 minutes, and in the performance it lasts for 10 seconds. I have drunk a lot of vodka in my life, so as all artists have; it’s one thing to drink it on your kitchen and when you walk on the stage – it’s a completely different feeling. During the rehearsals we tried to make it all as natural as possible and to keep away from worn out features. It’s not that easy to drink vodka!
- In Novosibirsk we already have an audacious dramatic “Peer Gynt”. Have you seen it?
- I’ve heard of it, and I’d like to see it once. I’m not sure they got to make the plot comprehensible. In case of our “Peer Gynt”, the audience easily can see the original story through the performance. In St.-Petersburg the play was a huge success. Some said that the performance lacked dancing. One critic wrote that Matvienko had reached that place, when it’s nice to watch him just stand on the stage. It’s not me, it’s the choreographer. One genius choreographer, who worked with me for this performance. But as I said, the performance is shocking anyway.
- Is it necessary to get the audience shocked by the performance?
- It is important to summon emotions. It’s very bad when a man leaves the theatre only thinking about how cool the bar was. But when he leaves a theatre with a headache – it’s a good sign. Art can not be loved by all people. The main thing is to leave no indifferent spectators. A dancer, a musician, a choreographer – we are all here to touch your feelings, and this particular performance will be emotionally overwhelming. We must have this performance in our repertoire, even if it will be not that popular. Of course we must preserve old classical masterpieces, but the repertoire needs the other ones.
- Aren’t you afraid to risk?
- Not afraid to risk. I’m an adventurous person. But as an artist I like to hear applause. We are all hypocrites, we need to entertain the public, make you laugh and cry. That is a feature of this profession – we always look out for the audience.
- What about the educational function of the theatre?
- This must be the method. We must set up experiments. In next season we will try to invite young, contemporary maybe even unknown choreographers. Small private companies have no financial ability to develop this genre, and we are a huge state theatre. We have a budget, a government support; we must develop the modern movements. Even though, we lack of funds. The audience is angry that the prices are rising. It’s understandable, but you should understand us. We must pay a nice fee to the choreographer to be able to invite him. We must pay a decent salary to the artists to keep them from running away. Each premiere takes a lot of funds – fees, royalties, copyrights, sets, costumes, lighting. This all needs to be paid. Ballet is an exclusive type of art, each performance is unique – you can see it only once. Even if someone fell on his butt, pardon, this is never happening again. For example yesterday a shield fell down the orchestra pit, the day before yesterday I almost got my finger chopped by a sword. In February, during the “Swan Lake” my dance partner split my lip in the black pas de deux. She was doing a pirouette and hit me be with an elbow. Knocked me out for a couple seconds. I remember the wham – and the next thing I’m standing on the stage in white tights with my mouth full of blood: what should I do with that? Of course I could have gone backstage, act wounded, call the ambulance, but I think the audience came to the house not to watch me suffer on the stage. If a man comes to a theatre and sees a weeping dancer on the stage, I guess he won’t come to that theatre anymore.
- So you think the repertoire must include different kinds of performances; what do you personally prefer as a performing artist: classics or contemporary?
- Of course I prefer contemporary choreography. It’s my 21 season. When I turned 20 I had already performed all classics. All possible variations of “Don Quixote”, nine variations of “Swan Lake”. Can you imagine how tired I got of all this?! Classical choreography has its limits; it’s a pure math with its laws and formulas. Unlike that, contemporary school has no limits. It represents the modern views on how people want to move, how do the choreographers stage their fantasies, how the audience percept it. Of course I continue to dance classics, but I estimate myself critically. I’ve seen a lot of good dancers who failed to leave the stage on time. My biggest fear is to loose the borders of self-perspective. It’s a nightmare when the audience feels pity for you. Although it’s comprehensible – we live the ballet and one day we get deprived. It’s hard to say goodbye to the stage. Couple of years ago I was planning to quit and to move on to the contemporary choreography, but the Novosibirsk theatre extended my youth. When I came to Novosibirsk I was not in a good shape after all the traumas and operations. I thought I wouldn’t dance here. But I started, and it the pains stopped. I recovered pretty quick, thanks for the theatre.
- Let’s return to “Peer Gynt”. You play a man on an endless journey; does it have something to do with you personally?
- This performance is a lot about me. I always used to live in hotels. Never worked more than 3 years in one theatre. All my life I would go somewhere to search for something. Echoes of my profession. Sometimes we get carried away and miss the important things, parents for example. Now I miss my daughter growing. But I’m here and I love to work here, I only miss my family a lot.
Recorded by Julia Schetkova, “Novaya Sibir”
The premiere shows of "Peer Gynt" will be held on the main stage of NOVAT on 19 and 20 April at 19.00. Tickets are available at the theatre box office and on the website.
