Corona Daily 352: Pas De Deux: Part I

Mariinsky ballet from St Petersburg was, until the collapse of the USSR, known as the Kirov Ballet from Leningrad. In 1987, the ballet toured around India for a few months, sponsored jointly by Gorbachev and Rajiv Gandhi. I was fortunate to be assigned as the interpreter-cum-manager for the Kirov ballet. The ballerinas and ballerinos were my age, we became good friends. An unexpected perk of my job was free access to the Kirov theatre once I started living in Russia. In the 1990s, I managed to watch Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker, Giselle and Les Sylphides dozens of times sometimes from the Royal Box. Makhar Vaziev, a top male lead then, is the choreographer/artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet now. Another soloist, Yuri Fateev, is the director of the Mariinsky ballet. When I came across these familiar names I was naturally drawn to the news reports.

Since July, not only the Bolshoi ballet in Moscow, but ballets from all over the world have been anxiously watching the Mariinsky ballet. It has become the guinea pig for the ballet world.

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Like Olympic gymnasts, classical ballet dancers perform a precision form of art. During the season, prima donnas survive on a meager diet to make sure their male partners can seamlessly throw them in the air. A single wrong move can result in trauma, as well as an end of career. A ballet dancer’s career usually lasts until the age of 35. The thought of the pandemic eating a year or two of that career is scary for the ballerinas. This is the first time ballet dancers are confined to their homes with no performances and no rehearsals. Singers can sing, musicians can play alone, but you can’t ask Romeo and Juliet to keep a social distance. Dancers were keen to risk rather than rest. Bolshoi’s Olga Smirnova said Art was more powerful than fear.

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Performances were out of the question. But training classes started in France, Germany, Iceland and Russia in May.

In France’s Ballet Du Rhin, the dancers started gentle exercises at the barre. The director then asked them to perform pirouettes in socially distanced pairs. Performing a routine with a mask on and trying to catch your breath before the next steps was not easy.

Germany, typically, has several rules. The dancers are banned from using changing rooms. They must go the studio, stand at a marked spot, 11 feet away from others. After the dance, their dance clothes go into a bag, which is put into another bag, which is then thrown into the trash. (Germany is rich). Each ballerina has a spray to disinfect the barre. Masks are mandatory. They worked in groups of eight to ensure social distancing.

The Iceland Dance company allowed the dancers to come close. They held the rehearsals outdoors, in graveyards and beaches, to allow enough space. They tried experiments like dancing with a tree instead of a partner.

In May, the Mariinsky ballet restricted their class size to three; a dancer, a teacher and a pianist. Temperatures were checked, and rehearsal rooms disinfected between classes. They were asked to avoid all non-essential visits. The next step they took was to move to eight couples- each couple at a safe distance from other couples. Fortunately, nothing happened.

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(To be continued)

Ravi