News
26.07.2016
A season of firsts. Svetlana Bednenko
It’s hard to keep up with all of the roles Svetlana Bednenko had danced in her three seasons with the Mikhailovsky Theatre. Three of these roles were leads — in Swan Lake, La Bayadère, and Le Corsaire. She danced Nikiya and Medora for the first time during the season which has just concluded."Before moving to St. Petersburg, I spent five years at the Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, where I regularly danced in leading roles. At the age of 20, I won the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition and decided I had to move forward. I was frequently invited to dance in Boris Eifman’s company, and actually spent my first two years in St. Petersburg working in his theatre. That first year, I danced in four ballets. The most memorable of those were Don Quixote and Red Giselle, in which I played the role of legendary Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva.
“My path to ballet began with rhythmic gymnastics, in which I was very successful. I was a candidate for Master of Sports and the renowned coach Albina Deriugina invited me to join the Ukrainian National Team several times. I used to do gymnastics with my sister; at some point our mother decided to put us in choreography classes — to fix our posture and get our feet to have better turnout. So the goal was to achieve excellence in our chosen sport. But the decisive moment for me was my first appearance on stage: we were playing little devils. It was so interesting! My next appearance was in a pas de trois in The Nutcracker, which was also the first time I danced en pointe. For me, performing in public was something bigger than practicing in a ballet studio; it fed this form of energy I had never known before. At age 12, I went on tour to China, where we performed the ballet Cipollino. I played a little radish. That whole time, I was also keeping up with my gymnastics. But then I was invited to join a company, and I decided to give my life over to art. Now I am happy.
“This past season began with the première of Le Corsaire. In the first few performances, I danced in the trio of odalisques, and in December I made my debut as Medora. I had already danced in Le Corsaire in Donetsk, but that production was different from Mikhail Messerer’s version. First, we rehearsed the part with Svetlana Yefremova, then with Anna Razenko. But at that time, I already had my eye on the performances of La Bayadère on the playbill for February. I’ve been watching Nikiya since I was a child, and those performances have always given me goosebumps — both the music and the choreography. But I was never able to dance in that role in Donetsk because the company couldn’t provide me with a partner who was tall enough. Back then I danced Gamzatti in La Bayadère, starting with the première performances. I debuted at the Stars of World Ballet Festival, on my eighteenth birthday.”
"Honestly, I was hoping to debut in the role of Nikiya, and when they told me that Mikhail Messerer had in fact scheduled me for 14 February, my joy knew no bounds. It felt completely surreal to me! Anna Razenko helped prepare me for the performance. It was an incredibly anxious time for me. I watched loads of videos of other ballerinas in that role and read a lot about the part itself and how it has been interpreted by various famous dancers. When I heard the musical cue for Nikiya’s first entrance, I was scared to death, but I pulled myself together and focused. Once I came out onto the stage, I felt free and calm; I really disappeared into the part. Both of my debuts this past season — in Le Corsaire and La Bayadère — were with an amazing partner: Ivan Zaytsev. I’m very grateful for his support.
"My hopes for future roles focus on Kitri and Giselle: I’d like to dance the classic versions of those characters, who are so familiar to me from Eifman’s productions. I’m also interested in the role of Aurora in Nacho Duato’s production. I spoke to Nacho Duato in Hong Kong, when we were performing The Sleeping Beauty at the Arts Festival. He gave me his blessing to start preparing the part of Aurora, but I haven’t heard from him since then.
"This past season was made memorable by several film shoots. At the end of the season last year, I was invited to audition for the movie Rudolf Nureyev: Dance to Freedom, which has already been released on the big screen. At the audition, I had a nice chat with director Richard Smith, who told me I was being considered for the role of Alla Osipenko. That was a great honour for me. I know Alla Osipenko personally; three years ago we were working on the part of Odette/Odile together. Unfortunately, for health reasons, she was unable to take me all the way to the stage and I had to continue rehearsing with Svetlana Yefremova. After the audition, nobody called me or said anything, so I was completely in the dark about whether they had picked me or not. A few days before I was scheduled to go on holiday, I got a call from the producer, who confirmed I had been chosen. I had to change all my plans at very short notice. After we shot the Nureyev documentary, I went to Norway to shoot a feature film. That movie is still in progress — we’re about to shoot the final scenes in Morocco. I play a ballerina, the main character’s sister. The experience has been incredible — I mean, I’ve never had any formal training in acting. On the other hand, I’ve always thought you either have a talent for acting or you don’t. I was in my first movie when I was still a child: Ukrainian director Oksana Bayrak’s Aurora. So I was an actress before I was ever a ballerina."