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Home | Specifications | Contents | How to Order "DIANA VISHNEVA: BEAUTY IN MOTION" In Rehearsal (fragment)
© Valentin Baranovsky ...The coach possesses the insight that the young ballerina craves, and the authority that comes with long experience. Her observations are typically gentle and reassuring, but each word is considered. As the legacy of her strict schooling, the ballerina has internalized a whole rule-book and hundreds of corrections to her posture. So while the comments she receives may seem slight, she feels their resonance. A tap on her arm, soft pressure against her ribcage, or a quick gesture is instantly understood. “I immediately understand what I need to do---what to add, what to take away and where to move next,” Diana explains. She points out, however, that in preparing a role for the stage, the coach’s advice goes far beyond the sorts of corrections that a dancer receives in class. “These are not just technical things like ‘go forward,’ ‘go back,’ or ‘do an arm like this.’” Diana says. “What’s important is the artistic process---the development of my performance.” Speaking about her coaches, she adds, “I am not afraid of them, but, of course, I feel a great respect for some of them. For example, when I was rehearsing with Natalia Makarova for ‘La Bayadère’--you don’t want to miss a second of her reaction to you. When I feel this kind of respect for people, it is very important to me to hear what they say and to know what they feel. “These are the masters who literally with just a couple of words can give you the direction in which to move further. It’s not only that they want to correct me. Although those small things are important, too, they give me a wider road to travel so my perception of the ballet grows. “In rehearsal there is a certain kind of improvisation or fantasy that takes place,” Diana continues. “My coach, whom I trust, knows me very well and she loves me. She catches those moments telling me, ‘This is right,’ or ‘That isn’t.’ She helps me find what I can use as a catalyst – that’s very important –which movement or which turn of the head I can use to push myself forward. There are an endless number of nuances. “Since at this point I have come into my own as a ballerina, and I know myself fairly well,” Diana says, “There are certain technical moments, psychological moments, specific words that someone can say to me as one person speaking to another. Take Makarova, for instance. She’ll say one thing to me, but something totally different to another ballerina. What she tells me, another ballerina may not even understand. It is very important for me to receive these impulses, which push me to create the movement from within myself.” © Robert Johnson
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