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The Russian ballet celebrity Maya Plisetskaya, who created a sensation in the 20th century ballet, is marking the 80th birthday.
Maya Plisetskaya says 80 is 20 four times, and if so, it’s not that much after all. At 80 the prima ballerina looks perfect, her looks untouched by time and her elegance and suppleness belying her years as if by magic.
«I’ve
had so many flowers in my life, - Maya Plisetskaya says, - gorgeous roses
in particular. I looked after them, cut them, changed water – I treated
them with love, because a flower is a wonder of nature. I attended to each
rose with equal care but after a few days one dropped off, then a second,
then a third, and a week after only rose remained of the bouquet. The same
often happens to people”.
Due to her immeasurable love of the ballet art Maya Plisetskaya feels young and physically and mentally healthy. She’ll dance at the gala concert of the Moscow Festival in honor of her jubilee and the phenomenal dance of her prime years was recorded in many documentaries. As for which of the productions left the most remarkable imprint on her memory Maya Plisetskays had this to say.
“I’ve had a great number of interesting appearances on stage. And every time I felt full of life and vigor and derived tremendous pleasure from the dance itself, - Maya Plisetskaya says. – But I can’t name one play because at different times I liked different dances. “Don Quixote” is a dancing holiday. “Carmen Suite” is radically different. It was then so new, the newest in choreography, so unusual that the public found it hard to accept it at first, let alone the Bolshoi’s then leadership, who thought that it would never live up to make a “ face” of the main Soviet theatre and could never be demonstrated abroad. The production was cancelled, replaced but “Carmen” did win eventually!”
The unusual ballet in the choreography of the brilliant Alberto Alonso to the music by Bizet in the rendition of the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin enjoyed tremendous success at home and abroad.
In the days of her artistic youth Maya Plisetskaya brought in
with her the glittering newness of dance. An innovator by nature, she wanted
each production to be different from the previous ones so that there are
all sorts of performances. She wanted different choreographers with a different
thinking and understanding of ballet art. Only in this case can an artist
develop further, she says. There’s no development when you do the same
thing year after year, even though you may do it extremely well. In Russia
Maya Plisetskaya worked with Leonid Lavrovski, Igor Moiseev and Leonid
Yakobson and in France – with Maurice Begar and Rolan 
Pety.
Of the present-day young she thinks highly of the artistic director of
the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet troupe Alexei Ratmanski. Plisetskaya has had
experience as a choreographer too, when she staged ballets to the music
by her husband Rodion Shchedrin: “Anna Karenina”, “The Seagull” and “Lady
with a Lapdog”. Based on the famous works by Lev Tolstoi and Anton Chekhov
the ballets featured Plisetskaya as a dancer too and thereby made it possible
for her to find fulfillment for her dramatic talent and high artistry.
30 years of her 50-year creative work Maya Plisetskaya danced on the Bolshoi stage.
“I’ve always loved the Bolshoi and will love it always, - the prima says. – For me it’s the world’s number 1 stage. And you can trust me on that because I’ve seen so many of them, danced in practically every corner of the globe but nowhere have I seen a stage like that”.
Naturally, what Maya Plisetskaya means is not the Bolshoi stage as such but the traditions of the theatre, of the many performers and choreographers that worked and are working here. The ballet legend has her own views on the present generation of artists and the current state of ballet art worldwide.
“The Bolshoi boasts first-class ballerinas, few though, but they are good indeed. There are some abroad too. For me the most important thing in ballet is not to get my leg up as high as possible but to act, to listen to music and to know what you are here for, to know what you are here to say and why. I like what is happening in the ballet today but when I watch the old ballet documentaries, even of the old ballet icons, I’m wondering what was there to admire. Time flies fast and there’s always room for improvement for everyone. There are no professional secrets any longer. The world is dancing classics, modern and is introducing all sorts of innovations. Like in sport, where they are running faster, jumping higher and setting records everywhere. Though I don’t teach young dancers on a permanent basis, I help the young – I give master classes in different countries: the United States, Germany, Japan, I attend rehearsals, I advise the young and I preside on the juries. In Finland they’ve made a whole film about me teaching the young.
Prying journalists inquired recently what century Maya would like to be born in. “The twenty-third!” – she cried out without thinking. But, her keen sense for the new and loyalty to the tradition, particularly the old classical one, proved crucial in her life and career and in the opinion of the ballerina herself, helped her greatly to mature both professionally and spiritually.
Plisetskaya recalls with warmth of her dancing partners, with whom she danced classical and modern ballets, above all, Alexander Godunov, Nikolai Fadeechev and Alexander Bogatyrev, who in addition to their high professional skills and talent invariably thought of her “comfort” as a partner. Plisetskaya’s dance has always been distinguished with spirituality and grace, the two constituents that account for the charm of the Russian ballet school. Right at the start of her professional career Plisetskaya proclaimed grace and spirituality as Odette in the famous “Swan Lake”. The lithe figure of the swan-lass, her pliant, supple movements suggested a certain subtleness that made the press, both domestic and foreign, shower her with all sorts of high-flown epithets, such as “the queen of dance”, “a choreography miracle”, “the utmost sincerity”…
