Other visions

Olga Pona: From tractor engineer to choreographer. Courtesy photo.

Former tractor engineer gives flight to new dance in Russia

(Volgograd) You only have to think of the early part of last century’s Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky to associate innovation in dance with Russian talent.

While this vast country has long been a radiant innovator in classical ballet, the Soviet Union’s concentration on classical art- forms also brought about the demise of Russia’s influence in the language of contemporary dance.

Only now is a grassroots movement, led by choreographers in the regions with backgrounds as diverse as a former tractor engineer, youth director or ballet master who are showing budding signs of a home-grown aesthetic in the rarefied world of contemporary dance.

« Russia has a great potential for dancers and choreographers, » said Dusseldorf-based presenter Bertram Muller, who also heads the European wing of the World Dance Alliance, « but they still need more information about artistic and philosophical concepts of contemporary art.”

Muller made the endorsement of the fledgling Russian contemporary dance scene while attending the « Other Vision » festival, one of Russia’s pioneering international contemporary dance festivals that wound up earlier this month in Volgograd, Russia.

The festival featured an international array of performances of troupes from Vladivostok to Montreal, Tallin to Bratislava as Russia’s dance community savoured a rare opportunity to exchange information with the new dance communities of Europe, North America, central and eastern Europe.Festival participants travelled to far-off Volgograd, north of the Caucasus, to the city widely remembered for being the venue of the fiercest battle of World War II, at Stalingrad.

Notable companies to attend included « Other Vision » were Les Deux Mondes from Canada, Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre from Russia and Studio Tanca from Slovakia.

The U.S.-based Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, one of the star companies set to present, had to cancel their trip following the terror attacks of September 11.

The fact that most of the Russian performers travelled thousands of kilometres, or two to three days by train to perform, reflected the sheer desire of these artists to exchange and collect information.

In contrast with its classical, folk or theatrical counterparts, new dance generally relies on abstract effects to bring out its particular aesthetic form. Many Russian companies, however, maintained storytelling, theatricality or even ballet as pre-eminent elements of their performances.

« There are drastic differences between the theatrical mentality here versus what is known in Western Europe, » said Margarita Moyzhes, Artistic Director of the « Other Vision » Festival.

« What goes on on-stage can be strikingly different here since the attitude towards the stage is different. » Says Moyzhes, « Russian companies are simply interested in saying something quite different from their western counterparts, » she adds.

The productions of Russian companies reflected widely divergent tendencies, information and sophistication levels. Some looked more like re-packaged classical ballet, while others gave the strange impression of looking like reconfigured aerobics classes. Others, however, revealed fresh ideas of artists hungry to develop an aesthetic of what they understand to be contemporary dance.

Former tractor engineer Olga Pona, who in 1992 formed the Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre, presented two works that showed a highly developed and unique choreographic language in works that pondered on the fate of those who lived and dreamed under the Soviet system.

Pona’s pieces transposed references of daily life under communism into a fresh, markedly contemporary framework. While somewhat close to the theatrical form, the performances had an ironic significance to those who lived somewhere between the dreams and realities of Soviet life.

They were adorned with references to the awesome feats of cosmonauts and space travellers, images that long spurred on the imaginations of Soviet citizens.

Realising talent of the likes of Olga Pona in Russia, however, is an uphill battle. Moyzhes laments that Russia’s central government all but neglects the development of contemporary dance.

« It was too democratic for communism, but things are changing now and it is a movement that is developing from the artists, dancemakers- from the communities themselves, » said Hanna Strzemiecka, Director of the International Lublin Dance Theater Festival in Poland, where development has been more fruitful in recent years.

In most central European countries, including Hungary and Poland, for instance, government funding for dance festivals, companies or presenters has started flowing in recent years. This is a sharp contrast to a decade ago, when officials looked to the art-form with scepticism and cynicism.

In these countries, contemporary dance managers have succeeded in a first instance of lobbying governments to recognise, and fund, contemporary dance.