Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8 , 2013

Rebel dancer takes Moscow theatre to new heights

ergei Polunin admits money and fame can me and that is very important. Because not many be an addiction. He says his hero is bad-boy people did,” Polunin said. He admitted that “you Sactor Mickey Rourke. He does not much like get hooked” on the financial rewards that come rehearsing and sometimes prefers not to show with being an international ballet star and said the up. Yet the Ukrainian, 23, is now arguably the fame can be an addiction in itself. “But once you hottest young on the planet, with an have been there and come out you realize how impeccable classical technique, astounding jumps stupid this is. It’s important, like Igor told me, to and a natural gift for acting. In 2012 he caused a ‘stay and do what you do’”. He revealed he had sensation by walking out on of received offers for film work, including from Covent Garden in London, which had nurtured his Hollywood, but said they had been for “secondary career since his teens and where he had shot to roles” that would have been “risky” to take. stardom. Polunin’s success has been a huge coup for There was talk of a bad attitude, depression, a the Stanislavsky at a time of great turbulence for row with a top ballerina, and for several months the after an assailant threw acid on Polunin appeared to have retreated to the wilder- its director Sergei Filin, nearly blinding him in an ness. When he re-emerged one year ago, he attack purportedly organized by an embittered caused another surprise by joining the ballet former soloist. Filin had headed the Stanislavsky troupe of Moscow’s Stanislavsky Musical Theatre, ballet until his appointment at the Bolshoi in a company until now overshadowed by the iconic 2011. The Stanislavsky-whose unwieldy full ballet of the just down the road. name, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko But with Polunin, the Stanislavsky ballet company Music Theatre, commemorates Russian theatre has achieved a new prominence in Moscow and greats Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir tickets for its performances have become as in- Nemirovich-Danchenko-has a loyal audience in demand as those for the Bolshoi. He has electri- Moscow, where it is known affectionately as the fied Moscow audiences as the tragic Prince Rudolf “Stasik”.—AFP in Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet “” and most recently this month as the noble warrior Solor in the theatre’s new production of the classi- This handout picture provided by Sergei Polunin archive and taken on March 22, 2013, shows cal ballet “La Bayadere”. Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin in the role of Prince Rudolf in Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet ‘Mayerling’ at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre in Moscow. — AFP ‘Always tried to be different’ But Polunin, whose torso and arms are adorned by several tattoos that are covered up by make-up in performances, still insists he is totally different from the traditional ballet dancer. “I have always tried to be very different ever since I was a Impressionist, modern art kid. It’s like a personality thing. I’m a Scorpion. I almost like to be away from people, just to observe,” he told AFP in a break of rehearsals for fetches $290m in New York “La Bayadere”. He said his hero is the hell-raising American actor Mickey Rourke and compared his otheby’s on Wednesday auctioned off more than $290 million in just under $31 million soaring above its pre-sale estimate of $12-18 interpretation of Solor in “La Bayadere” with that impressionist and modern art in New York with old favorites million. Another record was set a piece of work by Italian futurist of Russell Crowe in the film “Gladiator”. SPicasso, Monet and Giacometti commanding the highest bids. Giacomo Balla, whose “Automobile in corsa” sold for around $11.5 Polunin makes no attempt to hide his lack of The flagship November evening sale attracted record interest from million, although just below the estimate of $12-18 million. There was enthusiasm for the exhausting routine of rehears- Asian and Latin American buyers, underscoring extraordinary growth also strong sales of work by French favorite Claude Monet, whose ing, preferring to be driven by the intoxicating in an increasingly global market. The top lot was a bronze bust by “Glacons, effet blanc” led at $14.25 million. Sotheby’s haul of $290 mil- adrenaline of the live performance. “For dancers, Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti of his brother Diego, considered one of lion is its second highest for impressionist and modern art at an it constantly has to be a firework, every show has his best sculptures, which went for $50 million, its highest pre-sale evening sale after May 2012 when Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” sold to be like you have proven something. It has to be estimate. for $119.9 million, the most expensive piece of art ever sold in the an event,” he said. “I’m lucky in this theatre-if I do A 1935 Pablo Picasso portrait of his muse and mistress, Marie- world.—AFP not want to come in I don’t come in. I just take it Therese Walter, who was pregnant at the time, also sold for $39.9 mil- easy in rehearsals normally-I like spontaneity. Very lion, well over its estimated $20-$30 million. Picasso’s “Mousquetaire a few rehearsals.” la pipe” set a new auction record for a late work by the artist, going for From a Russian-speaking family and brought up in the tough region of southern Ukraine, Polunin took part in gymnastics as a young boy and then entered ballet school in Kiev. But in 2003, aged just 13, he left Ukraine to take the once-in-a-lifetime chance of studying at the in London. He joined the Royal Ballet itself aged just 17, and at 19 became the youngest principal dancer in its history. Having spent most of his recent life in Britain, Polunin admitted he still speaks Russian with an accent and had to re-learn old cultural habits when he came to Moscow. “I felt like I was back at school. I had to learn how to speak. For example, how girls behave, do you pay for them in a restaurant or not,” he said, speaking comfortable English with the accent of a native Londoner.

Royal Ballet ‘very predictable’ A year after joining the Stanislavsky Theatre, Polunin said he had no regrets about leaving behind the traditions of the Royal Ballet. “I could see how I was going to end up, it was, like, very predictable.” At the Stanislavsky, Polunin found what many thought he had lacked in London-a ‘Grande tete de Diego’ by artist Alberto ‘Mousquetaire a la pipe’ by artist Pablo Picasso is on display. mentor in the shape of the theatre’s ballet direc- Giacometti is on display during a press tor, the great Russian dancer , who preview of Sotheby’s auction of impres- has spearheaded ambitious new projects since sionist and modern art, at Sotheby’s in taking his post in June 2011. New York. — AFP “Igor Zelensky understands me. He believed in