THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160669
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH MONROE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
ELENA KOPYLOVA is a ballerina, a leading member of The Moscow State Ballet. And this fall, she's getting to tour the United States - twice. The company is bringing a new version of ``The Nutcracker'' to 10 cities, starting Friday in Portsmouth.
But at each stop, young American dancers will perform with the Moscow professionals. To audition and train them, Kopylova made her first tour in early October, visiting Hampton Roads, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Providence, R.I., and six other cities.
Since then, the dancers have been working hard to prepare for the show. Now, with the performances approaching, they'll have just a few rehearsals to meld themselves with the Moscow company. The American producer, Akiva Talmi, says they ``will have to work their tails off. It will be a challenge.''
When Kopylova first visited Portsmouth, she sat for an interview across a breakfast table crowded with sausages, bacon and doughnuts. That naturally raised the question: What does a ballerina eat for breakfast?
If she's Elena Kopylova, anything she wants.
She says dancers spend so many hours a day in strenuous physical activity they don't have to watch their diet. Kopylova has no particular health regimen; in fact, she operates on nervous energy and dances to burn it off.
Kopylova, 35, has had a distinguished career. She trained from 10 until 18 at St. Petersburg's famous Vaganova Academy, which also graduated Mikhail Baryshnikov and many another star in its 250-year history. She then went to the Moscow Ballet Theater, established in 1921 with Lenin's blessing by Natalia Sats. Though not herself a dancer, Sats was a pianist, teacher and impresario who was both artistic and managing director of the theater that bears her name. She was probably the first woman in the world to run a major ballet company.
There she worked with Rachmaninoff, Otto Klemperer, Stravinsky and collaborated with Prokofiev on the creation of ``Peter and the Wolf.'' She was still going strong in 1972 when Kopylova joined the company. Kopylova is proud to have spent most of her career under the indefatigable Sats, who worked until she was 90. The theater she created is considered one of Russia's national treasures.
The Russian love for this institution is perhaps best indicated by the fact that the last five years of upheaval in the former Soviet Union have not disrupted the Moscow State Ballet in the slightest. According to Kopylova, their budget is intact. They danced without interruption through World War II and the collapse of communism isn't going to stop them either.
In discussing her career and training, Kopylova takes note of the long rivalry between St. Petersburg and Moscow, which embrace different styles in ballet. Petersburg is known for a more conservative, academic orientation and an emphasis on precise technique. The Moscow style is more energetic and dramatic.
Her favorite role is Cinderella, but the one she would like to have danced is Carmen. ``I didn't have the look. My body was built for something else. And I don't have the kind of sensual face needed for Carmen.'' She is a lithe 5-foot-2 with straight hair pulled back off a sharp-featured face. She speaks with reserve through a translator, but has a cool level gaze.
This tour of ``The Nutcracker'' is exciting for her for several reasons. It is the first time choreography for a classic has been created expressly for her. The choreography is by Natalia Ryzhenko, a former soloist with the Bolshoi.
Kopylova also got the chance to teach that choreography to the American children taking part. The company coming from Moscow will be 48 dancers strong, but in each city, almost 50 children will join them on stage.
Kopylova teaches 10 private students and is studying at the Russian Academy of Theater and Art to become a teacher and choreographer when her dancing days end.
In her years with the Moscow State Ballet, Kopylova has danced all over the world, including France and Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and Canada. She has only toured America once before, in 1986, but remembers the audiences as enthusiastic.
When she's on the road, Kopylova misses her family, a 7-year-old son and her husband whom she met in romantic fashion. He runs a construction company, and when he got the job of designing and building a new theater for the ballet in 1979, he also wound up acquiring a ballerina for a wife. ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff photo
Elena Kopylova will dance with the Moscow State Ballet in
Portsmouth's Willett Hall.
Graphic
NUTCRACKER INFO
THE MOSCOW STATE BALLET of Natalia Sats Theater is presenting a
world premier of a new version of ``The Nutcracker,'' choreographed
by former Bolshoi soloist Natalia Ryzhenko. It is set in a typical
Russian village rather than in the Germany of the original story.
The famous snowflake scene has been re-envisioned as a Russian
snowstorm.
The lead role of Clara will be danced by Tatyana Frolova, 1994
People's Artist of Russia, accompanied by her longtime partner,
Mikhail Negrobov.
Almost 50 young dancers from Virginia will supplement the Moscow
company. In addition, the production boasts 300 colorful new
costumes and an elaborate set using eight picture frame panels to
highlight dances.
by CNB