
DATE: Sunday, July 27, 1997                 TAG: 9707260147

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 24   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  134 lines

BALLET TEACHER BRINGS A FIRM, BUT ELEGANT DEMEANOR TO CLASS SVETLANA VAGAITZEVA, A VISITING RUSSIAN BALLET MASTER, TEACHES ADVANCED TEEN-AGE STUDENTS AT BEACH.

She's smaller than the rest of her students who sometimes tower over her like willowy trees.

But when it's time for class, it's easy to see a giant at work.

Svetlana Vagaitzeva, who had been visiting the area since the beginning of July, spent the last three weeks teaching three classes a day at the Academie de Ballet at 501 Kempsville Road.

Vagaitzeva is a visiting ballet teacher on cultural exchange from Murmansk, a moderate-sized Russian city noted for shipbuilding and fishing and the country's chief port on the Arctic Ocean.

She is staying in Norfolk's Wards Corner area with her host, Joan Wilson and her family. Vagaitzeva met Wilson and her husband last fall in Murmansk when Wilson and her entourage were scouting the city for a visit by the touring company of ``A Man Called Jesus,'' a praise dance and song production sponsored and organized by her congregation, the Kempsville Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach.

With this advanced class, Vagaitzeva leads her teen-aged students like the Russian dance master she is.

At times she is stern and demanding, accepting nothing less than perfection. She exhibits a firm, yet loving hand when showing the proper way to bend, move and dance.

``Students are like glass vases,'' she said through an interpreter. ``They need to be filled with beauty, something worthwhile. They're all beautiful, but they must be handled with care. All my students are my children.''

She knows no English and her students can't speak Russian, but she communicates with them through gesture, dance steps, smiles, stern looks, mimed movements and lots of enthusiasm.

``Besides, all ballet terms are in French, so there is that common language we can both draw on,'' said Arnora Hummel, director of the dance school.

Although her rather short and muscular bearing kept her out of the performing arena, she is revered in Russia for her work at a free-to-students, state-run dance institute. On Sept. 17, she will receive a special award, the title of ``Most Honored Cultural Worker,'' from Russian president Boris Yeltsin.

Vagaitzeva, who is the master ballet teacher for the northern section of Russia, developed a pioneering five-year curriculum for Russian ballet masters, teachers and choreographers, Hummel said.

``She's in charge of everything to do with dance in northern Russia,'' she said. ``Everything, including choreographers, dancers, dance directors and teachers. They all come under her supervision.''

Both Hummel and Wilson said Vagaitzeva is also expert at Russian folk dances and is involved in various Russian cultural music and dance festivals.

How Vagaitzeva eventually came to South Hampton Roads is a lesson in faith, love and lots of work, Wilson said.

Wilson, who is trained in the Russian vaganova classical ballet style, is a fervent Christian who met a Russian song-and-dance troupe when the then-Soviet fleet visited South Hampton Roads in 1989 during the heady days of perestroika. Wilson forged a strong spiritual friendship with several of the members who eventually became her contacts in Russia.

When Wilson and members of her congregation asked them for possible Russian venues for the church's praise music and dance production of ``A Man Called Jesus,'' it was suggested that they try the Kola Christian Center in Murmansk.

They visited the city in 1992 where they converted more than 200 to the Christian faith and in 1995 where they trained church leaders. They returned in both the spring and the fall of 1996.

``Last fall we ran across a drama teacher, who was the assistant director of the local theater,'' Wilson said. ``He was Svetlana's husband and he told her about us. She wanted very much to meet with us at her dance institute.''

At Vagaitzeva's school, Wilson taught her and her teachers and students several Hebrew folk dances, something they had never seen before.

``They loved the dances and took to them immediately,'' Wilson said. ``Afterwards, we had tea and Svetlana told me that she sensed more to me than dance. She wanted to know what was different about me? I told her I was saved and had a relationship with Jesus Christ. She had never heard about the Gospels and had never read the Bible because of all the years of atheist Communist government and leadership.''

Wilson said she invited both Svetlana and her husband Vladimir to the Kola Center.

``We gave them a Bible and later she and her husband read it from cover to cover,'' Wilson said. ``Then she attended a `Jesus Party' where she was dazzled by the gospel celebration. She said she had never seen or felt anything like this before in her life.''

Wilson and Vagaitzeva quickly forged a deep friendship out of mutual love for their dance and their faith. After clearing out red tape, she was invited to visit Wilson in the United States for the summer. It is her first trip out of her beloved Russia.

``I can't describe the feelings I have in my heart,'' Vagaitzeva said about her impressions of the United States through interpreter Elijah Antonenko, a visiting Ukrainian who is a counselor at the Triple R Ranch in Chesapeake. ``This country is so beautiful and so diverse. Here I feel like I'm in paradise.''

So far, Wilson has taken her Russian guest to enjoy bluegrass music and clogging at the Hickory Ruritan Clubhouse, a Fourth of July concert and fireworks at Fort Monroe and a typical American cookout.

Wilson has also taken Vagaitzeva to visit Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown where she saw a re-enactment of the Battle of Yorktown. She was also impressed with the historic Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg.

``I like that you have pride in your history,'' she said. ``I could see that in Williamsburg.''

She was impressed with the food and the weather, especially the daily 90- degree heat.

``I love it so much; here I finally felt warm,'' said Vagaitzeva, whose native Murmansk is cloaked in darkness during the fall, winter and early spring months. A ``hot'' day in her hometown may reach about 50 degrees.

``Whenever she has even five minutes to herself she's out there sunbathing,'' Wilson said.

She was also taken aback by the infinite variety of foods and the shear volume of foods found in most American supermarkets.

And then there's eating out. She said she loved the stuffed pita sandwiches from Wendy's and was impressed with a local Italian restaurant.

``Everything was fine and then they brought out such a dish of food,'' Vagaitzeva said. ``You eat up to here (she puts her hand to her throat) and then you can take it all home with you. That's not a Russian thing.''

She was impressed with the Virginia Beach Oceanfront at dusk.

``It was warm, gorgeous and I could see the sun shine over the water,'' she said. ``I had never seen anything like that before.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN

Svetlana Vagaitzeva, who is on cultural exchange from Murmansk in

Russia, shows student Aimee DuFresne how to position her head.

Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN

``Students are like glass vases,'' said Vagaitzeva, with Jennifer

Dantonio. ``They need to be filled with beauty, something

worthwhile.''

WANT TO GO?

Who: Svetlana Vagaitzeva, a Russian dance master and master

teacher visiting the United States on a cultural exchange program.

What: She will dance a special church performance.

When: For the 9 and 11 a.m. services today.

Where: Kempsville Presbyterian Church, 805 Kempsville Road,