A tale of a pair of cross stars

It is precisely at a press conference with a Russian ballet company you would expect to meet a girl like Irina - a tall exotic blonde with cheekbones like a Sioux warrior.

If only the dancers were as much fun.

But, as my volunteer translator, that may also be Irina's view.

After a prolonged exchange in Russian, she relays the principal dancers' account of their working relationship with a definite hint of exasperation.

"They say that they are absolutely satisfied. They are so happy to work together. He's a wonderful person. She's a wonderful person. It's like a fairy tale. Unbelievable perhaps," she says.

Unique

Any further questioning on their work is slapped away as implied slander. "She says that he is married with two children," Irina says with a sigh.

The Russian Festival Ballet - aka Ballet de Moscow - is back in the UAE.

After bringing us the traditional Christmas ballet The Nutcracker last December, it starts its run of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet on Valentine's Day.

From Dubai's Madinat Theatre this will transfer - a first for a set production - to Abu Dhabi's super-luxury Emirates Palace hotel.

"The unique thing about the Russian Festival Ballet is the convergence of talent," says Digby Taylor, the large, bald and currently highly frenetic co-ordinator for Great Entertainment Company.

"Because of his influence the director can draw on a wealth of talent from various companies."

Timur Fayziev has been poaching the top dancers from the Bolshoi and Stanislaski schools since 1989.

His company now has over 60 dancers and they are almost constantly on tour - currently in three simultaneous productions around the world.

"They are one of the most hard-working ballet companies in the world," says Taylor. "They tour far more than other companies."

For this production, Romeo is Dmitry Smirnov, a lanky youth with a wolfish grin from Ejevsk, which he says is where the Kalashnikov comes from.

Juliet is Yana Kazantseva, an all-Russian award-winner from Novoksibirsk. She is as delicate as a bird, possibly a touch older than Smirnov (although I would respect any man who dared ask her age) and as hospitable as a Siberian winter.

Training

But both reflect a training system that could defeat a shaolin monk. "When they are at school they train from 8am to 9pm every day," says Fayziev.

"To prepare 10 minutes of adagio - to make it beautiful - they spend 3 to 5 hours in class".

On tour, it gets worse. Since the dancers left Moscow in September to perform Romeo and Juliet in England and Italy they have been combining daily practice with performances. They can expect to be back at their hotel after midnight.

When the troupe came to Dubai last year, Fayziev says they never got to see the city at all.

Indeed, Irina mutters that everything the dancers have been told about Dubai is entirely wrong.

Still, they should eventually get the chance to see the sights.

Taylor already talks of two more ballets in the UAE by the end of the year. "Ballet plays well in the UAE," he says. "There is a hunger for that kind of cultural event here."

This is also Fayziev's impression - although he admits finding the Nutcracker audiences a tad inscrutable.

"90 per cent of the people who came in November were British. It was a really nice audience but a bit different. Russians are very emotional. The British are a bit cold. But I am coming back with a very nice feeling," he says.

Soul of the character

Romeo and Juliet brings a new set of challenges. "It is a partner dance not a single dance," says Kazantseva.

"In technique it is very difficult to dance. The dancers depend on each other - if one makes a mistake the other has to cover. Also the man has to be thin yet very powerful to do all the lifting."

"The most important thing is that this is a drama," says Smirnov. "It is not funny. There is tragedy and drama."

It is this ability - to get into the soul of the character - that Fayziev considers the quality that marks out his principals.

"They prefer to introduce any dance or ballet from inside the soul," he says.

Their own souls are far trickier to explore. After Irina and I have our tense moment with Kazantseva, an iron curtain has fallen across the table.
 
While Fayziev expounds at length on ballet and the Russian soul, his two leads huddle together conspiratorially and gossip.

Still, their routine hardly leaves much space for developing PR skills. "Everything you ask, they say 'da'," says Taylor.

"They get back to the hotel at 1am and eat a lot. Then they are back at the theatre the next day."

But surely today must be a nice break from the grind - getting to speak to some journalists for a change?

"It's fantastic," is how Irina translates their sardonic response to this idea.

It is to general relief that I finally run out of questions. As Juliet puts it, sometimes parting is such sweet sorrow.

THE SHOW
 
WHERE Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai 
WHEN February 14, 15, 16 and 17
TIME 4.30pm and 8.30pm
TICKETS Matinee - Dh200, Dh150
 Evening - Dh350, Dh250 and Dh190
WHERE Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi 
WHEN February 22, 23
TIME 8.30pm
TICKETS Dh350, Dh250 and Dh190