Self-Isolation Ballet

It has been almost two months since the beginning of self-isolation regime at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. During that time, lives and daily routines of the students have changed dramatically, in line with the circumstances. We have interviewed four students – girls from Macedonia, Japan and Bulgaria. We talked about things they do at their “home theatres” in order to stay fit, things they do in order to maintain mental fitness and things they have missed most of all through the self-isolation time.

Stefanija Gashtarska, student of III A grade (teacher – Irina M. Pyatkina), starts her training routine at 9 o’clock in the morning. In an hour after the start, she does gymnastics under Boris Knyazev’s method. After that she does a full-fledged lesson (“I do bar exercises, exercises in he middle, jumps and pointe work. In the end I work on my pirouettes and wrap everything up with fouette exercises. Exercises in confined space help an awful lot, and I certainly recommend them to everyone!”. That’s the routine she does every day, except Sunday. “After the class, I usually have online classes in teaching techniques, psychology, Russian language, etc. After that, I dine with my family, Sometimes, Mom and I cook tasty and healthy desserts”. After supper and her homework, Stefanija is sure to do a round of stretching before she goes to bed. In response to the question about things she does to keep her spirit up, she said “I am a naturally merry and cheerful person. Now I am with my family, and I am very happy about that. So, I see no reason to be blue!”.

Kana Semba, our next heroine, is a student of III IN grade (class of Irina M. Pyatkina). In order to stay fit, Kana makes sure to do class routine: bar exercises, mid-room exercises, small jumps, etc. In addition, she builds her muscles and goes for light jogging outdoors. “I try to jog late at night, in order to avoid people. Because of insufficient physical load, I try to cut back on my meals”. There is a special room in Kana’s house, with ballet floor-cloth, a ballet bar and a big mirror.

“I cannot afford to stay in bed in the morning – I set my alarm-clock, in order to make most of my day. When the lockdown had just started, I took the liberty of over-sleeping in the morning, but it took me no time to come to realization that I must not waste my time, and I switched over to a tight daily schedule”. Kana told us about things she does to keep her spirit up during this challenging time – “We live in a difficult world, but I try to look for something positive. For instance, there was a time, when I spared next to no time for reading, but these days I use my leisure time to read Russian literature”. Kana intends to fly to Moscow as soon as the lockdown is lifted, in order to attend auditions at ballet theatres.

Ivana Harizanova, student of 4 A grade (class of Ekaterina Trunina) pays attention not just to classical dance, but to perfection of folk dance as well. “Every evening, I spend an hour and a half on classical dance lessons. I also do stretching and try to invent a variety of combinations for my practice sessions”. Ivana’s daily routine is quite close to that of the Academy, only she gets up thirty minutes later. Ivana shared her secret of mental fitness and cheerful disposition – “In order to keep my chin up, I try to full up all my time – read books, listen to music and watch ballet performance videos”. She says she misses the unique environment she was exposed to during her stay and studies at the Academy.

Haruka Toyoda (III A grade) converted her room at home into a ballet rehearsal studio. She constructed her own makeshift bar, to use for training. “My room isn’t very spacious, no argument about that, but in order to maintain physical fitness, I do class exercises every day”. Haruka is Irina Pyatkina’s student, and she is very sad, because she and her classmates weren’t allowed to perform at an exam – they had put so much effort in preparation.

“I would like to keep learning from my teachers at the Academy and spend more time with my dear friends”, says she. Once the lockdown is lifted, Haruka intends to return to Russia as soon as possible and practice in a large and spacious rehearsal studio.

The girls miss their routine practice and studies at the Academy – their rehearsals, teachers, friends and the city of Moscow. They wish all the students a lot of patience and a lot of hope for a reunion. They urge their classmates to be optimistic, because “the hard time we are all going through now, will end, good old days will return!”. Their advice to their mates is to use the time to work on themselves and pursue self-development.

Under the lockdown restrictions, heroines of our interviews have arranged their daily routines in a variety of ways, but there is a thing they have in common – love and devotion to ballet, perseverance and integrity. We are sure that these features will help future performers to cope with any problems.