Ilya Averbukh brought his show to the Arctic Circle. Evgenia Medvedeva, Alexei Yagudin and other figure skating stars came to the small town of Olenegorsk (Murmansk region). Immediately after the end of the show, the choreographer and producer spoke with Sport24 reporter Konstantin Lesik. We discussed the Far North, a new program for Evgeny Semenenko, a possible trip to the DPR with a show, the exclusion of Russians from competitions and Eurovision.
– I want to start with a show in Olenegorsk. How did you find the Arctic Circle?
– I thought it was great. The road to Olenegorsk was very bright. I came here two years ago to give a master class, and even then I accepted the possibility of holding a show.
The audience did not expect a team of champions to arrive, as there can often be one or two stars and those who “sell” them. A year later, I brought in the team of guys and everything went with a bang.
Due to the change of programs this year, Evgenia Medvedeva, Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin were not on the poster, the rotations took place until the last moment. But even more enjoyable is the audience waiting to see a high-end show where the top champions will be. Of course, the performances of Dmitry Aliev, Alexei Yagudin, Oksana Domnina/Roman Kostomarov, Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin, Domnina/Maxim Shabalin, Albena Denkova/Maxim Stavisky became an additional gift for them today.
– Do you think it is important for residents to understand that the regions of the Far North are not forgotten?
“This is a definite mission. The show attracts both in terms of popularization and the opportunity for athletes to talk about themselves, to declare themselves to a large audience.
The peak of the Ice Age project in particular – the first seasons – fell on the decline in the results of our skaters, as there was a fall in Vancouver from the fantastic Torino 2006, where we won three gold medals, to the 2014 Olympics. At that time, ice shows and television projects were of great importance. Now the guys’ ability to perform is limited, the show feeds them. We fulfill the task not only in terms of performances and some commercial components, but also in terms of internal social.
– You gave the program to Evgeny Semenenko. What can you say about working with him?
— I have serious business with Peter this year. Many thanks to Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin, who entrusted me to work with Liza Tuktamysheva, Misha Kolyada, Zhenya Semenenko. There I also organized a free program for Andrei Mozalev with Elena Maslennikova. This is how the Petersburg landing goes (laughs). I also performed for the Georgian couple Anastasia Metelkina / Daniil Parkman. That’s the whole list this year, but I think there will be more.
In addition, we signed many programs within our dance group. The men are ready. I think we created 3 very strong young couples and we took it upon ourselves to take our place in the first competitions to be held in Moscow. The group has gained weight, there is a lot of staging work.
Working with Mishin’s group is always a gift. It is very subtle, creative and easy to understand. Evgeny Semenenko continues the story of the “other self”, because for me it has become a discovery in a new show program. It was a kind of transformation.
In the same vein, we continued to work on a free program. It seems to me that it will stand alone. There are quite a few quad jumps.
If all the four jumps he has outlined for himself in the first half of the program are accomplished, he is tempered on the track in the second half.
This is a South Korean artist, this is an interesting plastic, I can not say that he is close to me (smiles). What a modern dance. Zhenya contributed a lot with her choreography, vision. I directed the program more, I told what I liked and what I did not like.
– A big number four?
– Right now, yes. He added a quad loop, among other things.
– You are more known as a choreographer in a show that you have to schedule every week. Sports analogy – Daniel Gleikhengauz, which also does a large amount of work and loads programs as if they were on a conveyor . How do you evaluate their performance?
– I have great respect for him, even as a student in one place, because at some moments I see that Ice Age trusts his productions. If you remember, Danya used to work with me on my team, and after my patronage she ended up with Eteri Georgievna. And it works great.
It can be called different, but when you have many productions, your own style emerges. I call it that. There is a handwriting, there is a sense of programming, there is a sense of music. For me, the most important thing when staging a program is that there is no movement for the sake of movement, each movement has its own semantic load and is as musical as possible. It can go into not only a shocking score, but also a change of pace. It seems to me that Dani does everything very well.
Yes, on the one hand, when you have many programs, you inevitably start to repeat yourself somewhere, but remember, you are training right now. You’re in constant creative training, I’m in Ice Age too. Therefore, incremental decisions are born faster. You don’t want to repeat yourself inside. I am sure that Danya is trying to change the vector in productions, to change herself. But there will always be critics, recently we have come up with a lot of experts in figure skating. Whatever you do, they will always be against it, like Baba Yaga in the cartoon. I support Danya and I think she is a very strong choreographer so ice one. It can open even more outside of sports because we are limited by rules in terms of choreography. First of all, you need to make everything suitable for the execution of elements.
– Evgeni Plushenko talked a lot about the fact that he wants to organize a show in the Donbass. What do you think, how true is that? Have you thought of such a thing yourself?
– I remember how often we held performances in Donetsk, there is a beautiful ice palace where we performed. I think there is a time for everything. The time will come when everything will calm down and then I see no shame in performing there.
– Recently the Eurovision Song Contest took place. How inspiring are these big projects and have you watched the last one?
– I haven’t watched the last one, but I’m trying to watch it in terms of production. Eurovision still sets fashion, one of the headlines of mass culture. So here too, as the Olympic Games set the trend for the next four years in terms of presentation. For example, the Olympics in China set the trend of minimalism, everything should be simple. Thus, every Eurovision opens up new directions. It seems to me that this year was not interesting to watch, not even because of the absence of Russia, but because of an internal obstacle. It’s like a boomerang: you don’t want to see us, and we don’t want to see you.
I remember what a brilliant Eurovision was held in Moscow, how many steps we took towards Europe and how much Konstantin Lvovich (Ernst, General Manager of Channel One – Sport24) invested in organizing the contest. I still remember that discovery, how Dima Bilan ran on the track… We did a lot of things with candor for the world, including the Olympic Games, the World Cup.
– Can you name the best number in Eurovision in terms of staging? Bilan and Plushenko will be interesting.
– Not. (Laughs) I just have an aversion to plastic ice. I think, from our Polina Gagarina (Eurovision – 2015, second place. – Sport24). Skirt, these projections are so cool.
– So what can be done to make the figure skating world return? To convince everyone that we are needed despite the influence of politics?
– Such a positive “swallow” is the last performance of tennis associations, which deprived Wimbledon of rating points. It seems to me that this is the brightest call in recent times that athletes stay out of this story and need to compete. The only thing that will help in this situation is time. He will put everything in its place.
I really want this to happen as soon as possible, because our most talented generation of skaters should be competing with everyone. What happens is that he devalues other men’s victories. All your life you will live with the feeling that this victory is conditional. It humiliates the winner. Perhaps they really turned out to be the best of the best, although they themselves are not to blame for this, but in our absence they cannot be called so. There are sports where we are not at the top. It is sad, but the World Cup without the Russian team will not lose much. In figure skating, we are the leaders, and without us all victories become secondary.
– Any new information about “Ice Age”?
– Not yet.
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