Romantic Siegfrieds and charming Auroras, passionate Esmeraldas and shy Juliettes, enigmatic Fays, mermaids, dryads, Willises and narcissus still surprise and conquer numerous ballet amateurs with their unreal beauty, grace and charm.Talented artists of the National Academic Ballet Theatre of Belarus work daily to create this wonderful magic world, to win acknowledgment and cry of admiration of the audience. Recently young soloists for the first time have been playing the leading roles in “Pakhita” performance with music written by Ludwig Minkus. They were repeated participants and diploma winners of international contests of the ballet artists — Ekaterina Oleynik and Egor Azarkevich.
“There is hardly one little girl, who wouldn’t dream of becoming a real fairy princess,” Ekaterina Oleynik says. “My appearance at the stage is also an unfulfilled dream of my mother, a passionate amateur of the dance art. It was she who brought me by a hand to enter into the choreographic college. In the course of time college teachers started to pay me closer attention, in my repertoire more difficult variations, adagio, pas de deux appeared. Starting from the fourth year, I danced different parties at the stage of the National Ballet theatre. The first leading roles in “Pakhita” and the “Nutcracker” appeared. I acquired invaluable experience during participation in several ballet contests. I especially remembered the International contest of ballet artists named after Rudolph Nuriev in Budapest, where legendary Maya Plisetskaya gave me her personal prize and shared some secrets of performing the party of Odyllia. Just a year had passed since the moment when I and Egor after graduation from the college started working in the team. At the beginning more experienced colleagues examined me narrowly (not all alumni are accepted as soloists), but then their kindly attitude and constant assistance became for me an additional impetus in art”.
“The second season on the theatre stage brought new roles and new professional experience,” Egor Azarkevich says. “To the parties in “Korsar” and “Karmina Burana” other ones were added: Phoebe in “Esmeralda”, Tybalt in “Romeo and Juliette”, and also a party of the leading soloist in “Pakhita”. The year was interesting and difficult simultaneously. Our team visited Syria and Egypt. However, to tell you the truth, I was occupied with preventive measures and treatment of traumas, which are also an integral part of our work. When I was four, I started studying choreography in the children’s dance section, but I dreamt about a football-player career. I couldn’t even imagine that my idols would be such great dancers as, for example, Mikhail Baryshnikov or Alexander Godunov. Now I would like to achieve the same fame at the Belarusian stage”.
Today Ekaterina Oleynik and Egor Azarkevich are among the artists, on whom the art director of the theatre Valentin Elizarjev places the stake in the nearest perspective. They are noted for strongly marked individual performance manner, they are energetic, they are in love with ballet and believe in fulfillment of the bravest plans and dreams. Youth and hunger for performances are on their side. As well as well-wishing Belarusian audience, which for the sake of the meeting with new gifted performers is ready to forgive them quiver and crapped fuete, and an unfinished assembly circle with double tours... The viewer fairly expects that debut excitement will fade away soon and pupilary restraint will be changed by lightness, technical perfection and enravishment from the possibility to demonstrate not only outer academicism, but also inner beauty, which creates a magic world of the classical ballet.
Igor Kuzmin
