WhatsOn Ida Nevasayneva’s life as a cross-dressing ballerina
Filed Under Kitchen Curtain | Posted on January 18, 2008
It has been nearly six years since Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo last graced a stage in Toronto. But this is a favourite city for the company, as the site of their first performance outside New York City, where the butchiest ballerinas in pointe shoes formed their company in 1974. Combining parody and technical perfection, the Trocks have been entertaining audiences around the world ever since they are especially revered in Japan with their repertoire of classical ballet and modern dance pieces.New York dance critic Arlene Croce legitimized the Trocks with a review in 1974 that called them dead on target and hilarious. Artistic director Tory Dobrin, who joined the company in 1980 as a dancer, says Les Ballets remains true to its aim to be funny, adding new repertoire each year, but preferring choreographers drawn from the company ranks. To create dances for the Trocks, he says, You have to have a little bit of a twisted mind-set. Fans of the boys in tutus will be pleased to know that they will perform Les Sylphides and Paquita, among other pieces, for the two shows coming to the Elgin Theatre Saturday and Sunday.A Trock since 1995, Paul Ghiselin is now the company ballet master (mistress?). But until recently, he was thrilling audiences as the exquisite Ida Nevasayneva. In a rare interview, Ida agreed to tell all to the Toronto Star. Q: What was your greatest moment on stage?A: Oh, gosh there have been so many. Maybe it was at a grand gala given at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. It was nerve-wracking all the big stars were there. They saved me for the end of the second act to ensure that the audience left with fond memories. The stage of the Bolshoi is massive and it’s on a rake. You know what that means, don’t you darling? Slanted at a slight angle. It lent a certain edginess to my performance. I was dancing The Dying Swan, with a vitality I hadn’t shown since I was a young person.The swan always bows in front of the curtain. When I came out, the audience started stomping their feet and yelling. And I looked over at a TV monitor and I thought, Oh my God, I’m really here on the Bolshoi stage doing one of the coveted roles in ballet. It was quite emotional for me. I do believe I shed a tear.Q: The Dying Swan is your signature role, is it not?A: Yes, and that was probably the apex of Dying Swans for me. I’ve danced it for decades. I actually got to meet one of the queens of The Dying Swan, (Maya) Plisetskaya. She was so complimentary, not only to my work, but the whole company. She just thought we brought something new to Russian classical ballet.Q: You’re very slender. How do you keep your weight down?A: God bless me. I never had an issue with weight. If anything I had a problem keeping it on. I could eat and eat and eat whatever I wanted. Ballet kept me kept me thin and youthful beyond my years. I was dancing well into my 40s. But being six feet tall, I didn’t get lifted too much.Q: You are known to have had many lovers among ballet dancers and patrons. Would you care to name names?A: I could never do that to those people. The paparazzi would hound them to death. When I look back on those love affairs now, they were just flings, just brief encounters. I tried to keep my love life off the stage, but you know, people always talk. One day I’ll write my memoirs and tell all … about a certain N and a Mr. B and … oh, but you’re forcing it out of me.Q: Who would you compare yourself to among ballerinas of our time? A: But I’m beyond compare! I’m very old-world and very traditional. I have been studying ballet for a long, long time and ballet is my life. I wake up in the morning thinking about tendus. You can often see me waiting for the subway doing an arabesque. Oh yes, it’s been said I’m neurotic, that I’m high-strung and high maintenance, but that is what keeps me so vital and gives my performances that special je ne sais quoi. They call me the prima diva. But I wouldn’t want you to think of me as arrogant or flashy. Q: You are a legend. Tell us about your life story.A: I came out of the womb dancing. In my youth I was a heroine of the Revolution. Once, after effortlessly bourring across a minefield, I lobbed a loaded toe-shoe through the window of a capitalist bank. I was a grande etoile by the time I was in my mid-teens. It was my unusual character and my exceptional footwork. And I brought such intensity to my dramatic roles. Did you see me as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty? It took three extra courtiers to carry me sleeping off the stage at the end of Act I. People left the theatre crying: I was more popular than Cats. Q: Can you tell us about how you defected to the West? Is it true that you flew into the arms of an American businessman after doing 14 fouetts and then a grand jet over a turnstile at JFK?A: It was 17, actually, and he never knew what hit him. America gave me a royal welcome. I have never regretted my spur-of-the-moment decision. But I still weep sometime for Russia, Russia, the Motherland.
Just the facts
WHAT: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte CarloWHEN: Saturday, 8 p.m. and Sunday, 3 p.m.WHERE: Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge St.TICKETS: $29-$89 @ Ticketmaster
Tags: acts, ades, audience, curta, curtain, dances, diva, emotion, patrons, second act, shy, signature, six years, target, tradition, turdRelated posts
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