Gruzdyev in Reviews Our ENB page

On 8 June 2000, the English National Ballet is to premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London Derek Deane's arena production of "The Sleeping Beauty". The Prince on that opening night will be danced by Dmitri Gruzdyev, a 29-year-old principal who left the Kirov Ballet in 1993 to join the company. Coincidentally, the Kirov Ballet will also premiere its new production of "The Sleeping Beauty" at Covent Garden several nights later on 12 June.

I met Dmitri Gruzdyev for dinner in the evening of 25 April after his rehearsals at the Markova House in London. We were joined by his wife Sarah Arnott, a coryphee of the English National Ballet (ENB).

Gruzdyev, who possesses a strong classical technique from his Kirov schooling as well as a charming personality on stage, first danced Prince Florimund three years ago in Ronald Hynd's production of "Beauty" for the company. I wondered if the role of the Prince is going to be beefed up this time in Deane's production, as in Nureyev's production for the company (then London Festival Ballet) in 1975. The answer was pretty short. "I don't know yet. We only started the rehearsals today."

Moving rapidly on, I asked Gruzdyev how he feels about about his progress in the company. "I am very happy at ENB. I get on very well with my director (Derek Deane). I like him, he likes me. I do a lot of performances, and I get a lot of different ballets to do. Actually I have, you can say, too many performances at ENB, which is hard sometimes. But at the end of the day, that's what makes me happy."

His Roles
He is also pleased with the variety of his roles. "Every year I do something new. I've never done "Apollo" and "Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux" till this spring's tour. Last autumn I also did the Shades act of "La Bayadere", and was coached by Makarova. So I am quite happy with all of that. Next year, however, I may not have a new role, and will have to repeat ballets which I've done before."

Gruzdyev for his debut in both Balanchine ballets was coached by Nanette Glushak from Toulouse. "I loved these ballets, and I liked working with Nanette. She explained a lot to me about these ballets, and I think she was quite happy with what I was doing. She didn't make me do anything that I didn't want to do; and I still kept my style. She's always saying, 'You will find your way on how to do it.' That's what I like the best."

So what are his favourite roles? "I like many roles, and I feel different at different times of the year. I like Glen Tetley's ballets, for instance "Sphinx" which I did last autumn. He came in the final week and spent a lot of hours with us. And I was rehearsing his "Voluntaries" until I got injured in February. Then the other day I wanted to the classics again. "Giselle" is coming back next year, so I'm looking forward to dancing Albrecht again."

It sounded fairly balanced, but if anything Gruzdyev expressed a slight preference for story ballets to abstract ballets. "Most of my life I've been doing classical ballets with a story, but I'd also like to try something new from time to time. We had this Italian choreographer Bigonzetti who did "X.N.Tricities" on ENB quite a long time ago, and I really enjoyed this very modern ballet without a story. I also enjoyed working with Christopher Hampson in his two plotless ballets created for our company - "Perpetuum Mobile" and "Country Garden". I think next year he's coming back, and I hope he's going to cast me again."

On Choreographers
Gruzdyev has a surprisingly catholic taste in choreographers. "There are so many great ballets by different choreographers. I've just mentioned Tetley. I also admire Jerome Robbins, for instance, though I've never done anthing by him yet. I've seen his ballet "In The Night" when he put it on for the Kirov when he was alive, and I love his "Other Dances". Of course I like Balanchine; also MacMillan. I love Russian choreographers like Konstantin Sergeyev." (Sergeyev was a former artistic director of the Kirov; his production of "Sleeping Beauty" was in the Kirov's repertory for a long time until last year, and his "Swan Lake" is still in the repertory and will be seen in London again this summer.)

The ballets that Gruzdyev particularly longs to make a debut in are "the full-length version of "La Bayadere", because I only danced the Shades Act of Makarova's production; "Spartacus", "Manon", and "La Sylphide"." One looks forward to his debuts in these works in the years ahead.

His Partners
We then discussed Gruzdyev's partners at ENB. "I think my favourite partner is Daria Klimentova. I dance a lot with

“We have good times, and we have bad times!” on dancing with Daria Klimentova

her, we have a good partnership. We have good times, and we have bad times! I just danced last week "Tchaikovksy Pas De Deux" with Erina Takahashi, and we are now rehearsing "Sleeping Beauty". She's still very young, but I think she'll be very good."

When I asked Gruzdyev if he sometimes wishes to dance with his wife Sarah, he let Sarah answer for him. "No, thank goodness we don't dance together. I wouldn't want to, I think it would be too difficult for us. Lisa (Pavane) and Greg (Horsman) danced together when they were still married, but they had found a way of working from a very young age. Now it's too late for us to start dancing together, because our professional life and our personal life are so separate. I think it will just be too hard for us to keep it professional, and not to fight. I don't think I'll enjoy it, because we'll be too critical of each other. Actually I like to watch Dima dancing, and I like to see him dance with other people."

Although they don't dance together, they of course still discuss ballet. Gruzdyev joked, "Yes, at home we discuss a lot about ballet, but most of the time when I'm talking, Sarah's not listening!" This caught Sarah by surprise. "That's not true!" argued Sarah, "We talk about work a lot at home. Dima always asks me after his performances 'How's this, how's that?', but we don't necessarily want to sit down and watch and discuss about ballet on television."

His Previous Career At The Kirov
Having discussed in length about his present career at ENB, I turned to his illustrious former company the Kirov Ballet. In fact I first saw Gruzdyev in 1991 in the peasant pas de deux of "Giselle" during the Kirov's tour to

“I still love the Kirov! I was happy when I left”

Washington DC. Does he now perhaps regret having left the Kirov? Gruzdyev answered firmly, "No regrets about that. At that point I was doing much better in England than I would have done in Russia. I still love the Kirov! I was happy when I left. Probably at that time I needed to have been taller in order to partner the tall girls in the Kirov." No doubt it was an allusion to the current breed of tall and thin Kirov ballerinas exemplifed by Uliana Lopatkina and Yulia Makhalina, which has been nicknamed "the basketball team".

He explained the reasons why at the age of 23 he left after the Kirov's season at the London Coliseum in 1993, when he gave a dazzling performance of the Golden Idol in "La Bayadere" which I still remember vividly. "The main reason was marrying Sarah. We had met a few years before that. We made a decision to get married, and then I didn't know if she could come to live in Russia at that time. I didn't think so, so I had to decide to leave; and I think I made the right decision."

"Also Sergei Berezhnoi, the teacher I was working with, was going to leave the Kirov for Boston, and I didn't like that idea. If I didn't have my wife, I would have left the Kirov to join him in America. You never know, different circumstances could have changed the situation."

Gruzdyev still keeps in touch with Berezhnoi and his wife Tatiana Terekhova (a well-known ex-Kirov ballerina) in Boston, as well as his two ex-Kirov colleagues at the Dutch National Ballet - Gregory Chicherin and Larissa Lezhnina. "I also met again Alexander Gulyaev last summer, after having lost contact with him for a while."

His last reunion with the Kirov was during the Kirov's London season in 1997, when he took class with the company. I asked him to comment on any changes in the company that he might have noticed based on his observation of their performances. "I don't really want to say anything about that. I don't know, I could be wrong. It's natural to think that the company was better when I was there, but it's hard to say. When I was there, I thought it was perfect, but it wasn't. And when I begin to look from a distance, I may be tempted to think that it's not as good as when I was there. However I would certainly have liked to see more stronger male dancers."

His Role Models
Of male dancers, Dmitri admires Baryshnikov the most. "He is still the best for me, because he's got everything. It's not about technique, what he does on the stage is amazing." Dmitri recounted with pride his first personal contact with Baryshnikov. "I was touring with the Kirov in New York in 1992. A friend of mine took me to watch the New York City Ballet in a night off. Baryshnikov was dancing that night. Afterwards, Kosta (Konstantin Zaklinsky), Andris Liepa went backstage with me and my friend. Kosta was talking to Baryshnikov, and I was staring at him. He saw me staring, and he shook my hand. I didn't say anything. It was so nice of him! And then I couldn't sleep."

Gruzdyev also admires Nureyev whom he met in San Francisco in 1992, as well as his contemporary Yuri Soloviev whose performances he saw on videotape.

Vaganova School
Dmitri, an only child, was actually sent by his mother at the age of ten to join the legendary Vaganova School where he spent eight years. One of his teachers at the School was Oleg Zakhalov who danced with the Kirov at Covent Garden in 1961. "It was hard work, because I had to study the Russian language, geometry, chemistry as well as ballet. But looking back I should have worked harder, because I missed a few years." I asked Dmitri what he considered to be the most valuable part of the Vaganova schooling. "It's the upper body and the arms. In the Royal Ballet School, however, it's more below the waist and more to do with the feet, which may be missing in Russia."

Comfy at home... Dmitri Gruzdyev and Sarah Arnott

As for the notorious food shortages in St. Petersburg which were reported in Western newspapers, "Shortages? Not really. At that time I thought the food was good, when I lived there. Maybe I was used to that food, and didn't know anything better; now I think it's dreadful."

Outside Interests

“I think if I hadn't become a ballet dancer, I'd love to have been a racing driver”

Outside dance, Dmitri's passion is Formula 1 grand prix. "I think if I haven't become a ballet dancer, I'd love to have been a racing driver. I haven't taken a course, so that's why I sometimes drive so badly! Tom (Edur) got me interested in it two years ago, and I've become obsessed with it. I can watch grand prix non-stop for three hours. I'm interested in everything about the grand prix - speed, cars, teams, drivers. One day, I'll definitely go with Sarah to a live grand prix at Silverstone."

Guesting
Gruzdyev hasn't in fact been guesting a lot outside ENB. He has danced with Daria Klimentova in galas in Miami, Lithuania, and in Spain with Tamara Rojo. He also danced with Rojo in "Le Corsaire" pas de deux several years ago in a gala at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of landmine victims, in which Darcey Bussell also performed. "It's good to meet dancers from all over the world. It's exciting, especially if they come to you afterwards and praise you, and then you become quite pleased with yourself. Also it's nice to go away for a few days and come back to ENB with a fresh head."

ENB has been supportive of his guesting. "Derek (Deane) always says that he likes me to represent the company overseas.

“I've been coached by Makarova, I've shaken hands with Baryshnikov, and I've met Nureyev. Not bad, is it?”

He's very happy if I have guesting engagements." We then discussed about the illustrious ex-Kirov star Natalia Makarova's publicised return to St. Petersburg in 1989 to dance with the Kirov, which was the subject of a BBC documentary. Does he also hope to return to dance with the Kirov? "I'd love to if they invite me." But has he approached them? "Maybe I am too shy!" he answered, "And I'd love to dance again on the Kirov stage as well, and not necessarily with the Kirov. It's a good idea!"

Hopefully, like Makarova, Dmitri Gruzdyev's wish to dance again on the hallowed stage of the Maryinsky Theatre will materialise at some point in his career, and his career will have gone full circle. But meanwhile his thoughts are no doubt on another stage - that of the Royal Albert Hall where he will dance on 8 June the premiere of the English National Ballet's new "Sleeping Beauty" with Erina Takahashi.