Bubnov in reviews

I remember sitting in the schools matinee performance of ENB's Swan Lake at Liverpool and wondering why I could hear so many Scottish accents in the audience. I soon found out - there was a thunderclap of applause when Vladislav Bubnov (ex Principal with Scottish ballet until March 2000) made his first entrance. He may have left Scottish Ballet but is certainly not forgotten. Like their football supporters, travelling Glaswegian ballet fans are not quiet. 'Vlad didnae do Swan Lake with us - we had to travel to England to see him'

It was obvious why the Scots were prepared to travel. A most convincing actor, a selfless and attentive partner who provided a safe pair of hands for an 18 year old white swan making her debut, showed elegant clean lines and had a gracious assurance about everything he did. Scotland's loss was very definitely English National Ballet's gain and by now he must odds on favourite to be promoted.

It's not just 18-year-old swans who get the full Vlad treatment. Off stage as well as on, he proved a dream meeting for an interviewer. Getting togther mightn't have been easy, but he was more than worth the wait. Interviews must now be rather boring for Vlad (who seems to have done more than Parkinson) but he proved the perfect host, taking my coat, offering me a drink and finding the right place for us both to sit for the tape recorder. Even though he was doing me a favour seeing me when he was injured - I was well and truly looked after- then it gets better: he shows me a selection of photos I can use of him and they are all so perfect that I am spoiled for choice. I only hope they can be scanned.

He's dark and slender - about 5'9" tall - and to be honest, when you meet him, you're not struck so much by his looks as by his charm. But he has a presence on stage that has attracted devoted fans and watching him at Markova House, you can see why. He's a stylish dresser with a diamond glinting in his ear that looks suspiciously like it's from a pair I own. I have to say it looks better on him!

'You felt special being at the Bolshoi'

Vlad started when he was one of 2,000 children aged 9 and 10 who attended auditions at the Bolshoi School in Moscow while anxious parents hovered outside the auditions desperate for their child to be accepted into this cocooned world of privilege. Only about 80 got places on the 8 year training course and Vlad was one of those chosen few. 'You felt so special just being at the Bolshoi-even now in Russia being a ballet dancer is very prestigious'. Once in the school, the training demands were relentless, working from 9 to 6 each day and regularly doing shows.

'Invitations' were to become a career feature

The school was so crammed full of talent and only the truly gifted few were able to get into the company . Although described by a classmate (a mutual friend) as the best of the Russians in the year. 'I didn't think I would get into the Bolshoi- I did not have any party connections, my father worked in the military, my mother was a doctor and I wasn't part of an artistic dynasty'

Vlad thought wrong... At graduation artistic directors from all over Russia watch classes on the Bolshoi stage and offer contracts. 'I got 20 invitations' - what he didn't realise at that time was that 'invitations'/(contract offers) were to become a career feature for him - and more importantly he got one from Grigorovich to join the Bolshoi.

I joined the Bolshoi at the right time

He was one of three boys who went into the Corps de ballet when the Bolshoi was into the world tours which allowed the dancers to earn precious dollars and provided his family with luxuries like a television. He was promoted to soloist 18 months later. While he was noticing how other artistes were able to bring characters to life on stage - he began to get noticed in roles which were gradually coming his way, like Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. Word about him spread, Dance France featured 'A day in the life of Vladislav Bubnov' in March 1992 and the message was getting back to Russia that he was someone to watch. Unfortunately it was increasing falling on deaf ears.

I decided to leave because of the nepotism

If the competition in the school was red hot, the competition in the company where there were 40 soloists was white hot. His situation was not helped by the rampant nepotism in the Bolshoi at that time when Vladimir Nikonov (head of the troupe) had a son the same age/height as Vlad - you could draw your own conclusions about who was going to get the better roles. While many would have got bitter he got proactive. It was 1990 he had decided to leave for Europe and he started to look around when he was touring. He was invited to join several companies but the political climate was such that it would have been difficult for his father- so he stayed - but not for long.

'I toured with the Bolshoi Opera company and met some dancers from Scottish Ballet at a reception and Galina Samsova saw me do class. I saw them again when they came to Moscow in 1992 and I wanted to join' The invitation to become a soloist with Scottish Ballet was the one that he left Russia for.

Glasgow was not just the City of Culture - it was a Culture shock.

He arrived at the former City of Culture in October1992 with 10 hours of english lessons. It was a culture shock, leaving was an incredibly brave decision he was not just leaving the Bolshoi but a whole way of live. He may have had a russian speaking director- but she didn't speak russian to him. 'I speak more russian to her now-at first she would only speak english even on the stairs when we were by ourselves'. He has a lot to thank her for, his english is superb.

'I immediately joined the company when they were rehearsing Coppelia and Nutcracker which I had to dance 4 weeks later in Korea and Japan'

At first he was well and truly outside his comfort zone, there were 37 dancers in the company and a very mixed repetoire with short rehearsal periods. The complete opposite from the Bolshoi.

'In Russia you spend more time rehearsing and you work properly which I like- and unfortunately with time limits in the West you do not have the opportunity to spend lots of time on details and to be comfortable with things on stage'

He fitted in - before he stood out

He worked hard at fitting in, before he stood out- he did Robert North's Troy Game where he jumped around and shadow boxed, he followed this with Balanchine's Scotch symphony (where wore kilt- a novel experience) and Robert Cohan's Midsummer night dream. 'Robert Cohan made me fell at ease- I am a classically trained russian dancer so the contemporary stuff was difficult for me. I was also fascinated with his Martha Graham experience'. But inevitably he did stand out and was promoted to principal one year later.

Predictably the invitations started to come from those who saw him once and wanted more. Among those were Marcello Angelini, a former Scottish Ballet guest who when he became Artistic Director of Tulsa Ballet asked Vlad to dance in Ben Stevenson's Cinderella and he accepted. But ironically 2 artistic directors whose invitations he initially declined were to feature later in his career, namely Uwe Scholz from Zurich and Derek Deane from ENB.

'I didn't just like Scottish Ballet- I loved it'

'I didn't just like Scottish Ballet- I loved it- the atmosphere was really special'. And the Scottish audiences loved him too and they miss him. Even after he had left 9 months, Scotland on Sunday still refers to the 'departure of the gifted Vladislav Bubnov'.

Sadly all good things come to an end.

'It was an enormous shock for me when Galina left Scottish Ballet, she resigned and they had to change the repetoire for the next 2 years- instead of doing what was planned by her. The shock continued later on when I knew that Robert North was to be appointed and was bringing all his ballets, changing the repetoire like Cranko's Romeo and Juliet which was beautiful - he brought his own. Because the company cannot afford to keep and are not allowed to keep 2 versions of the same production-it gave up the rights to Cranko's production' Vlad knew that Scottish Ballet was no longer for him.

'The main reason for me leaving was the change in artistic direction in the company. Nothing against the company I just didn't feel that anything would be challenging anymore and I didn't want to stop challenging myself- I wanted to experience something new'

The something new was Liepzig

In March 2000, Vlad broke the habit of a lifetime-he applied for a contract but to only one company, Liepzig Ballet. 'I went to Liepzig because I knew Uwe Scholz who had invited me to Zurich when I was in Russia but I could not go because of the political situation. I really wanted to work with him, I sent him my video and he immediately replied- I went to see him in Liepzig, he offered me a principal'scontract and he said he would really like me to do his version of Swan Lake.

Third time lucky for Swan Lake

Swan Lake was a big attraction for Vlad because up until then every time he had to do it - he got injured. 'It was my third opportunity to do Swan Lake and as we say in Russia - third time is lucky - I didn't do Galina Samsova's Swan Lake which was very beautiful I also didn't go back to Tulsa after Cinderella to do it because I injured my knee' Nothing went wrong this time and he finally did his Swan Lake.

'Daria made me do class with ENB'

His artistic life in Liepzig was full but the other aspects of his life were empty and he decided to return to the UK. He spent the weekend with Daria Klimentova (a friend from Scottish Ballet- now with ENB) to cheer himself up. 'She made me do class with ENB' and he was offered a soloist's contract. She obviously knew what was good for him because he left Liepzig and joined ENB in August 2000.

'Why did I join as a soloist? Well that is what Derek gave me' he is quite relaxed about this and laughs 'and he seems to remember that I didn't come to the company when he invited me two years ago. He came to see Tamara (Rojo) do Romeo and Juliet in Glasgow and later he called me to come to class etc- but at that time I was quite happy to stay with Scottish Ballet'. Tamara left for ENB but Vlad stayed.

'The novelty of ENB is that the repetoire is new to me'

It is so refreshing to find that Vlad is not status obsessed. Moving from principal to soloist would chip away at most dancers already fragile egos but with his impressive track record he just sees it as a challenge to prove himself. He has certainly had the opportunities, Siegfried in Deane's beautiful Swan Lake and Albrecht which he did with dramatic intensity and notable 'despairing exhaustion' three times a week with different partners.

Unlike most of the ENB dancers, Vlad finds the repetoire new and interprets it with a fresh perspective. He finds that the company is young 'It does not matter how talented you are, you cannot bring something to the stage if you do not have experience . I think you can see this on stage, people are concerned about technique and being in the right place at the right time - but they sometimes forget what they are there for - to entertain the audience and just to enjoy dancing for the sake of dancing' There are people here who inspire him artistically, like me he does not hide his admiration for the exquisite Daria Klimentova. 'Daria is number one for me, but there is also Tom/Agnes and Dima- who are all great dancers'.

He is thoroughly enjoying himself.

Yet another invitation - the Bolshoi door has now re-opened

It was accepted that once an artiste had left the Bolshoi - they were regarded as a betrayer and its doors were firmly closed forever. That was then. Boris Akimov the new director of the Bolshoi was Vlad's teacher in the company. 'A great dancer and a fantastic teacher 'If I am in London I will do class with the Bolshoi when they visit in April- because I met Akimov when he came to see ENBs Swan Lake when I was doing the pas de quartre and he loved it ! I would love to go back to Russia just to dance something with them. '.

His next principal role will be Romeo

He can next be seen in the UK in a principal role when he does Romeo in Deane's arena production at the Royal Albert Hall. Unlike Swan Lake, he has done Romeo before in fact he did Cranko's version with Tamara Rojo in 1996 - however I don't think that will stop the Scots coming down again to see him.

He is not only special on stage if you could bottle this Bubnov charm - the formula would be worth millions.