click for larger image / details © Svetlana Zakharova interview by Kevin Ng: Part 1, Part 2 Zakharova in reviews Bolshoi Reviews Kirov Reviews

A beautiful girl from the humble Lutsk...

Among the leading ballerinas, you will find variations in skill, temperament, and, of course, physical gifts. Nature may bestow one with elongated lines, another with a good jump, a third with a gift for tours, a fourth with expressive arms, a fifth with the ability to soar lightly across the stage, and so on. But where nature has sold a ballerina short, she has to overcome this, concealing it or making up for it with other qualities. It’s rare for nature to strain itself and create the perfect figure for ballet. But at the moment, there actually is an example of that rare gift of nature – her name is Svetlana Zakharova. You’d struggle to find a ballerina anywhere in the world to rival the beauty of her physical form.

Zakharova, 24, was born in the town of Lutsk in Ukraine. While still a small girl, she showed such an aptitude for dance that her mother took her to the Kiev ballet school. Between the ages of 10 and 16, she lived in a boarding-school in an unfamiliar city, deprived of the type of acquaintances and connections which, in the old tradition of the Soviet era, often provided the key to success. From time to time, it would upset her that the Kiev opera and ballet theatre would put on performances featuring not her, but other, less capable children from her class, who happened to have well-to-do parents with connections.

The luckiest of starts

At 16, Sveta went to St Petersburg for the Prix Vaganova competition, carried off one of the prizes, summoned up some courage and asked whether she could complete her studies at the Vaganova Academy. She was instantly accepted into the final year, although she had expected to enter a class lower. When she asked why, she was told: “You, Sveta, need to start working in the theatre sooner rather than later, so that you can gain some experience”. Before she had even finished school, she was invited to perform with the fabled Mariinsky (Kirov) ballet, dancing a difficult part of the Queen of Driads in Don Quixote. When Svetlana performed her variation at the dress rehearsal, the whole troupe applauded.

After finishing the academy, she was accepted into the Mariinsky Theatre, dancing solo parts straight away and missing out the almost mandatory stint in the corps de ballet. In her very first season, Svetlana danced in The Nutcracker, during the Mariinskiy Theatre’s visit to London in December 1996. That was the first time that I saw 17-year-old Svetlana and her unique ballet gifts on stage, and I also had the pleasure of making her acquaintance. Alas, during that damp December, she couldn’t escape the flu epidemic which was doing the rounds in London. But, on her day off, and despite her ill health, a pale Svetlana, dressed in a grey coat and shawl, was so keen to take a look at the city that she tagged along with my coach excursion around London. By the time of her next trip to London, this teenager was already dancing the leading roles in Giselle and The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. It was still too early to talk about her acting abilities, but I do remember being impressed by her beauty.

At the unforgettable Albert Hall

In seven years at the Mariinsky, Svetlana danced the whole of the main repertoire: leading roles in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Romeo and Juliet, Manon, Le Corsaire, and the ballets of Fokine, Balanchine and Lander. By the age of 24, dancing had led her to travel and fly across both hemispheres, performing not only with the Mariinsky Ballet, but with various ballet companies as a guest star. At the Opera de Paris, which only very rarely invites stars from outside, Zakharova danced in two ballets - Swan Lake and La Bayadere. Three performances that she will never forget were with the English National Ballet, at the Royal Albert Hall in 2002. Sveta was dumbstruck when she saw the huge hall, with 6,000 spectators. The stage, or arena, to be precise, accommodated 64 swans, twice as many as a theatre stage. As she danced, she had to cover a large area, and the adagio and variations had to be danced in such a way that all the spectators surrounding the stage could see – in other words, she had to twirl to one side, turn her back, and then twirl to the other. And the applause from the huge hall was thunderous.

“Inside, I’m made of steel”

During that visit, Zakharova was asked to pose for Hello! Magazine. She ended up having to spend her only day off at the shoot. Sveta was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to express herself in English, and so she asked me to help her with the interview. And so that morning, I accompanied her and her mother, who had come to London specially for her daughter’s performances. We arrived at the Army and Navy Club, with its plush interior, to find the photographer, hair stylist and make-up artist waiting for us. Outfits by well-known designers had been put together for Svetlana to wear during the photo-session. And it was at this point that I discovered that Svetlana, quiet, reserved and mild of expression, was in fact a very tough individual with a steely character (in one interview, she even said: “Inside, I’m made of steel”.). Try as the stylist did to persuade her to have a striking hairdo, insisting that that would be better for the magazine, Sveta staunchly resisted every last entreaty: no, I’ll be photographed with my own hairdo. And the way she does her long, absolutely straight hair is to let it fall over her shoulders or, more often, gather it up into a bun.

Svetlana during the Hello! shoot
Photograph by Natasha Dissanayake ©

In exactly the same way, when she’s at the theatre, she always insists on her stage costumes differing from those worn by other ballerinas. No matter what people say to her about observing tradition, she always tries to get permission to change either the colour, or some other detail, so that she can feel that the costume really is hers. I think she’s the first ballerina I’ve ever heard say that she didn’t have a ballet idol when she was a child, an idol whom she worshipped or wanted to imitate in some way. When she was told at school to write an essay on “Whom I want to be like”, Svetlana couldn’t answer the question: she didn’t want to be like anyone.

“Doing the dishes – it’s just such a nice rest!”

In life as well, she remains true to herself, and doesn’t like to stand out from the crowd. She rarely uses make-up. “My wardrobe,” she says, “is mostly trousers and blouses, because I spend the whole day at the theatre. That way, it’s easier to move and to sit – ballet dancers don’t sit the same way as other people, they’re always looking to put their feet up so that they can have a rest.” There was a time, not long after she started working, that she was embarrassed to walk into a shop where there was a sale. “But now I realise that it’s a lot more interesting to go in and buy something nice on the cheap. Why should I pay over the odds when I’m the one earning the money? I can go into any shop – the only condition is that what I buy should be one of a kind.”

She doesn’t holiday at fashionable resorts, or go to the sea, because she doesn’t like swimming or getting a tan. Instead, she prefers forests, grass and trees. She used to spend her holidays with her grandmother in Ukraine, but now goes off into the mountains. She likes spending time at home, lying around, listening to music and reading. But there isn’t much time for that. She shares a flat with her mother, her elder brother and a poodle. Mum, of course, runs the household, and Svetlana doesn’t know how to cook, apart from making salads, but “I do love doing the dishes – it’s just such a nice rest”! She also dreams of learning to drive.

The prima ballerina is moving to the capital

But work is just about the only thing she’s got time for. She loves to rehearse, she likes “the process itself, when you can get a good feel for everything, and discover a few subtleties”. She has always tried to get as much as possible out of her teacher, Olga Moiseyeva, in order to avoid experiencing technical difficulties. And now, this is what the critics have to say about her: “starry, absolute stunning dancing”, “sparkling, diamond-sharp technique”, “her long, elegant legs rose to high extensions and her soft, pliant feet seemed to sculpt the air”, “she is pliant and precise, and can balance and spin with jaw-dropping ease”, “an arabesque to die for, and the most exquisite feet imaginable”.

It seemed as if she had reached the top. But Svetlana thought and felt otherwise. The end result of her reflections was made public last summer, when she announced that she was leaving the Mariinsky and moving to the Bolshoi Theatre. In the ballet world, this was sensational news. Someone leaving the incomparable Mariinsky ensemble, with its wonderfully rich repertoire? Questioned by numerous interviewers, Svetlana replied: “The Bolshoi Ballet has been asking me to join for seven years, but before, it was difficult for me to leave my cradle, the Mariinsky Theatre. But now, it seems, the time has come.”

Nikolai Tsiskaridze – “I felt a warmth coming from him”

She moved to Moscow in August and started preparing for a new role which she has never danced before - Aspiccia in La Fille du Pharaoh. Her new teacher is the Bolshoi Theatre’s former prima ballerina, Lyudmila Semenyaka. On 5 October, Zakharova performed for the first time as a solo artist at the Bolshoi Ballet, in Giselle. She was partnered by the Bolshoi Ballet’s Principal, Nikolai Tsiskaridze. They’ve danced together before, at the Mariinsky, the Bolshoi and La Scala. Last year, I had the occasion to see Zakharova and Tsiskaridze dancing the pas de deux from Act 2 of Giselle, at a gala concert in memory of Nureyev in Milan. Preceded by a piece full of bravura, they instantly managed to change the mood in the hall, and entice the viewing public into their sorrow. Both perfectly formed, with the elongated lines they have become famous for, they moved with great harmony. Svetlana’s pale, classical features were set off by Nikolai’s elegant, swarthy appearance. There wasn’t a single mistake. They danced their duet with the smoothness one associates with permanent partners, but it was the first time they had danced together on stage. Not just professionals of the highest order, but artists of captivating beauty.

Svetlana as Odile for the the Hello! shoot
Photograph by Natasha Dissanayake ©

In the spring of 2003, they danced together once again, when Svetlana was guesting at the Bolshoi. “When we started to prepare for Giselle, I was worried that he would bend his way, and I would bend mine, and each of us would be dancing on our own. We agreed everything in rehearsal, but performances are quite another matter: different thoughts, a different state. However, from the moment we met on stage, when he darted out from behind the cottage, I stopped and suddenly felt: I am Giselle, this is Albert, and there’s going to be a performance. I felt a certain warmth coming from him.”

See you in London in 2004

A new city, a new theatre, new roles and new partners – so many new things. But there’s something else new that Svetlana wants – a ballet specially devised for her. “I dream of some choreographer creating something ultra-ultra-modern for me, nothing to do with the classics. And it has to involve special effects and a powerful light. Unusual costumes, noise, crazy music, remarkable events, something where the spectators don’t have time to catch their breath.” Where might this happen – in Russia or abroad? It doesn’t matter. Svetlana’s taking up invitations to different countries, and her tours are already mapped out for the next two years. But she has said time and time again: “I want to dance and live in Russia”.

However, there is no urgent need for Londoners to rush to Moscow right now to see Zakharova and Tsiskaridze dancing. The famous impresario Victor and Lilian Hochhauser are planning to bring the Bolshoi Ballet to Covent Garden next summer. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that nothing prevents us from seeing the remarkable girl from Lutsk dancing with the celebrated Bolshoi.