© I.Zaharkin Pronin in reviews Bolshoi reviews Charlotte Kasner reviews

Having been given free rein to interview a Bolshoi dancer during their out of London tour, it occasioned a little surprise in the Company that I chose to talk to Ruslan Pronin, a first soloist. Although he does not have a particularly high international profile (as yet), I was struck by his dancing in London last season. As the gladiator and first shepherd in Spartacus, his charisma was immense, no mean feat in a company so imbued with stage presence. Since then he has gone on to impress as the Evil Genius in Grigorovich’s Swan Lake and Hilarion in the Giselle seen recently in Birmingham, Manchester, Southampton and the latter in Nottingham.

We conducted a brief interview between class and rehearsals before the final performances of the recent tour.

I have been particularly impressed by the dramatic presentation of your dancing. Is there anything specific in your training that would lend itself to such a presentation?

I take the usual classical (Vaganova-based) class and add a few of my own special exercises to keep me fit. I don’t think specifically about the dramatical side but I believe that it is necessary to create characters from the inside. I find dancing comic roles much harder than the dramatic although I eventually managed some success in Alyuta .

Are there any particular roles to which you aspire?

I am interested in expanding my range and dancing less classical roles but I prefer not to mention specific roles in case it is unlucky! My dream throughout training was to dance Ivan Grozny in Grigorovich’s ballet but unfortunately it is no longer in the repertoire. It was the same for many of us, the ambition to dance that role. I think that it is a great pity that it is not being danced now because it is a wonderful role. I have danced with Boris Eiffman’s company too which I found very interesting.

You have danced the Gladiator and First Shepherd in Spartacus; do you not wish to dance Spartacus? Well I would not say no! But there is more depth in the role of Ivan Grozny, so much there for a dancer to tackle.

I am surprised at the strength of your ambition to dance the Grigorovich roles. Do you think that it is hard for today’s dancers to understand fully roles and works that were created in Soviet times?

Well I would have thought that it might be so but it is not. Ivan Grozny is like the Russian Hamlet. Grigorovich’s work is not difficult to dance because the choreography can be read and understood. The image of a dictatorship coming from the inside is easier to understand than some of the more modern or abstract roles and works. All the roles in Grigorivich’s work are strong. I have considered dancing with his company in Krasnodar because I would like to dance these roles.
 

The Company tours so much more now than in the past: is it difficult, do you think, for the Company to maintain a unique profile?

I think that it is vital to retain the traditions of training and repertoire even though the Company perform in an international market. It may have lost some of its glamour but it is still unique. It is important to cast principal roles to reflect the best in the Company but it is hard for the management and artistic director to keep the traditions alive when there is so much pressure to innovate.

Your time with the Company spans the end of the Grigorovich era and has seen several changes of artistic director. Have you seen fundamental changes during that time?

Of course! It is not so easy as it was for Grigorovich who was able to control everything, like a dictator. It is harder for dancers too. Some things are better, some are worse; it is a complicated a subject. The base of the Company is the school; it is still intact and still produces world-beating dancers. The framework is still there. However there is constant pressure to produce new work and it is not easy with a large company and repertoire to maintain.

Internal relationships in the Company have changed a lot since I joined in 1989. Everything has changed. The budget is more generous now that it has been recently - equal now to other big theatres like the Met and Covent Garden. Now the question is how to use the money, what productions to choose and which dancers. Dancers are now free to choose and there is more competition between dancers.

Alas our time was curtailed by impending rehearsals. It remains to be seen whether Ruslan Pronin will be in London in the forthcoming season but it would be surprising if London does not see and hear a lot more of this dancer in the near future.