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Wheeldon accepted the Bolshoi’s invitation to produce a one-act ballet and informed the company that it will be based on “Hamlet”. In these circumstances Russian dancers usually start learning about the ‘source material’. And Nikolai Tsiskaridze always does more research than anyone else: from his interviews one can see that he is a well-educated and well-read person. Let’s try to look at the situation through his eyes: an English choreographer was invited to produce a ballet based on a great tragedy by the great Bard, and he, Tsiskaridze, was cast for the role of Hamlet! Isn’t it a dream for any performer, especially for a dancer who is 33! The choreographer came to the studio with the score and at a rehearsal instructed the dancers: “This is your mama” or “He murdered your father” as if it was indeed “Hamlet”, - but he admitted later that he had no concept for his ballet and started doing something else. Even one of the Boyz said to him: “You used one third of your time and did nothing.” It is not surprising that the dancer’s enthusiasm was short-lived.

If the choreographer hoped “to construct the ballet in a collaborative effort with the dancers”, the Bolshoi’s dancers wouldn’t have been novices to this approach. They danced the ballets created by foreign choreographers for other companies and later licensed to the Bolshoi. The Russian-trained choreographers, like Ratmansky, Possokhov and Poklitaru, have created their new ballets in collaboration with the Bolshoi dancers. Some foreign choreographers created also their NEW works for the Bolshoi: Roland Petit did “The Queen of Spades” with Tsiskaridze in the principal role of Hermann. They were collaborating and arguing as well - because they saw this character from different points of view. They listened to each other and believed in each other. Moreover, Wheeldon himself successfully worked with Tsiskaridze on “The Kings of the Dance” and created an adagio style solo for him and a group dance with three other Kings. So, the Bolshoi dancers proved many times that they have no problems in working with choreographers and can dance everything.
 

I didn’t get an impression that Christopher Wheeldon experienced “communication difficulties at all levels”. On the contrary. He was accommodated in a 5-star hotel close to the theatre (while the Ballet Boyz lived in a flat). The Artistic Director Ratmansky was very encouraging. The theatre directors invited Wheeldon to knock their door should he had any questions. The best dancers were cast for his ballet. The “lovely” costumes have been made for his future “Hamlet” but he decided to “throw them” away (his words). My impression was that the choreographer did not know what to do with one of the greatest plots ever. His admission on the train from St.Petersburg was very honest: “The Hamlet concept was not properly thought through in my mind.” He said that «“Hamlet” is too contradictory, doesn’t make sense as a story, it is too convoluted.» He was clearly not ready for “Hamlet”. And who can blame him? Very few are ready for that.

And even after the idea of “Hamlet” had been abandoned, there was no clarity about the new ballet: somebody in England was even asked to think about the title. The resulting “Elsinore”, or “Misericords” as it was called in Russia, remained a puzzle for me. When watching it at the Coliseum last August and while appreciating some interesting steps and combinations and finds by the choreographer, I struggled to understand what all this was about.

At the same time I liked Christopher’s sincerity when he confessed in trying at first “to create this atmosphere of false confidence” and said that he arrived at Moscow having “a preconceived idea about Russian dancers” and “a lot of misinformation I was fed about how difficult they were”. It is so nice of him to admit that it was “misinformation”.

I started this posting with my thanks to the Boyz. My second thanks goes to the Bolshoi’s excellent dancers whose personalities, beautiful physique and artistry made this ballet more watchable for me than it could have been without them.
 

In terms of the cultural gap I found as the most amusing the question that was asked about a photo in Nikolai Tsiskaridze’s flat: “Who is Madame Ulanova? Your teacher?” I am not trying here to justify or to judge anyone. I just try to look at the relationships portrayed in the film from a different angle.

P.S. Mentioning the language problem I want to give an example of wrong translation in this film. When a critic arrived – uninvited - to the rehearsal and was asked to leave the studio, Tsiskaridze said about critics: “They must ask OUR permission if they want to be here.” The subtitle was: “They must ask MY permission…” This distorted his words and showed him in a negative light. Even if an ad hoc interpreter made this mistake, the subtitles had to be professionally checked at the time of editing.