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Covent Garden enlists Cossacks for a rare Tchaikovsky opera
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent5 Oct 2009
The Royal Opera House has recruited six Cossack dancers for its premiere of a rare Tchaikovsky comic opera.
Alastair Marriott, the choreographer for the little-known work The Tsarina's Slippers, has tracked down traditionally-trained performers for the work which is set in the Ukraine on Christmas Eve. He said ballet dancers often attempted a form of Cossack dancing in ballets like The Nutcracker.
However the true moves were virtually impossible for classically-trained dancers - meaning real Cossacks had to be found.
"We thought we needed something really authentic so we've got real Cossack dancers," he said.
"Ballet dancers find the moves really uncomfortable. It's really hard on your knees and some of the things the Cossacks can do is really frightening.
"It's a bit like break dancing - weird handstands where you throw yourself over your hand. Genuine Cossacks are quite hard to get hold of but it will be thrilling for the production." Among the recruits is Dmitry Zakirov, 33, who trained in traditional Russian folk dancing at one of Moscow's top dance studios, improved his Cossack dancing during service in the Russian army and then worked as a dancer on cruise ships for 10 years. He moved to Cricklewood two years ago and works as an estate agent but auditioned for the Royal Opera House through the Chelski Cossacks, with whom he dances at corporate and other events.
"When I came to Britain, one of my friends was also a Russian dancer who gave me a telephone number and that's how I got into the Chelski Cossacks. It's not even all Russian people.
"They have people who like this kind of dancing and a British guy who was adopted by a Ukrainian family. They're just totally interested in it."
He said he was thrilled to get the chance to dance at Covent Garden.
"It's a great honour. When I walked into the Royal Opera House rehearsal studio, it was a surreal experience, thinking of all the big names who had done their barre exercises in the same place. When I learned how to dance, you knew all these big names like the Bolshoi and I know the Royal Opera House was in Covent Garden." The difference between classical ballet and Cossack dancing is that the muscles work in a completely different way, Mr Zakirov said.
"With folk, you don't have to be so precise. The most important thing is to see the sparkle in your eyes."
However, he fears it is too late now to resurrect a full-time career in dance. "Unfortunately the earning potential is not so good being a dancer unless you're John Travolta in a big movie," he said.
Francesco Zambello, who is directing the opera which has equal measures of ballet, said she had no idea why it had not been performed before at Covent Garden - or, indeed by the Bolshoi or the Kirov/Mariinsky - before.
"It's an absolute delight," she said. "It is Tchaikovsky's best-kept secret."
Cossacks first emerged as distinct communities - or hosts - in what is now Russia and Ukraine in the 15th century, and became important to the military might of the Russian tsars as feared fighters, often on horseback.
They were persecuted under Stalin but have had a renaissance since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russian army has Cossack units once again.
The Tsarina's Slippers will run from 20 November to 8 December.
