... an accent... with this bit here
... just here

... Do it separately...
Turn the music on...

You need to attack with your arm
and you're just doing this.

You have to learn it.

One, two, three, four...

You're doing it as if you're playing the piano

This is the movement that's needed.
It's not a child's game of ackstraws.

Music!
One, two, three, four... Stronger.

You should count, Nastya, count.
You must keep track...

You do the movement and count.
You've done it three times now and got it wrong each time.

Stop... What on earth is going on...
I can't understand... Damn it all...

[Swears]

The legs were better before.
Show me your legs, Diana.

They were clumsier before.

Now though you can tell
that a ballerina fell under the train.

If we are speaking about innovation and tradition,
for me the concept of innovation of form doesn't exist.

I think that everything has already been invented.

And our generation has already exhausted all humanity's reserves.

I see new ideas only in the search for a new conception,
a new dramaturgy of movement.

Movement should be the carrier of a flow of emotions,
that materialize through movement.

The main thing is that for the past thirty years I have had my own theatre.

And that means the opportunity day in, day out
to create my own choreography

And to put my ideas into practice
to perfect my art.

The striving after a perfect production is the stimulus
that makes me seek out new ideas, makes me experiment.

Take the bed away, Dima

I'm asking you to be on stage!
Don't go away, please.

Today choreography as an art form is trying to go deeper
to uncover what has always been a mystery...

To penetrate the human soul,
a person's inner world.

I think that will always remain a mystery,
and it is fundamentally unknowable.

But, movement, as a very delicate instrument for exploring
the inner world of the human being,

Is capable of coming close to uncovering the mystery of the human soul.

Where's the carnival above?
Where are you standing?

Grandly! Solemnly! Ceremony...

The ballet theatre is a theatre of lofty dramaturgy,
of philosophical contemplation of life.

In its rules it leans towards and comes close to
the drama theatre.

To the theatre of social themes and important ideas

With the body, we dance with the body...
Pose, pose!!!

Plié... ninety degrees...

One, two...

Don't bounce, Pasha... Walk elegantly...

One, two...
Arms, stretch those arms...

Get those knees up everyone.

Seriozha! Pose! Pose! Fly away nicely!
March, march. One, and, pose!

By my nature I really do lean towards the theatre,
to its dramatic constructions.

We have found our own individual,
distinctive form of ballet performance

Like a theatrical spectacle

That is founded upon a synthesis of different forms of art
and here is this synthesis of different art forms.

That is the very thing that makes such a vivid theatrical spectacle
which carries a dramatic and emotional charge.

The spirituality of our art is nonetheless objective.

Shoulder... Hip...
Don't rush it! Pose, pose!

Body!... and run...
...arms, arms, arms!

... A triangle. Ilyusha, a triangle. Get that leg higher.

Pause, all freeze! Three, four...

Shoulder, shoulder!

Legs! You should lead her, lead her...
Face her, Yura...

In line! Attack together...

... one, two. One! Line...

Pose! Wider, one, two...
[Swears]

Legs! One two! Legs!

Arms! Pose, pose!

The language of the body is a secret that has still not been uncovered.

We provide an opportunity to learn about the human body
and new possibilities for choreography itself.

When you are talking about body language
there cannot be straightforward forms.

Because this language carries within it the memory
of the history of human development.

The whole history of human development
is founded upon movement.

And the experience accumulated over centuries carries
profound, wise philosophical information.

Hips! Hips! One, two!
Dance with the body!

Grotesque!
Make a good job of the attach this time!

Step! Attack!

Emotions and fantasies behave like other worlds,
while reason, the rational element brings you down to earth.

It says this is not real, impossible, simply absurd, a waste of time...

But if it was not for the fantasy that conducts me through life
there wouldn't be my theatre,

There wouldn't be that world, that plastic world that I have created.

Ladies and gentlemen, please.

And one, two
Hands together... Breathe in...

Plié... And one, two, three...
One... Vera, come on, dear.

One, two...
And double up. One...

Begin with the big arm; open the other arm.
Back on tiptoe.

Two and three. Arm slightly in front of you.
Do it all together, girls, then it really looks good.

Dima, arm through the first position.
Port de bras.

One, two, three and one, two, three...

Rond de jambe... one and two, and three...
One pirouette... one, two, three... фа сэ батю

Do we know what to do?
Four... rond de jambe, a fourth plié,

One tire-bouchon, дель фасэ, батю, дель фасэ
The whole thing soutenu, en dedans, three times twice over.

Only one pirouette, girls... a tire-bouchon
эль фасэ, and over here too батю.

Stay on the left leg.
One, two, three.

En l'air, flic-flac, half en deux jambes.
Demi flic-flc en dedans. Once. Coupé.

Today I am trying to realize my dream
of building a Palace of Dance in St Petersburg.

For over five years I have devoted part of my life to that palace,
when I could be giving it to my son, my theatre, myself...

But I believe that if I am destined to get that palace
then no-one will hinder me.

I created the theatre in 1977.
The first ten years were a struggle to survive, for the theatre's very existence.

I had the good fortune to be born in Russia,
slightly later than my brilliant predecessors Goleizovsky, Jacobson,...

Those tragic figures had their destinies spoiled by the system.

In the period of my formation it was possible to find some ways to compromise, in some dangerous game with the authorities in order to remain an artist

A free artist in an unfree country.

The year I spent in the army I was a choreographer in a military ensemble.

I lived at home, went on duty in the morning and was an absolutely free man.

I had an unofficial contract with the heads of the ensemble.

I am very grateful for that.

I was a rare instance of the army making proper use of someone.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the USSR
a Festival of the Arts was held in Leningrad.

It became a festival of Soviet multi-ethnic culture.

The programme included Khachaturian's ballet "Gayane" in a production by Eifman,

The choreographer of the Leningrad Academic Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet.

The forthcoming year is of special significance:
"This is the third year of the five-year plan, in many ways decisive for the fate of the whole."

Leonid Brezhnev said in an address on the 50th anniversary of the USSR.

It's hard to talk about what goes on behind the scenes,
about creative problems.

I remember my first productions.
I was thirty at the time.

I came up with some narrative miniatures.
They weren't simply dances to music,

But already little dramatic miniatures.

They expressed my ideas,

They had characters.

I think that is in my nature

I was always striving to dramatise dance, to introduce theatricality...

And always trying to understand what moves dance...

Stop, stop, stop...

I would like some heavier poses.
You should carry him in your arms all the time

Support him, put him on your arm
and accompany all his movements.

You put his head on your arm
It's on your arm and in that there is heaviness and tragedy.

His life is in the palm of your hand
You are carrying it.

It's a tragedy. He doesn't recognize you.
He's come from the madhouse.

He walks through you. He doesn't see you.
That's very important.

And you walk past her.
You can't see her. You're blind.

That's your tragedy.
He passes by you and doesn't recognize you.

And still, you sense her.
You've suddenly felt her warmth and you understand her.

Try.

Of course, at 50, at 40,
I was more naïve and romantic.

I am a late bloomer.

I am sure that in a few years the Palace of Dance will become a reality

As a result of the creative process and my world of fantasies.

It will become one of my creative works.

Today there's an accumulation of new ideas taking place and
in the 21st century

A new impulse for the development of ballet worldwide will come from St Petersburg.

Go on - one, two. That's right this time.

Come over here and stop! Like that

Girls, when you reach this position,
stand like this in profile.

And then, when you start to dance,
You just go off, and that's it.

The rehearsal process is also a sort of mini-performance.

Every performance involves an emotional cardiogram.

It is inherent in both my production
and the creative process itself.

It's a very painful and difficult process.

Producing choreography
is not simply devising movements to music.

Each movement should be filled with energy,
invested with artistry and finally submitted to the viewer.

The author, the artist always senses
when his work comes off and when it doesn't.

The most vivid and talented are those episodes
born out of moment of inspiration.

Inspiration is like a sign from above,
given by God.

That sign was easy to make reality and stuck in the memory
as a joyous moment of creativity.

Gently, three, four. One, two.
Let's take it from here. Music!

Go on to the next section.
You get down on the floor. Banging your head on the floor.

Don't rush, Yura.
Try this way with this hand, the other hand goes over here.

You're already above her,
then lead her yourself.

Let's try it slowly without the music.
You're a bit behind.

When they begin to shake, you're already coming out.
Keep going. One, two. Oxana, stay where you are.

As soon as he touches you,
you should go to him.

Look how far you've gone.
You should be almost level with him.

Here, watch again. One, and, two... Stop!
See, Oxana.

Then he turns you.
One, two, three... Pause! And one! A little, higher, vertical.

That's it!!!

Interaction with the actors is a very complex process.
Pure Dostoyevsky.

Painful dependence on the performer
and at the same time pulling away from each other.

The performer is both co-author and material,
a human being with their own psychology and their own physique.

You have a young body before you, which you penetrate into.

You can no longer be like that and so there is envy there and joy and the chance to implement your ideas.

That whole tangle of relations and contradictions is what makes up my life.

Every day I come to the ballet hall,
meet the performers,

Try to charge them up with my ideas,
emotions and desires.

It's one big, many-faced, highly complex family

One, two, three, four. Turn.
Stop!

Until she's dropped,
you don't get up.

And break away. One, two, arms.
Girls, run.

What moves dance?
What is the source of dance?

Of course the emotions that splatter from a person through movement.

Those emotions should be interpreted and expressed through choreography.

The capacity to immerse myself in my art
and to see beyond the bounds of what is permitted

Something more profound, some sort of secret...
It's a kind of alchemy.

But in order to see that secret, I had to travel a long painful road.

I always welcome any dialogue,
but not dissent.

In art you cannot have dissent,
only dialogue.

I stop short of cruelty
but I do dictate my will, my ideas, of course.

She should infect you with her energy.
It was better before. What was different?

A bit higher, Liana, and then together.
Let's try that again, shall we.

We'll go without the music. Some movement of that sort.
So, you've finished in the fifth position.

I don't argue with my contemporaries,
nor with my predecessors.

My task is to realize the gift that God gave me
and to devote my life to that.

My creative biography
defies rational description.

At some point in life you take a look inside yourself
and give reality to what you found there.

It's a peculiar act of self-realization.

Hand here, then here and then clasp yourself.
Let's try it. Music!

Girls, let's try changing.
We'll walk through it. How should you stand? Two, two and three...

That arm movement. Something's not working.
We need some other movement as well.

It's like religious ecstasy.
And over the top to here, through the passé.

Once more through a high passé.
You were too quick. Complete the movement fully.

Two movements altogether.
Music!

Make a pause here.

Everything that we do bears the imprint of the present day.

But at the same time it also bears the mark of the great history of human development.

The special sincerity of body language lies in the fact that the human body is incapable of lying.

This language of emotions bursts out from within and realizes itself through gesture.

I think that modern choreography was born out of religious and shamanic rituals.

By artistic bent I tend towards the ancient art of the shamans.

Don't rush. Slow with the heads.
Duets! Plasticity! Legs!

Pas de bourrée. Round again. Don't rush!
Widen the circle! Pose!

Pay attention! Go!
Don't be late!

Pose! Plié!

Rocking. Go!

Body, body... Marianna!
Well, where's the movement, Marianna? Go...

Maxim, how heavy you are!

Cover! Slowly!

I never strove for a revolution,
I always sought after an evolution of the creative process.

Art should proceed along the course of development
and not the destruction of accumulated experience,

Of the creative memory
that exists in every person.

I do not repudiate anything.
There should not be any bans in art.

Each of us chooses his own way in art.

Point, stop! Point, stop!

Elbows wider, girls!

Arms go, upwards!
Attack! Back!

Wheel! Wheel!
Once, twice, we're cutting!!!

Arm up! Attack! Strike, strike!
Arm forward! Strike!

Elbows!

Sharper! Strike, strike, strike!!!
Sharper!

Strike, strike!!!

Strike, strike!!!

Open those arms and drop slowly.

For me as an artist, as a choreographer, the erotic world in which I live

Is the world of my fantasies.

At the basis of all choreographic compositions
there is the male and female body.

The combination of those bodies is the tool of my art.

The sexiest scene in "Anna Karenina"
is her death, the final scene.

She is violated by twenty-four ballet dancers
twelve men and twelve women.

Her death beneath that human machine
is my conception of the death of Anna.

The meaning of the scene is
the violation of a woman by a huge group of people.

I think that everything important and significant
that I am supposed to do is still ahead of me, of course.

Right now I sense that I am approaching the period
when I know a lot and am still capable of a lot.

Now the culminating moment in my life has arrived
and I will be able to realize the ideas that excite me today.

Circle faster.

Liana, get a grip on yourself.

You've got a pretty little head;
something should work inside it.

I live in my own world of symbols and signs.
For me it has become very organic.

It's my language, with which I converse with the world.

The possibility to speak to the world in a stylized language and to be understood
is a great privilege for an artist.

Don't let your knee go en dedans.

Don't rush! Go! Drop sharply! Stop!

Damn it all, I'd really like to take these trousers off.
Then do it...

Three jetés, please
And two, and three...

That's it, thanks. Good work!
Only you don't move your back...

For me in my work,
in my every movement

There is the memory of my ancestors.
Blood is blood. And the blood memory does exist.

It would probably be very important
to do some biblical theme at some point

And create some sort of biblical mystery play
some new form of ballet production.

That's my dream.

If it ever matures and I sense my ability to achieve

Such a global task,
then I shall definitely do it, I'll do it.