Guest Blogger: Boris Eifman of Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg

“You have to love dancing to stick to it. 
It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, 
no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, 
no poems to be printed and sold, 
nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.”

– Merce Cunningham

CELEBRATE NATIONAL DANCE WEEK 
April 26 – May 5 
Join us during National Dance Week for new postings in Center Scene by noted artistic directors, choreographers and experts. 

Boris Eifman's Onegin © Valentin Baranovsky

Boris Eifman

By Boris Eifman
Artistic Director, Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg
www.EifmanBallet.ru

The language of body is one of the most ancient. It fixed the memory of sensual life of our ancestors’ many generations, making dance a unique way to express the emotional world of the human. With plastic, feelings, movements of human nature and the most complex intellectual and philosophical ideas cannot be displayed. So, in the artist’s hands, dance is a very delicate tool that can be used as a means to cognize the secrets of being. 

Boris Eifman's Onegin © Gene Schiavone

I have been engaged in the development of human body’s expressiveness for many decades, using it to investigate the individual’s inner and mental world. One of the most important creative tasks for me is to restore the lines that always united the ballet and psychological theatre, but were lost in the 20th century, an era of choreographic abstraction. Psychology must be inherent not only in drama, but also in dance. Keeping this fundamental approach, I create major ballet performances that are distinguished by acute intensity of emotions, serious dramatic basis and deep philosophical content. Coming to our ballets, the spectator finds the most important thing – catharsis, a powerful emotional shock that cleanses the soul. The concealed, true magic of art is expressed with similar impact. 

Dance is a universal language of spiritual communication, rejecting cultural, national or any other barriers. Reflecting on the eternal themes of freedom, love, human passions, our company performs with equal success in America, Asia, Europe, and Australia and constantly evokes in hearts of the audience the most vivid emotional response. I am delighted that, owing to the support of Ardani Artists Management and direction of Segerstrom Center for the Arts our theatre has an opportunity to perform its art on this excellent modern stage for interested and appreciative audience in America, every meeting with which becomes truly memorable for us. 

Boris Eifman's Russian Hamlet