Vadim Muntagirov "In Conversation" with Deborah Weiss
13th June 2023
The Chair of the London Ballet Circle, Susan Dalgetty Ezra, warmly welcomed Vadim Muntagirov, a Principal of the Royal Ballet, to this evening’s conversation. His autobiography has just been published and the evening would finish with Vadim signing copies of this eagerly awaited book. Susan also welcomed dance writer and critic Deborah Weiss, who would lead this evening’s conversation – she echoed Susan’s words, saying the book was a fantastic read and just like having a conversation with Vadim!
Deborah commenced the conversation by asking Vadim how his career had begun. He was born in Chelyabinsk, in Russia, to parents who were both dancers. His childhood had been great and he had – and still maintains – a very close relationship with his parents. At the age of ten he was enrolled in the Perm Ballet School. He had anticipated the transition to boarding school would be easy; after all, his sister was already a pupil there. Perm was some ten hours train ride from his home and this was his first separation from his parents.
Boarding school life, however, proved to be so much tougher than he had expected. The teachers were strict, the regime uncompromising, the beds hard and uncomfortable. He was incredibly homesick and, sharing a dormitory with three other boys, felt that he dare not show his tears. He wrote many letters to his parents (some of which they have apparently kept) telling them how much he missed them. Even at thirty-three, he opined in an aside, being away from his parents didn’t really get any easier. Deborah commented that this situation must also have been difficult for his parents. Vadim agreed, and in the absence of mobile phones there was of course no instant communication.
Deborah wanted to know whether Vadim looked upon the Perm regime as cruel? Not really, he replied, because he had no prior expectations and simply assumed that this was the way such schools worked. Accordingly he must put up with it. He admitted being scared of his teachers and even more scared of the academic elements of school life. When his parents called he would over-dramatise this, telling them that he would never be able to understand certain concepts.
His ballet classes, however, were more successful and he started to improve and get good marks from his teachers. He was showing promise and at fourteen it was decided that he should move to the Moscow State Academy (the ‘Bolshoi’). Once there he found the teachers were just as strict and hard but, worse than that, the other students simply ignored him, regarding him as an ‘outsider’. He lasted just a month in Moscow before asking his father to return him to Perm, and once back there he was just so happy to be united again with his friends.
Deborah then went on to ask about competitions. At sixteen Vadim had competed in the 2006 Prix de Lausanne. He recollected clearly his first time abroad in Europe, especially the smells of the food shops. He was always hungry and it all seemed wonderful!
The competition itself, however, was stressful. He had no knowledge at all of the English language and consequently felt completely at sea. Additionally the Prix involved contemporary dance of which he had no experience. In one contemporary improvisation class when asked to reimagine the balcony scene with Juliet all he could think of were elements of a variation from Don Quixote! A further difficulty was the rake on the studio stage which again he had never experienced. And to cap it all, his classical solo did not go as planned and his teacher was not best pleased with him.
But, said Deborah, there was a happy ending! The silver medal, replied Vadim, a prize which allowed him to choose his next ballet school. So you selected the Royal Ballet School because it is the best, suggested Deborah. Not really, responded Vadim, who now realised that he was then somewhat naïve in his approach to life. He had opted to come to London after having spoken at Lausanne with fellow Russian dancer Sergei Polunin. Sergei was with the Royal Ballet and persuaded Vadim to give it a try. He also spoke at length with his parents who reassured him that a move to London would be fine. At that time he had absolutely no knowledge of the School’s amazing history, for instance, not recognising Margot Fonteyn’s picture!
Once in London he again felt alone and isolated, still with absolutely no knowledge of English. Fortunately he found himself sharing accommodation with fellow dancer Benjamin Ella, who he had previously met at the Prix de Lausanne, and initially they had to communicate as well as they could with sign language. Ben was extremely helpful and they became close friends. Vadim also paid tribute to Gailene Stock, then Director of the Royal Ballet School, who, although he may not have recognised it at the time, had helped him considerably along the way.
The teaching at the school was very different from that which he had experienced in Russia, being more open and less restrictive. When asked if he had an ambition to ‘cross over the bridge’ and join the company he again showed that he hadn’t really mapped out his career. He just thought of how lucky he had been to secure the place at the school. So it happened that in his graduation year (2009) he was approached by Wayne Eagling and offered a contract to join the English National Ballet (ENB). Vadim hadn’t been planning to join the ENB – that company was simply the first to make him an offer.
Once with the ENB his career developed rapidly. His fellow dancers were all extremely friendly and helpful. He was immediately thrown into roles on stage, dancing on tour with the company within a month of joining. His early experience with ENB had very quickly allowed him to become confident on stage.
Very soon he commenced preparation for the role of Albrecht in Giselle and started to dance with Daria Klimentová, a ballerina near the end of her career and nearly twenty years his senior. Initially he had felt like a young student dancing with his teacher but she had been so encouraging and he started to feel like a proper professional dancer. She had even invited him to take part in her summer gala in Prague – a move which encouraged him to think that he had passed the audition!
After about a year he was chosen to perform Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake with guest star Polina Semionova, but he had to rehearse the role with Daria. Just before the run began, the company heard that Semionova had failed to obtain an entry visa and accordingly the show had to go on with Klimentová in the part. Nevertheless, Swan Lake was an enormous success, and dancing with Daria was wonderful. He went on to partner Daria in many different shows; the partnership really worked for both of them and he couldn’t have asked for more.
After some time Vadim had danced most of the ENB’s repertoire and wanted to try something new. And he was also working less with Daria – ‘sometimes with three girls a day’ he said. Tamara Rojo first thing in the morning, before she had to leave her rehearsal to attend to administrative matters as the Artistic Director of ENB; then perhaps Alina Cojocaru, getting around to Daria in late afternoon. By this time he was feeling exhausted but Daria would not let him take things easy in any way – she insisted on full-on commitment.
Accordingly Vadim started thinking about his future and arranged to meet Kevin O’Hare after a show – at a venue he couldn’t subsequently locate. With hindsight he realised that yet again he had not fully realised the significance of an event which had the possibility of affecting the rest of his career in ballet. However, fortunately he was able to agree a move to the Royal Ballet, which he joined as a Principal in 2014.
Vadim went on to talk about the way in which he approaches fitness. He does not describe himself as an athlete, although he is always aware of his body and what he has to do to ensure he can move easily. He keeps fit by being continually busy in the studio and accordingly extra exercises, such as Pilates, are seldom necessary. But it was important to look after yourself. For instance, after a MacMillan ballet which involved some unusual lifts he suffered neck spasms which required him to strengthen his upper body.
‘And you don’t count the music?’ Vadim replied that he feels the music inside himself, and finds that counting can interfere with the way in which the dancer is acting the story of the ballet. The story is everything, moving on with the music; the steps then become woven into the story. That is certainly the situation with the classical ballets, although he acknowledged that with some modern works counting may be necessary.
Sometimes when teaching he may ask a student why they are performing a particular step. Because that’s what I have been taught to do at that point may be the reply. But that’s surely the wrong answer. A step – any step – is danced because it expresses your feelings and shows a particular element of the story, and that should be the focus of the dancer.
Vadim was asked about dancing Ashton ballets, in particular Symphonic Variations. A lyrical but actually rather hard ballet, said Vadim, incorporating some of Ashton’s signature lifts. Most lifts involve the girl being raised up high, essentially over your head, so that your arms could be fully extended and ‘lock’ into place. These Ashton lifts take the girl to some sort of halfway position, in which the man has to continually support her on flexed arms, in constant tension. The ballerina must appear to be floating – beautiful but very bad for her partner’s arms! And the audience must believe that it is all effortless.
He was then asked about other noted dancers with whom he had worked. Anthony Dowell had just been rehearsing A Month in the Country for the Japanese tour in which Vadim would dance with Laura Morera in her final appearances with the company. Anthony was easy to work with, telling him that a British dancer should not have to explain to a Russian dancer how to interpret a Russian story!
Irek Mukhamedov was a quite different individual with a Bolshoi style approach to rehearsals. In Winter Dreams, dancing the role which had originally been built on Irek, he had been pushed way out of his comfort zone; told he should give ‘200% even if you fall’. And fall Vadim did, at the first stage call. But Irek said that he loved it; keep at it!
Turning now to the Covid pandemic – this had changed the focus of so many people. Vadim said that it provided him with the opportunity to coach and teach, although he had in fact done some teaching when he was just twenty, thanks to Daria’s summer classes in Prague. He enjoyed teaching and believed that he also learned from it for his own performances. It was a great feeling if, through appropriate corrections, you could enable a dancer to look better in their role. It is no longer about you; instead you are passing on your knowledge and experience to a new generation.
Vadim admitted to being extremely self-critical. Thinking about a forthcoming show might give him a sleepless night. He could be nervous because he always wanted to do well and wondered whether that attitude arose from his early days at Perm. Many dancers were super critical of their own work. Vadim recalled dancing with Marianela Nuñez on one tour. He had been ridiculously critical of his own performance, which Marianela had said was excellent. Conversely, she had been extra critical of her own superb performance.
Sometimes there were other ‘non-dancing’ elements of a show which might cause uncertainty. For instance, in The Two Pigeons two birds have to be brought on to the stage, balanced on the dancer, and you have to keep saying to yourself ‘please don’t fly away before I get to the right spot’…. And there is of course the pony in La Fille mal Gardée and one keeps wondering, when it is on stage, whether it will behave itself….
Finally Deborah asked whether, even with his vast experience of playing so many different roles, he would still like some particular choreographer to build a role on him. Vadim replied that he had no choreographer nor story in mind, but he would like to feel that his dancing had inspired someone. Maybe that will happen one day….
Susan, as Chair of the London Ballet Circle, thanked both Vadim and Deborah most sincerely for proving to be such an effective team in their conversation. In particular she had been delighted to learn that Vadim would be partnering Laura Morera in performances during her final tour with the Royal Ballet. Overall it had been a terrific evening, and we were all most grateful to them both.
Written by Trevor Rothwell, and approved by Vadim Muntagirov and Deborah Weiss
© Copyright LBC
