Creating for Volodia
Vladimir Vassiliev
The first time I ever saw Derevianko was at one of the Bolshoy School’s recitals. He was still a young boy, I think he was in the third year. Even back then, he used to amaze us all on account of his exceptional physical characteristics. His legs were incredibly ..... and his movements very, very light. By comparison with him, the girls all looked positively heavy!
Nevertheless, I tried not to place too many hopes in the boy because it is often the case that a young dancer who is physically gifted fails to grow artistically. When I worked with Derevianko in “Icarus” and “Macbeth” a few years later, I was therefore overjoyed to discover that the boy with the extraordinary physique had also grown into a true artist; indeed, he was continuously growing. I have always admired those artists are not in competition with their colleagues but, rather, with themselves. It was clear that Derevianko belonged to this category.
It was Volodia’s precision that I loved then, and still love today: the perfect graphical quality of his body and, over and beyond this, his unbounded emotional energy. He has a very wide range, not when it comes to interpretation (insofar as he can interpret any kind of role, from the tragic to the comical), but from the point of view of choreography. What I mean is that Volodia is able to execute any kind of step in the most perfect way - both the small and the grand ones, the dramatic gestures and the slow ones alike. Clearly, it is certain movements that become a dancer’s hallmark: in Volodia’s case it is jetés and arabesques. But he is equally capable of performing the entire gamut of ballet steps and movements, and this is a rare quality indeed.
From the perspective of the choreographer, which is what I am today, working with Volodia is like working with a thriving, malleable substance like clay. He has painted all the roles I created for him in strong colours, starting with the highly original character of the witch in “Macbeth”. I missed him terribly when I had to re-stage that same ballet without him. Moreover, Volodia is able to interpret roles that were originally created for other dancers, making them look even better. An example is the role of Paganini, in Lavrovsky’s ballet by the same name, which I re-staged for him at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples in 1988.
I have always been of the opinion that Volodia requires his own personal repertoire. He needs original roles in order to exploit to the full his special qualities as a dancer and an interpreter. I was able to give him some of these special roles and I hope that my destiny as a choreographer will hold many more opportunities to work beside him in the future.
Vladimir Vassiliev
Uwe Scholz
When I asked Vladimir Derevianko to join my company in Zurich I began creating roles for him straight away. The first was “Firebird” which I literally sculpted on him. The same can be said about “Scarlet and Black” in which Vladimir dances the principal role, that of Julien Sorel.
I had been wanting to produce a ballet based on Stendhal’s famous novel for some time and when I met Derevianko I realised that I had finally found my Julien Sorel. Derevianko has also danced the leading role in my ballet “Die Schöpfung” (The Creation). This is a semi-abstract ballet in which the recitativi from Haydn’s oratorio are visualized thanks to the dancers. With Derevianko, “Die Schöpfung” became a one-man show because not only did I give him the Archangel Raphael’s recitativo, but also almost all the other ones too. This is because Vladimir is the ideal dancer for representing all the angels in Heaven. His aspect is so androgynous, he seems supernatural – he certainly does not look like a creature of the earth.
I have an “explosive” relationship with Derevianko! This is because we have very similar personalities. We are both Capricorns, our birthdays are close and we are the same age. It is both easy and hard to work together. Together we have grown artistically in these past years. I still have lots of ideas I want to bring to life with Vladimir because he is, for me, a perennial source of inspiration.
Uwe Scholz
John Neumeier
As a choreographer I have always been fascinated by the figure of the outsider and that is why I chose Vladimir Derevianko for the character of the King in “Illusionen – wie Schwanensee”. The King is isolated from all those who surround him and we can say that, in a way, Vladimir is “the” outsider among dancers. Although he is a star and a danseur noble, he definitely does not have the banal stereotype physique of the principal male dancer - a cliché that I detest. For this reason, he was the ideal interpreter for a choreographer like me who wants to enrich the literature of dance by creating unusual roles.
I am fascinated by the way that Derevianko, who has such great simplicity and is so unassuming in everyday life, suddenly transforms himself into a great dancer. King Ludwig in “Illusionen” could not be the typical, banal prince of the great classical ballets. The role of Ludwig certainly requires the aesthetic and the virtuoso qualities of the danseur noble but, in addition, fragility, sensitivity and vulnerability. I found all of these characteristics, together with a truly aristocratic bearing, in Vladimir Derevianko.
Drosselmeyer in my “Nutcracker” is also something of an exotic beast and that is why the role suits Derevianko so admirably. This character was inspired by the figure of the great 19th century choreographer Marius Petipa who, like all creators, was a terribly vulnerable being. Apart from having a healthy sense of humour, the dancer who interprets Drosselmeyer-Petipa needs to love dance through and through – just like Vladimir Derevianko.
John Neumeier
Janine Charrat
Vladimir Derevianko is an exceptional dancer and he was the ideal interpreter for my ballet “’Adame Miroir”. The first dancer to ever dance this role was Roland Petit in 1948 and I had to modify the choreography for Valdimir because his technique is by far greater than Petit’s was. Vladimir obviously has the grand Russian technique, but he is different from the typical Russian dancers who are always so flashy and acrobatic. Vladimir, on the other hand, never makes performs a movement in dance just for the sake of it, he never goes over the top when it comes to jumps and turns just for the sake of getting the audience to clap harder. On the contrary, he puts meaning into every step he takes.
Moreover, Vladimir is very, very refined - and refinement, when it comes to male dancers, is a very rare quality indeed. He makes me think of beautiful, delicately-made lace....
Derevianko is expressive, moving and poetic. In “’Adame Miroir” he reminded me of the great French mime artists Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcel Marceau. He is very deep and, what’s more, he’s an artist from head to toe. Slender and delicate, he was so lovable in his sailor-suit. He was a real Pierrot Lunaire.
Janine Charrat
Amedeo Amodio
Vladimir Derevianko’s body is an incredibly sinuous and supple instrument. He is capable of executing movements and technical feats that very few other dancers can manage. He can lift his leg 180 degrees high and bend his body just like a contortionist. He has natural physical qualities that other dancers simply do not have. Yet, Derevianko’s main features are on the inside, not on the outside. They reside not in his external movements, in his jumps and splits, but rather, in his interpretation - which stems from within. Derevianko’s rendering of a character is unique, no other dancer can compete with him, because he lives the role inside himself. That is why when I created roles for Derevianko, I did not stop at his physical talents, like other choreographers – who are literally overwhelmed by the exceptional technical skills of this dancer – do, but I first set about understanding what is going on inside him and, then, tried to bring it out.
What really strikes one about Derevianko is his sensitivity. You are aware of this when he moves, but even more so when he is still, because during those instances something continues to move within him. Even when Volodia is immobile, he “vibrates”. Just think of the scene where he jumps out of the box in Act I of my “Nutcracker”. He is unrecognizable because his face is completely covered by a mask. And yet, we sense that it is him immediately, because he emanates a special energy. We can feel his presence.
When a choreographer works with a dancer who has such distinctive physical characteristics such as Volodia, he has to be able to “dose” them carefully because he would be diminishing the dancer’s artistic vocabulary by making him show off his brilliant technique just for the sake of it. That is why the roles which I tailor-made for Derevianko – Mazapegul, Mercutio, Nutcracker – do not concentrate on his technique but, rather, on his expressivity. As for the technique, that shines through anyway. Just think of him as Mercutio in “Romeo and Juliet”, when he evokes Queen Mab. At that moment his body is just like a bow, shooting arrows all over the place, but his virtuoso qualities become expression because his body reflects Mercutio’s imagination - from which ideas come shooting out, just like arrows. Derevianko’s virtuoso brilliance is always expressive. This is what makes him a unique dancer.
Amedeo Amodio
Luciano Cannito
Why did I choose Derevianko for the triple role of God, Witch and Demon in my ballet “Demons”? In the first place because of his highly original physique. Volodia really does personify the Greek daimon, who is not a negative being but, rather, a supernatural one. Indeed, I would say that it is hard to find the right adjectives to describe Derevianko. He is simply the greatest dancer in the world, he is unique.
Furthermore, Vladimir has an overflowing personality, to say the least. His physical personality is very strong. You only need to spend a few minutes beside him to feel the intense energy that he emanates. That being said, who else could have interpreted my “Demons”? Such strong physical qualities made Derevianko the perfect dancer for the role of Dionysius, the god of transgression, symbol of that “physicalness” so typical of the culture of Ancient Greece which attributed physical charactertistics even to its gods.
The second role which Derevianko dances in “Demons” is that of a witch who is possessed by the Devil. Something very strange happened the first time that Derevianko and I met in the rehearsal room: while I was explaining the ballet and the Witch’s role to him, I had the distinct impression that Volodia had tuned out and was no longer listening to me. There and then I thought he was assuming an attitude of superiority, that he was playing the star. Then I realised that he was already imagining himself in the role and that he was already mentally interpreting it. In a way, he was, just like the Witch in “Demons”, in a state of trance. An artist is truly a great one when he is able to “become” (not simply to “interpret”) a character. Volodia does this continuously: other persons, other bodies, live within his own body, just as they live within that of the possessed Witch.
It is marvellous to work with Vladimir: when I enter the rehearsal room, I normally don’t have set ideas and so the dancer is free to offer me inspiration: Vladimir has so much inspiration to offer! He is a modern actor, as well as a modern dancer. He is supple and has an open mind. The last solo in “Demons”, for example, blends my style with Volodia’s classical technique. A truly creative process occurred between the two of us. I don’t often use the word “creative” because it smacks of “divinity” but in this case, as we are speaking about Derevianko, I think the word is really and truly appropriate!
Luciano Cannito
Gérard Bohbot
I decided that Vladimir Derevianko was the ideal dancer for the role of Egon Schiele when I saw him...in a photograph! Strange as it may seem, a photo can say a lot about a dancer: one can sense what his personality is from a photograph, even smell the fragrance of his interpretation.
Derevianko had the perfect phsyique for Egon Schiele. He didn’t actually look like him, but that didn’t matter. He had something inside, a sort of inner malaise, which made him resemble the Viennese painter.
When I started working with Vladimir, I was initially a bit scared. I knew that he was a star of the Bolshoy and that he had a brilliant technique, so I was afraid that he was going to take on this role with a dose of self-importance. Instead, I realised that Vladimir is an artist who is continually challenging himself. He faces his roles with humility, he modulates his technique according to what the role requires, he avoids doing what instead a lot of his colleagues do, that is to “bend” the role to suit their own techniques.
You would think that Vladimir had studied with Stanislavsky who used to say that it is the interpreter who “creates” the role. In “Egonie” Vladimir really was Egon. He opened himself completely and gave the part everything he had. I can say that he brought Egon Schiele to life, that he gave the role its vital sap, he gave himself entirely to it, without qualms, without holding anything back. He enriched the part and he too was enriched by it. The more you give the character that you interpret, the more it gives you in return.
Vladimir believes fully in what he does and that is why he is always so convincing. In “Egonie” he succeeded in conveying the conflict that characterised Schiele’s life, for the simple reason that Derevianko himself is a dancer in whom strong contrasts co-exist. He brought his own inner conflicts to Egon Schiele’s and that is why he was able to give such a memorable rendering of this character.
Gérard Bohbot
Derevianko with his long elegant line , his extraordinary flexibility and his intuitive grasp of the phisical language of the italian “commedia dell’arte”
made a definite Pierrot in my ballet “Pierrot Lunaire”.
He understood that one is Pierrot. One cannot act Pierrot.