Interview with Daniil Gleikhengauz
from: https://www.figurist.ru/zhurnal_moskovkii_figurist/Figurist_1_2019.pdf
translation: me
Q: Daniil, you as an athlete have a unique experience of working first in single skating under the guidance of coaches such as Natalia Dubinskaya, Viktor Kudryavtsev, Alla Belyaev, and then a three-year period of ice dance with Alexander Zhulin. What of this experience influenced your desire to become a choreographer? After all, the career in singles was a major component of your
sporting fate and being a choreographer is a non-standard choice.
A: Probably, the first thing that affected me was that my mother was a ballet dancer of the Bolshoi Theater, who had been preparing me for a ballet career from childhood. I studied choreography as long as I can remember, so I didn’t have much choice.
Q: Where did figure skating come from?
A: They accept kids into ballet school from 9 years of age, in figure skating - from 4. I was taken to the rink so I would just get stronger, learned to skate, developed my coordination. But when the time came, by the age of 9 I had already won too many children's competitions, and all the coaches said that I was a promising boy, so when my mother thought of taking me to ballet school, I was totally against it. So much against it that mom gave up. Although the amount of choreography in my life was not reduced. Mom studied with me 24 hours a day, I was completely under her control, and my entire day was scheduled. The day began with ice training at 7 am, then we went to school for a couple of classes, after school she met me with food in containers, while I was eating, I was taken to the next training session. Then we went home, and there, with my mother, I studied choreography. Then I did my homework and went to bed. Of course, in childhood I had moments of negative attitudes towards my mother and her initiatives. Then it seemed to me that she tortured me.
Q: Today it does not seem so, does it?
A: Of course, with time, the older I got, the more I realized that children are not always able to assess why parents demand something from them and insist on it. As children, we often get angry, offended by our parents, who imprison us for lessons when we want to play with friends or watch cartoons. Now when I started working with children myself, I understand how important it is for parents to take care of their children. And vice versa, I see how difficult it is for children who do not feel the love and care of their parents, because they do not devote time to them, do not delve into their lives. Therefore, I always try to convey to our athletes the idea that parental care should be appreciated. It is easier for me to do this, since I have not yet gone so far from them in age and I remember very well how I myself responded to parental remarks and requirements.
Q: How did you become the choreographer of team Tutberidze?
A: Eteri Georgievna asked Ilya Averbukh for help to find a choreographer for her team. He recommended me.
Q: How was the process of joining the team?
A: Of course, at first they looked at me: how I find a common language [translator: not sure about the best expression for this - kind of making contact, establishing communication] with the athletes, how I teach gliding, how I work with jumps, what technique I have, and so on, in order to understand whether we can come to some common point. It was necessary because in our team there is no division of labor, that someone works with gliding, someone with spins, and someone else with jumps. We are all completely interchangeable, we three (and now four, including Sergey Rozanov) have an absolutely common technique of teaching the elements, and we can all tell the athlete at any time how and what to do. This is convenient in work, because any of us can go to competitions with athletes or, on the contrary, stay alone on the rink with a group and there will be no problems.
Q: You were accepted to the group as a choreography tutor?
A: Yes, at first I was training the programs with the students, but in the process I began to suggest something in music, in ideas. It was then that I voiced out loud my dream of choreographing a "Swan Lake" program. I suggested this idea to Yulia Lipnitskaya, but she refused. As result, this program in the Olympic season was choreographed for Alina Zagitova.
Q: How did you grow up as an independent choreographer? How did this transformation happen?
A: Rather, we need to talk about how I was able to prove to Eteri Georgievna that I can choreograph. After all, before I came to work in her group, I had been choreographing programs in Moskvich for three years. By that time, I have already done about 80 programs. Plus, literally a month before coming to her (and it was September-October 2015), I just returned from Sochi, where I helped Averbukh to choreograph "Carmen". So by that time I already had experience of working with both Olympic champions and small children. I didn’t have any fear or insecurity in my abilities. I was pretty sure of myself. I only needed her to believe in me.
Q: To whom did you choreograph your first program?
A: We had a very good contact with Adyan Pitkeev, who told Eteri Georgievna that he wants to get programs with me. She agreed, although she already had an agreement with Marina Zoueva to choreograph programs for Adyan in USA. It was decided that Zoueva would make him the free program, and I would do the short. This was my first big job. In the same year, at summer camp in Novogorsk, I began to choreograph programs to kids from the group, all but Zhenya Medvedeva, for whom Averbukh choreographed the "I hear, I don’t hear" program [translator: 2015-16, W.E. one]. It all happened in that season.
Q: It was a brilliant program. It is a pity that Lipnitskaya back then also refused it?
A: In our group, there were more than once situations when someone refused, and another athlete became a champion with that program. But lately no one else refuses anymore.
Q: Daniil, You agree that one thing is when the choreographer works in the freelance mode and is invited by the athlete for a specific program. And it is completely different when the choreographer works in a team not only as a coach, but also as a choreographer who has to create two programs for each athlete per season. Tell us how you cope with this challenge, what are your inspirations, where you take strength and so on.
A: You are right: being a guest choreographer is simpler, because it is always an interesting creative story, because the athlete’s ambitions and his potential give the choreographer an opportunity to use the most daring ideas. It is much more difficult from season to season to find ideas, music for each athlete, and at different levels. In our group, the choreographing period starts from the end of April - as soon as the last competition ends - and to September inclusive. The biggest difficulty lies in the number of programs, but we share this burden with Eteri Georgievna, who always participates in the choice of music and is always on the ice during any choreography work. First, we create programs for the main athletes, then for juniors, and then for 9-10 years old children, who we also have in the group. As a rule, this happens at the training camp in Novogorsk, where we have four trainings a day - two for the older group and two for the younger one. From the inside, this process looks like this: we set up programs all day, in the evening we are going to listen to music in the room and sketch some ideas. Therefore, camp in Novogorsk requires endurance and strength. We are saved by the fact that we are all rested before it, after holidays, although after the choreographing period, there is a desire to rest somewhere in a quiet place. But around the end of August, the first competitions are already going, and we are entering the main season.
Q: So there is no more rest?
A: Why? In our group, it is generally accepted that every time you are in a competition, you are on a holiday, on vacation.
Q: How do you manage from year to year to master this whole load of program productions? How do you avoid repeats? Avoid the temptation to pass on to another athlete a previously used program?
A: About the "inheritance" of programs: categorical "no" to this approach. To do it is to not respect either the athletes, or the spectators, nor ourselves. Of course, choreographing thirty programs every season is difficult, energy-consuming, but there is no other way. Plus, I love this business, I get pleasure from the process, and as long as I have the strength, and most importantly, the desire, I think everything will be all right. For me, there is nothing more pleasant than to spend time searching for music, inspiration, and then come to Eteri Georgievna with this and say - that’s it, I done it. And if I hear in response, yes, this is cool, then I have no greater joy. When later we all go to the ice, when everyone is creative, including the athlete, then we get the coolest and most interesting programs. I do not really like the word "masterpieces", but you can say that it turns out into a special and unique product.
Q: Still, how does this happen in practice? The choreographer starts with an athlete and selects music, a program for him, or, conversely, an athlete is selected for a program that was created?
A: I would say it happens in different cases in different ways. For example, I really wanted to make Swan Lake and, accordingly, I was looking, waiting for an athlete to fit this idea. She was Alina Zagitova, because not every skater can be a black swan. But it happens differently too: you need to choreograph a program for an athlete from the group, and you get on the same wave with him, select a music, an idea. For example, you look at Sasha Trusova and see that such energy emanates from her that you cannot tame it, and a lyric program is hardly suitable for her. At the same time, Alyona Kostornaya seems to be born for romantic programs. However, if this year each of them skates their inherent programs, this does not mean that the next season will be the same. Sasha can not always skate as some kind of fighter, just as Alyona will not always go out as a "princess". The task of the choreographer is to develop athletes, to expand the palette of their stylistic capabilities, which we do in training: we learn some movements, we make a bunch of steps to different music, we dance to all sort of music styles off the ice and so on.
Q: This season you made programs for your athletes with famous hits: Alina Zagitova performed to the Phantom of the Opera and Carmen, Alena Kostornaya to the Romeo and Juliet, Alexandra Trusova to the soundtrack of Kill Bill and the Fifth Element. This is due to the fact that the characters created for them are familiar and understandable to the viewer?
A: I understand the question. You have listed programs whose music is really known to everyone, but Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Usacheva, Valiyeva and others, they got music that for many is entirely unidetifiable and not overused, music which, one can say, we “discovered”. Answering the question, I adhere to the 50/50 ratio. For one program, take a hit, for the other - an unknown track. Sometimes we take famous music, but we portray something unexpected. For example, Polina Tsurskaya once had a program to the soundtrack of the series "Game of Thrones", but the concept of the program was in no way connected with the series. As for Alina and her two programs, here we worked from the fact that she is able to skate to these hits better than all the others who previously skated to Phantom of the Opera and Carmen. It was my desire, because I never choreographed to this music. The goal was to make her such programs, that for another three or four years no one would take this music, knowing that they would not perform them better than Zagitova did.
Q: Is the choreographer able to turn into a program skated to unknown music into a hit?
A: Of course, this is the job of the choreographer. But only under the condition that this unknown music will be overlapped with an unexpected idea, some interesting character or the choreography of the program will be new, original. In addition, it is important that the athlete has enough qualification to display this program, otherwise it will be a complete failure. Although, I think it is still a big failure when famous music is used in mediocre programs for weak skaters.
Q: At what point you understand that this particular music can create a full-fledged, strong image?
A: Probably, at the moment when, alone, you listen to the music with headphones on and invent an idea, you see a character, a program. But all these ideas must pass the check-control with Eteri Georgievna. If an idea is weak or too strange (sometimes it happens to me), then it will not go through her filter. She can say: “It's great, but without the libretto, no one will understand, how will you explain the program to people?” Then we either correct the idea or refuse it. We make decisions together, because there are no mistakes allowed in this business.
Q: Which programs are the best in your rating?
A: I probably will not surprise anyone with my choice, because there are really the best programs of our time. I grew up on the programs of Nikolai Morozov for Alexei Yagudin - “Winter”, “The Man in the Iron Mask”. As child I was so impressed by these programs that, going out on the ice, the first thing I did was to replicate the steps and movements from those. The next were the programs of Stephane Lambiel, all fo which I loved madly, I reviewed them many times, I remembered them. Today, when Lambiel became a coach, one can almost always guess when he choreographed a program, so original his choreography is. Another question is that his style not always fits an athlete. Next, I will probably list Patrick Chan, Shoma Uno, Yuzuru Hanyu and, of course, Nathan Chen.
Q: What interests you in Nathan Chen?
A: He used to be criticized for programs in "gain speed then jump" style, but Chen works a lot off the ice and tries to transfer the choreography from the floor to ice, which is not typical for figure skating, because traditionally we are more into ballet. In his programs, I see that he is now introducing a different choreography with various new pieces and findings, and over time he will show us hip-hop and character dances. It can be seen that this will be his style, you just need to give time for it. He is harsh, rhythmic, explosive, no one will expect Romeo and Juliet or lyrical programs from him. He has his own style, he is more groovy, more aggressive, and the more he skates, the more we will see his “me”. I also need to list Javier Fernandez, who ended his brilliant career at the European Championships. His gala program was just incredible. It is so beautifully choreographed, there is so much interesting details in it that you can't take your eyes off him.
Q: It is interesting that you brought an uninterrupted series of examples from the men's single skating. And how are things going in women's skating?
A: I don't even know who to name here. For me, the programs of Yun Kim, Mao Asada, Carolina Kostner always stood out. But it was with the programs of Yulia Lipnitskaya that the so-called “programs with an idea” began. Ilya Averbukh and Eteri Tutberidze made a lot of good programs for Yulia, which differed from those of other athletes. This is not only the "Schindler's List", but also "Megapolis", where she seemed to be running after a kite. And then there were programs for Zhenya Medvedeva, first “I hear, I don’t hear”, then a short program “Farewell to Childhood”, then a program about September 11 and others. These programs stood out against the general background.
Q: Do other choaches hire you as choreographer?
A: I will always be happy to help everyone, provided that it will be pair skaters or ice dance teams, since we are not competitors. I would be happy to help them win, because I want our athletes to be the best in any discipline in which we compete.
Q: You are the choreographer of the strongest team of women's singles in the world. Do you realize that you are setting some trends in this sport? When you start choreographing a program, what principles are you guided by, what tools do you use, so that your athletes win?
A: I will not say anything new here. Each athlete is strong in his own way: one jumps better, the other spins, the third skates. My task is to help an athlete, with the program, to show the best version of himself. If he does something not very well, I will find a million options how to hide it in the program so that no one even guesses about it. We approach the creation of a program, as a scientist approaches a formula, - only the best will be in it. The program should capture the audience so that no one begins to think that the athlete is not able to do something. Of course, this cannot be done in all programs and with all athletes, but we try.
Q: A prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, performing the role of Odette-Odile, cannot change the choreography, no matter how difficult and inconvenient it is for her. A ballerina can either perform it and then she is a soloist, or she cannot and then she dances in the corps de ballet. In figure skating, when creating a program, the choreographer comes solely from the capabilities of the athlete, which is a kind of indulgence. Is it correct?
A: It can be said that since the choreography is not a constant, since it adapts to the level of the athlete, it is such an indulgence. But figure skating is a sport in which all the elements are rigidly prescribed, all levels of complexity for each category and age are described, and if you do not meet these requirements, then you end your career in sport. There is no other alternative. The rest is really more freedom of action, and here it depends on the coach and choreographer, how they will be able to present the ability of their athlete to perform these prescribed elements. Choreography is just such a wide area of self-expression.
Q: If an athlete brings you music and says: “I want to skate to it,” or while a program is being choreographed suggests to do something differently, how do you feel about that?
A: I always welcome you if an athlete suggest something during the work on the program. If he works with us, that’s great! But this does not mean that we enthusiastically accept everything they offer. At the age of 14-16, not all boys and girls can bring an interesting idea for the program, choose music for themselves and so on. If a girl dreams of skating in a tutu in the program, and we see that she doesn't have a ballet build, then, of course, we will not follow her lead. If we liked the proposed music and the idea, we, as professionals, understand that you can win with this program. Everything is simple here.
Q: So you limit your athletes freedom of choice?
A: Here the question is not freedom, but professionalism. The coach sees the whole picture, he knows the skills of the athlete, his abilities and capabilities, he tracks the latest music and stage trends, but at the same time he is looking for some innovative moves for the program to look good on the athlete. This process, if the athlete wants to succeed, can not be lowered to the level of "I do not want," "I do not like". Imagine if a player of a football team tells a coach that he does not want to adhere to the tactics developed for some game, that he will follow his own tactics. Or says that he does not want to play in the attack, but wants to play as the goalkeeper. Here is the same. The coach chooses the optimal tactics for his athlete so that he can show his best result. For us, the main thing is to lead your athlete to success, to help him in a particular season to achieve his maximum with the music and programs that we have offered and choreographed for him.
Q: I saw in this season the short program of Kamila Valieva “Girl on the ball”. In my opinion, this program is worthy of being seen at the Olympics, and not only at the Moscow Championship for older age. Is it not a pity to spend such ideas on children's tournaments?
A: The idea itself belongs to Eteri Georgievna. She came up with it when we sat in Novogorsk one evening and thought about the programs. In general, we invented rigth at that time what the program itself would look like, later we found music that could work with this idea. When we started to choreograph the program on ice, I realized that I wanted to add a bit of modern to the movements, especially since Kamila is a very gifted girl in terms of choreography, it is easy to work with her.
Yes, this program, probably, could be an Olympic one, but it is not a fact that there would be some other athlete capable of skating it the way Kamila did this year, at 12. And it’s not a fact that Kamila herself will be able to skate this program at the age of 17-18. Therefore, if we feel a creative pulse, then we are not trying to hold something back, leave it for later. Probably, someone will say that we are very wasteful, but we have faith that in the Olympic season we will be able to create something good, something memorable.
from: https://www.figurist.ru/zhurnal_moskovkii_figurist/Figurist_1_2019.pdf
translation: me
Q: Daniil, you as an athlete have a unique experience of working first in single skating under the guidance of coaches such as Natalia Dubinskaya, Viktor Kudryavtsev, Alla Belyaev, and then a three-year period of ice dance with Alexander Zhulin. What of this experience influenced your desire to become a choreographer? After all, the career in singles was a major component of your
sporting fate and being a choreographer is a non-standard choice.
A: Probably, the first thing that affected me was that my mother was a ballet dancer of the Bolshoi Theater, who had been preparing me for a ballet career from childhood. I studied choreography as long as I can remember, so I didn’t have much choice.
Q: Where did figure skating come from?
A: They accept kids into ballet school from 9 years of age, in figure skating - from 4. I was taken to the rink so I would just get stronger, learned to skate, developed my coordination. But when the time came, by the age of 9 I had already won too many children's competitions, and all the coaches said that I was a promising boy, so when my mother thought of taking me to ballet school, I was totally against it. So much against it that mom gave up. Although the amount of choreography in my life was not reduced. Mom studied with me 24 hours a day, I was completely under her control, and my entire day was scheduled. The day began with ice training at 7 am, then we went to school for a couple of classes, after school she met me with food in containers, while I was eating, I was taken to the next training session. Then we went home, and there, with my mother, I studied choreography. Then I did my homework and went to bed. Of course, in childhood I had moments of negative attitudes towards my mother and her initiatives. Then it seemed to me that she tortured me.
Q: Today it does not seem so, does it?
A: Of course, with time, the older I got, the more I realized that children are not always able to assess why parents demand something from them and insist on it. As children, we often get angry, offended by our parents, who imprison us for lessons when we want to play with friends or watch cartoons. Now when I started working with children myself, I understand how important it is for parents to take care of their children. And vice versa, I see how difficult it is for children who do not feel the love and care of their parents, because they do not devote time to them, do not delve into their lives. Therefore, I always try to convey to our athletes the idea that parental care should be appreciated. It is easier for me to do this, since I have not yet gone so far from them in age and I remember very well how I myself responded to parental remarks and requirements.
Q: How did you become the choreographer of team Tutberidze?
A: Eteri Georgievna asked Ilya Averbukh for help to find a choreographer for her team. He recommended me.
Q: How was the process of joining the team?
A: Of course, at first they looked at me: how I find a common language [translator: not sure about the best expression for this - kind of making contact, establishing communication] with the athletes, how I teach gliding, how I work with jumps, what technique I have, and so on, in order to understand whether we can come to some common point. It was necessary because in our team there is no division of labor, that someone works with gliding, someone with spins, and someone else with jumps. We are all completely interchangeable, we three (and now four, including Sergey Rozanov) have an absolutely common technique of teaching the elements, and we can all tell the athlete at any time how and what to do. This is convenient in work, because any of us can go to competitions with athletes or, on the contrary, stay alone on the rink with a group and there will be no problems.
Q: You were accepted to the group as a choreography tutor?
A: Yes, at first I was training the programs with the students, but in the process I began to suggest something in music, in ideas. It was then that I voiced out loud my dream of choreographing a "Swan Lake" program. I suggested this idea to Yulia Lipnitskaya, but she refused. As result, this program in the Olympic season was choreographed for Alina Zagitova.
Q: How did you grow up as an independent choreographer? How did this transformation happen?
A: Rather, we need to talk about how I was able to prove to Eteri Georgievna that I can choreograph. After all, before I came to work in her group, I had been choreographing programs in Moskvich for three years. By that time, I have already done about 80 programs. Plus, literally a month before coming to her (and it was September-October 2015), I just returned from Sochi, where I helped Averbukh to choreograph "Carmen". So by that time I already had experience of working with both Olympic champions and small children. I didn’t have any fear or insecurity in my abilities. I was pretty sure of myself. I only needed her to believe in me.
Q: To whom did you choreograph your first program?
A: We had a very good contact with Adyan Pitkeev, who told Eteri Georgievna that he wants to get programs with me. She agreed, although she already had an agreement with Marina Zoueva to choreograph programs for Adyan in USA. It was decided that Zoueva would make him the free program, and I would do the short. This was my first big job. In the same year, at summer camp in Novogorsk, I began to choreograph programs to kids from the group, all but Zhenya Medvedeva, for whom Averbukh choreographed the "I hear, I don’t hear" program [translator: 2015-16, W.E. one]. It all happened in that season.
Q: It was a brilliant program. It is a pity that Lipnitskaya back then also refused it?
A: In our group, there were more than once situations when someone refused, and another athlete became a champion with that program. But lately no one else refuses anymore.
Q: Daniil, You agree that one thing is when the choreographer works in the freelance mode and is invited by the athlete for a specific program. And it is completely different when the choreographer works in a team not only as a coach, but also as a choreographer who has to create two programs for each athlete per season. Tell us how you cope with this challenge, what are your inspirations, where you take strength and so on.
A: You are right: being a guest choreographer is simpler, because it is always an interesting creative story, because the athlete’s ambitions and his potential give the choreographer an opportunity to use the most daring ideas. It is much more difficult from season to season to find ideas, music for each athlete, and at different levels. In our group, the choreographing period starts from the end of April - as soon as the last competition ends - and to September inclusive. The biggest difficulty lies in the number of programs, but we share this burden with Eteri Georgievna, who always participates in the choice of music and is always on the ice during any choreography work. First, we create programs for the main athletes, then for juniors, and then for 9-10 years old children, who we also have in the group. As a rule, this happens at the training camp in Novogorsk, where we have four trainings a day - two for the older group and two for the younger one. From the inside, this process looks like this: we set up programs all day, in the evening we are going to listen to music in the room and sketch some ideas. Therefore, camp in Novogorsk requires endurance and strength. We are saved by the fact that we are all rested before it, after holidays, although after the choreographing period, there is a desire to rest somewhere in a quiet place. But around the end of August, the first competitions are already going, and we are entering the main season.
Q: So there is no more rest?
A: Why? In our group, it is generally accepted that every time you are in a competition, you are on a holiday, on vacation.
Q: How do you manage from year to year to master this whole load of program productions? How do you avoid repeats? Avoid the temptation to pass on to another athlete a previously used program?
A: About the "inheritance" of programs: categorical "no" to this approach. To do it is to not respect either the athletes, or the spectators, nor ourselves. Of course, choreographing thirty programs every season is difficult, energy-consuming, but there is no other way. Plus, I love this business, I get pleasure from the process, and as long as I have the strength, and most importantly, the desire, I think everything will be all right. For me, there is nothing more pleasant than to spend time searching for music, inspiration, and then come to Eteri Georgievna with this and say - that’s it, I done it. And if I hear in response, yes, this is cool, then I have no greater joy. When later we all go to the ice, when everyone is creative, including the athlete, then we get the coolest and most interesting programs. I do not really like the word "masterpieces", but you can say that it turns out into a special and unique product.
Q: Still, how does this happen in practice? The choreographer starts with an athlete and selects music, a program for him, or, conversely, an athlete is selected for a program that was created?
A: I would say it happens in different cases in different ways. For example, I really wanted to make Swan Lake and, accordingly, I was looking, waiting for an athlete to fit this idea. She was Alina Zagitova, because not every skater can be a black swan. But it happens differently too: you need to choreograph a program for an athlete from the group, and you get on the same wave with him, select a music, an idea. For example, you look at Sasha Trusova and see that such energy emanates from her that you cannot tame it, and a lyric program is hardly suitable for her. At the same time, Alyona Kostornaya seems to be born for romantic programs. However, if this year each of them skates their inherent programs, this does not mean that the next season will be the same. Sasha can not always skate as some kind of fighter, just as Alyona will not always go out as a "princess". The task of the choreographer is to develop athletes, to expand the palette of their stylistic capabilities, which we do in training: we learn some movements, we make a bunch of steps to different music, we dance to all sort of music styles off the ice and so on.
Q: This season you made programs for your athletes with famous hits: Alina Zagitova performed to the Phantom of the Opera and Carmen, Alena Kostornaya to the Romeo and Juliet, Alexandra Trusova to the soundtrack of Kill Bill and the Fifth Element. This is due to the fact that the characters created for them are familiar and understandable to the viewer?
A: I understand the question. You have listed programs whose music is really known to everyone, but Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Usacheva, Valiyeva and others, they got music that for many is entirely unidetifiable and not overused, music which, one can say, we “discovered”. Answering the question, I adhere to the 50/50 ratio. For one program, take a hit, for the other - an unknown track. Sometimes we take famous music, but we portray something unexpected. For example, Polina Tsurskaya once had a program to the soundtrack of the series "Game of Thrones", but the concept of the program was in no way connected with the series. As for Alina and her two programs, here we worked from the fact that she is able to skate to these hits better than all the others who previously skated to Phantom of the Opera and Carmen. It was my desire, because I never choreographed to this music. The goal was to make her such programs, that for another three or four years no one would take this music, knowing that they would not perform them better than Zagitova did.
Q: Is the choreographer able to turn into a program skated to unknown music into a hit?
A: Of course, this is the job of the choreographer. But only under the condition that this unknown music will be overlapped with an unexpected idea, some interesting character or the choreography of the program will be new, original. In addition, it is important that the athlete has enough qualification to display this program, otherwise it will be a complete failure. Although, I think it is still a big failure when famous music is used in mediocre programs for weak skaters.
Q: At what point you understand that this particular music can create a full-fledged, strong image?
A: Probably, at the moment when, alone, you listen to the music with headphones on and invent an idea, you see a character, a program. But all these ideas must pass the check-control with Eteri Georgievna. If an idea is weak or too strange (sometimes it happens to me), then it will not go through her filter. She can say: “It's great, but without the libretto, no one will understand, how will you explain the program to people?” Then we either correct the idea or refuse it. We make decisions together, because there are no mistakes allowed in this business.
Q: Which programs are the best in your rating?
A: I probably will not surprise anyone with my choice, because there are really the best programs of our time. I grew up on the programs of Nikolai Morozov for Alexei Yagudin - “Winter”, “The Man in the Iron Mask”. As child I was so impressed by these programs that, going out on the ice, the first thing I did was to replicate the steps and movements from those. The next were the programs of Stephane Lambiel, all fo which I loved madly, I reviewed them many times, I remembered them. Today, when Lambiel became a coach, one can almost always guess when he choreographed a program, so original his choreography is. Another question is that his style not always fits an athlete. Next, I will probably list Patrick Chan, Shoma Uno, Yuzuru Hanyu and, of course, Nathan Chen.
Q: What interests you in Nathan Chen?
A: He used to be criticized for programs in "gain speed then jump" style, but Chen works a lot off the ice and tries to transfer the choreography from the floor to ice, which is not typical for figure skating, because traditionally we are more into ballet. In his programs, I see that he is now introducing a different choreography with various new pieces and findings, and over time he will show us hip-hop and character dances. It can be seen that this will be his style, you just need to give time for it. He is harsh, rhythmic, explosive, no one will expect Romeo and Juliet or lyrical programs from him. He has his own style, he is more groovy, more aggressive, and the more he skates, the more we will see his “me”. I also need to list Javier Fernandez, who ended his brilliant career at the European Championships. His gala program was just incredible. It is so beautifully choreographed, there is so much interesting details in it that you can't take your eyes off him.
Q: It is interesting that you brought an uninterrupted series of examples from the men's single skating. And how are things going in women's skating?
A: I don't even know who to name here. For me, the programs of Yun Kim, Mao Asada, Carolina Kostner always stood out. But it was with the programs of Yulia Lipnitskaya that the so-called “programs with an idea” began. Ilya Averbukh and Eteri Tutberidze made a lot of good programs for Yulia, which differed from those of other athletes. This is not only the "Schindler's List", but also "Megapolis", where she seemed to be running after a kite. And then there were programs for Zhenya Medvedeva, first “I hear, I don’t hear”, then a short program “Farewell to Childhood”, then a program about September 11 and others. These programs stood out against the general background.
Q: Do other choaches hire you as choreographer?
A: I will always be happy to help everyone, provided that it will be pair skaters or ice dance teams, since we are not competitors. I would be happy to help them win, because I want our athletes to be the best in any discipline in which we compete.
Q: You are the choreographer of the strongest team of women's singles in the world. Do you realize that you are setting some trends in this sport? When you start choreographing a program, what principles are you guided by, what tools do you use, so that your athletes win?
A: I will not say anything new here. Each athlete is strong in his own way: one jumps better, the other spins, the third skates. My task is to help an athlete, with the program, to show the best version of himself. If he does something not very well, I will find a million options how to hide it in the program so that no one even guesses about it. We approach the creation of a program, as a scientist approaches a formula, - only the best will be in it. The program should capture the audience so that no one begins to think that the athlete is not able to do something. Of course, this cannot be done in all programs and with all athletes, but we try.
Q: A prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, performing the role of Odette-Odile, cannot change the choreography, no matter how difficult and inconvenient it is for her. A ballerina can either perform it and then she is a soloist, or she cannot and then she dances in the corps de ballet. In figure skating, when creating a program, the choreographer comes solely from the capabilities of the athlete, which is a kind of indulgence. Is it correct?
A: It can be said that since the choreography is not a constant, since it adapts to the level of the athlete, it is such an indulgence. But figure skating is a sport in which all the elements are rigidly prescribed, all levels of complexity for each category and age are described, and if you do not meet these requirements, then you end your career in sport. There is no other alternative. The rest is really more freedom of action, and here it depends on the coach and choreographer, how they will be able to present the ability of their athlete to perform these prescribed elements. Choreography is just such a wide area of self-expression.
Q: If an athlete brings you music and says: “I want to skate to it,” or while a program is being choreographed suggests to do something differently, how do you feel about that?
A: I always welcome you if an athlete suggest something during the work on the program. If he works with us, that’s great! But this does not mean that we enthusiastically accept everything they offer. At the age of 14-16, not all boys and girls can bring an interesting idea for the program, choose music for themselves and so on. If a girl dreams of skating in a tutu in the program, and we see that she doesn't have a ballet build, then, of course, we will not follow her lead. If we liked the proposed music and the idea, we, as professionals, understand that you can win with this program. Everything is simple here.
Q: So you limit your athletes freedom of choice?
A: Here the question is not freedom, but professionalism. The coach sees the whole picture, he knows the skills of the athlete, his abilities and capabilities, he tracks the latest music and stage trends, but at the same time he is looking for some innovative moves for the program to look good on the athlete. This process, if the athlete wants to succeed, can not be lowered to the level of "I do not want," "I do not like". Imagine if a player of a football team tells a coach that he does not want to adhere to the tactics developed for some game, that he will follow his own tactics. Or says that he does not want to play in the attack, but wants to play as the goalkeeper. Here is the same. The coach chooses the optimal tactics for his athlete so that he can show his best result. For us, the main thing is to lead your athlete to success, to help him in a particular season to achieve his maximum with the music and programs that we have offered and choreographed for him.
Q: I saw in this season the short program of Kamila Valieva “Girl on the ball”. In my opinion, this program is worthy of being seen at the Olympics, and not only at the Moscow Championship for older age. Is it not a pity to spend such ideas on children's tournaments?
A: The idea itself belongs to Eteri Georgievna. She came up with it when we sat in Novogorsk one evening and thought about the programs. In general, we invented rigth at that time what the program itself would look like, later we found music that could work with this idea. When we started to choreograph the program on ice, I realized that I wanted to add a bit of modern to the movements, especially since Kamila is a very gifted girl in terms of choreography, it is easy to work with her.
Yes, this program, probably, could be an Olympic one, but it is not a fact that there would be some other athlete capable of skating it the way Kamila did this year, at 12. And it’s not a fact that Kamila herself will be able to skate this program at the age of 17-18. Therefore, if we feel a creative pulse, then we are not trying to hold something back, leave it for later. Probably, someone will say that we are very wasteful, but we have faith that in the Olympic season we will be able to create something good, something memorable.
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But I would really be interested in Gleikhengauz' analysis of what qualities he thinks that this skater has at 12 that she will not have at 18. Does he think that this particular piece of choreo incorporates flexibility moves that an older skater can't reproduce (even the same skater at an older age)?
But it's not from interjecting words that aren't there, or from not understanding what he said.
