What is ballet for you?
Four dancers of the Staatsballett Berlin - Marina Kanno, Aeri Kim, Gregor Glocke and Ksenia Ovsyanick - were asked our 5 questions about ballet. Here are their answers.
Marina Kanno, demi-soloist of the Staatsballett Berlin
1. What is ballet for you?
My life passion, life lessons. Honestly. Addiction.
2. What do you like about ballet most of all?
So many beautiful life encounters through this art and learned to be passionate, dedications, discipline towards life itself. And, of course, the feeling when you are on stage, to be so free, express yourself through movements is incomparable to anything. When I’m on stage, I immediately forget about everything and just live the moment.
3. What do you hate about ballet?
When I see too much politics behind. Unfairness. Irrationalism. Which is in every profession I assume… and that’s life. Whatever happens we all need to go forward somehow.
4. If I hadn’t done ballet, I would...
I would have become a florist.
5. What is your greatest inspiration?
My teacher from the Vaganova ballet school, Irina Sitnikova. She is my ballet and life inspiration. People around of me as well.
Aeri Kim, corps de ballet of the Staatsballett Berlin
1. What is ballet for you?
Ballet is like the air I cannot live without.
2. What do you like about ballet most of all?
It is very honest. The more I concentrate and search myself, it shows from movements and expressions. I also like how we can express emotions and tell stories through our bodies without saying a word.
3. What do you hate about ballet?
If a ballet dancer doesn't have an ideal physicality, it usually stops them from dancing different characters and it can also cause injuries. Ballet is painful.
4. If I hadn’t done ballet, I would...
I never thought about what I would be if I hadn't become a dancer. I cannot see myself doing something that is unrelated to ballet.
5. My greatest inspiration is...
Audience is what keeps me going.
Gregor Glocke, corps de ballet of the Staatsballett Berlin
1. What is ballet for you?
Ballet means a lot to me. It’s a way to express myself and I connect very deep emotions with it. I feel free and fulfilled when I dance. Ballet is such a huge part of my life, to me it is essential.
2. What do you like about ballet most of all?
I like most about ballet that you’re able to connect with such wonderful artists from all over the world. The diversity of ballet and the people I got to meet throughout my education and now as a professional is huge and for me it’s the passion, the unity and support that I see on stage which excites me the most during a performance.
3. What do you hate about ballet?
I don’t like the word hate, so I’d rather use dislike. I dislike the fact that this career is very short and all the hard work one has put in throughout the years, all the pain and frustration seems to be a big sacrifice. But to be on stage, to see and hear the reactions of the audience, to create something big and unique with people who share the same passion, makes it all worth it.
4. If I hadn’t done ballet, I would…
If I hadn’t done ballet, I probably would have done something with music. In my free time I play the piano, improvise and "compose“ my own little melodies.
5. My greatest inspiration is…
When it comes to inspiration I can’t name just one. There are lots of artists who have had a huge impact on me during my education until now and I get inspired every day by my amazing colleagues at Staatsballett Berlin.
Ksenia Ovsyanick, principal dancer of the Staatsballett Berlin
1. What is ballet for you?
Ballet for me is a beautiful art form that can be inspiring, emotionally powerful, illuminative and breathtaking at the same time. It is also my language of communication to the rest of the world.
2. What do you like about ballet most of all?
The potential to express the most complicated emotions through movement and music; and the technical challenge of physically and visually creating something that looks impossible.
3. What do you hate about ballet?
That it is hugely under-appreciated and that ballerinas are often perceived as naive, uneducated, interested only in dance and nothing else... It is highly insulting.
4. If I hadn’t done ballet, I would...
Have run an art organization.
5. My greatest inspiration is...
People around me. My husband, my family, my friends, my audience. They make me believe that I can achieve my dreams and I want to return the favour by inspiring others to believe in their dreams and themselves too. And art is a perfect platform for it.
Photos by Merien Morey