We were honoured to be invited to the premier of ballet ‘Giselle’, directed by our friend Stanislav Fečo. It was all the more special, as it was his debute as production director. Stanislav has been one of the most important Czech ballet dancers and often danced with the most important ballerinas in the word – really impressive guy.

▲ On the photo above Stanislav is with the Estonian most famous ballerina, Kaie Kõrb, who was one of the repetitors of the ballet. I was excited to see her in person, and very pleased to have them both smile for my camera. Both of them have been in leading parts of ‘Giselle’ themselves.

Based on the published interviews, there have been questions, whether Stanislav’s demand on the supreme performance of the dancers is justified – it is Tartu, not St Petersburg or Moscow. Even though it was my third time to see live ballet and I am still not competent in judging the dancers, I do expect the performers do give their best and not to compromise in quality, just because it is Tartu. Hence, I do completely understand Stanislav not being willing to let the quality remain on ‘Tartu level’, especially considering it is his first very own production.

Even though I am not a ballet specialist, nor devoted fan, I am sort of a dancer myself so I do enjoy watching ballet as one of the most beautiful forms of a dance. I can’t deny that often I forget myself staring at the tights of the guys (I can’t be the only one who finds butts and thighs in tights irresistible), but mostly it is the dance and beauty of the dance that I try to enjoy. Despite couple moments and dancers, who seemed to be having problems delivering the quality expected, I really enjoyed the show. And I definitely enjoyed the leading dancers who were invited only for the premier – Natalja Sologub ja Dmitri Gudanov. It was such a joy and delight to watch them through the whole show. But again, I really liked the whole show itself.

Considering the extended advertisement campaign preceding the premier, with clips on news and stories in papers almost every day during the week, I was deeply disappointed there were no professional cameras nor journalists at the reception of the premier. As I was only one with non-pocket cameras, I was thought to be the photographer of the reception. Would have been great honour indeed, but I was not prepared for such obligation. I still don’t have a decent flash unit and was having hard time focusing.

I just found a ‘Beginner’s guide to ballet‘ on the web. What cought my attention, were examples of mime gestures used to tell the story in ballet. I think I recognised them all from the ballet last evening. The gesture for ‘dance’ was one I had not really figured out myself yet.

▼ The photo below. Natalja Sologub in front and Dmitri Gudanov and Stanislav Fečo on the background. I really admired Natalja.

In conclusion of the story of Stasik… Even though he may be strict and hard, he is a really interesting and fun guy and talented and impressive in many ways. He will be and is already missed.