Orphaned ballet

IsraGeo online magazine published requiem by famous ballerina Nina Timofeeva

3 November A student of Galina Ulanova, one of the best performers of the role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, the great ballet teacher and the founder of the school of classical ballet in Israel, died in Jerusalem in Jerusalem

November next year's 11 friends, relatives and students of Nina Vladimirovna dreamed of celebrating her eightieth birthday. Alas, it did not come true ... Let her memory be bright!

We express sincere condolences to close Ballerinas. And we bring to your attention an essay about her, written four years ago - on the days of her 75 anniversary.

In the June days in the modest apartment of the world-famous ballerina Nina Timofeyeva, the telephone did not cease, and the mailbox was overwhelmed with letters literally from all over the world.

Timofeev’s colleagues at work, students, friends and numerous admirers of the ballerina’s talent warmly congratulated them on their jubilee, expressing admiration and love to our wonderful contemporary.

Already at the age of six she associated her life with ballet. And it happened so. In the harsh 1942, the famous Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater, as well as the Choreography School, where Nina's mother, Frida Fedorovna Saliman-Vladimirova worked as a piano teacher, was evacuated to Perm from Leningrad besieged by the Nazis. A curious, puny Nina appeared among the ballet dancers often, and those of compassion fed her as much as they could. But not the food attracted little Nina to the stage. She was literally fascinated by music, dancing. In order to increase the daily ration, she was offered to dance the page in the ballet “The Magic Flute”. She, who grew up in a musical artistic family, turned out to be extremely capable. In an unprecedentedly short time, prepared the role. Until now, Nina remembers, to the smallest detail, that first appearance on the stage of the famous theater.

In 1944, with the blessing of her parents, Nina entered the oldest Leningrad Ballet School, in which famous teachers, representing the glory and pride of Russian ballet, taught. In the textbook of The World of Ballet published in 1993, which has already become a bibliographical rarity, Nina Timofeeva wrote about her study years:

“I had to work in a cold classroom, where the water immediately turned into ice. And in the evenings it was necessary to participate in the performances. This practice later served a good service. We were obsessed with study and work. ”

In 16 years, Nina Timofeeva danced in The Nutcracker ballet. Later she recalled that it was then that the real feeling of the scene, the complete fusion of dance and music, came to her.

She was noticed. Among others, Nina was distinguished by a special style of dance, amazing plasticity. This was the result of not only natural talent, but also of tremendous work in the work on the role. After successfully completing the school, she was accepted into the corps de ballet of the Leningrad Opera Theater. On 25-28 once a month she had to participate in performances and ballets.

In 1956, after a successful performance at an international competition in Warsaw, she was invited to Moscow to the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. Here world recognition came to her, the outstanding talent of the ballerina revealed in full measure. 32 of the year - this is the experience of her creative work on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. She played 57 leading roles. Without exaggeration, it can be said that they all entered the golden fund of ballet art.

“Each role is a part of my life,” wrote the famous ballerina, and this is true. She starred in 27 films about ballet. Worthily represented the Russian ballet on the stages of the largest theaters in the world. And everywhere her performance admired the audience - and not only them. In 1957, the Bolshoi Theater in a new edition was staged Khachaturian's ballet "Gayane". Timofeev, playing the title role of Mariam, captivated by her virtuosity not only the audience, but also the entire ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater. The famous Olga Lepeshinskaya, after what she saw, decided not to dance to Gayane.

About the virtuosity of dance Timofeev legends were composed. The press of various countries in laudatory reviews unanimously noted the artistic personality of the ballerina. The images created by her, conquered the hearts of viewers with extraordinary depth and integrity.

The owner of many prestigious titles, the favorite of the public, Nina Timofeeva has always remained modest and very demanding of herself and her work.

- I was rarely pleased with my performance. I was waiting for new performances when it was possible to correct something, change it ... - she frankly admitted.

Timofeyeva’s great friend, well-known theater and film actress Faina Ranevskaya, somehow figuratively remarked to Timofeeva’s harsh demands on herself:

"Timofeeva all his life sneaks through his own thorns."

Nina has always been firm in the fact that there is no limit to improvement, so every day is an incredible work, a hard regime. She believes that for the ballet dancer there are two concepts in everyday life: “must” and “I have no right”.

In the Bolshoi Theater, Timofeeva worked with ballerinas whom she idolized.

“They became my teachers after college. This is Marina Semenova and Galina Ulanova. ”

Her last role on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater was that of Lady Macbeth. The ballet was specially written for Nina by her husband - composer Kirill Molchanov. Unfortunately, Timofeyeva’s terrible day of her life is associated with this ballet. At the height of the play, when Nina was on stage, her husband died suddenly in the director's box. She was informed about it. According to the general opinion, it was necessary to interrupt the performance, but Timofeeva remained on the stage and danced the ballet to the end. What did it cost a courageous woman? What was going on in her soul? This Timofeev prefers not to talk. However, in her book “The World of Ballet” she writes:

“You need to love your profession very much, you need to live it in order to bear great grief, to reappear on the stage and forget yourself in a whirlwind of movements ...”

In 1988, the then head of the Bolshoi Ballet Grigorovich sent to the “well-deserved rest” the leading figures of the ballet - Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasilyeva, Ekaterina Maksimova, Mikhail Lavrovsky and Nina Timofeeva. True, soon Timofeyeva was offered pedagogical work at the Bolshoi Theater, but at that time, upon learning of the incident, numerous and very attractive proposals followed from different countries to Nina Timofeeva. She chose Jerusalem, although she understood that in a young country where there was no tradition of classical ballet, everything would have to start from scratch.

In the summer of 1990, she got off the plane together with other passengers who flew to Israel. The Directorate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance named after Rubin invited her to a master class. For two weeks the famous ballerina introduced the students of the Academy to the basics of classical ballet and at the same time trained four Israeli women to the famous Gran Pas de Katr to the music of Pugni. It was a miracle - in such a short time to prepare an elaborate classical dance with inexperienced girls. And in the fact that she was able to brilliantly carry out, it seemed impracticable, her talent as a teacher-teacher revealed in full measure. The performance was enthusiastically greeted by people experienced in the art of ballet. Timofeev was invited to come next year. She agreed and again successfully held another master class.

During her stay in Jerusalem, she managed to stick with all her heart to this divine city, and therefore, without hesitation, she agreed to stay here, to teach ballet in glorious classical traditions. Together with Nina, daughter Nadya came to Jerusalem.

She, a born ballerina, jokingly said that she began to dance while still in the womb, as she continued to perform.

By the time she left for Israel, Nadia had already managed to successfully graduate from the Moscow Choreography School, and even act as a ballet soloist on the stage of the Kremlin Theater. Once in Israel, Nadia became a reliable assistant to her mother in fulfilling her beautiful dream of creating Israeli classical ballet.

For twelve years of work at the Academy, the Timofeevs managed to raise quite a few beautiful ballet dancers who adequately represent their teachers on the stages of prestigious theaters not only in Israel, but also in the USA and Austria. Germany, Holland and even in Japan.

Literally motherly, Nina Timofeeva tried to convey to students knowledge, experience, and most importantly, to instill a love for the difficult, but beautiful profession of the ballet dancer.

Colleagues at the Academy noted that Nina Timofeeva is an extraordinary teacher. The magical power of her classes was that she not only taught, but also showed by example how to master the skill of dance. Seeing how long and stubbornly Timofeev was warming up at the ballet machine, how fastidiously he observed the strictest regime, the students were convinced that this was the way they should do in order to become true masters of their work. During the years of teaching, she did not have to raise her voice, punish anyone. Her requests were always carried out without question. Not every successful teacher can achieve the kind of mutual understanding that prevailed in Timofeev’s classes at the Academy.

Remembering the years of his studies, the importance of not only theoretical knowledge, but also the practical implementation of them, Timofeev often conducted ballet performances in which they themselves and their students danced. Mother and daughter prepared the costumes and other accessories for a successful performance themselves at the expense of their free time.

When Nina Timofeeva reached retirement age, she stopped working at the Academy. But it was not in her character to rest on her laurels. She knew that she could still give a lot, to do for the realization of her cherished dream - the creation in Jerusalem of a ballet troupe that would be no worse than the collectives of classical ballet from other countries. And Timofeevs decide on a difficult task - to open their own ballet school.

Marina Neeman helped create the amute, and later she became the general director of the Jerusalem Ballet Theater, who secured funding for the emerging theater by the Ministry of Culture. There were also those who helped to rent a hall with their own funds to purchase the necessary equipment. In the first months, in order to receive the necessary funds, they organized weekly performances in which Nina herself and her daughter and students participated, many of whom had to combine work with rehearsals and participation in performances. Timofeev literally spent the day and slept in his brainchild. There were no funds for advertising. They made flyers themselves. Themselves sew costumes. So managed to stay afloat.

News of the opening of the ballet school "Nina" quickly spread not only in Jerusalem. Soon the school already had several dozen students, including those from religious families.

After two years of the school’s existence, Nina Timofeeva handed the leadership to the reliable hands of Hope. The difficult six years of the formation of the Jerusalem Ballet School have passed. Over the years, a base has been created for the establishment of a new ballet theater in Jerusalem. Now the school has more than one hundred students. The teaching staff has grown. Now more and more often on theatrical posters appear messages about the ballet performances of the young group. Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture, by the centenary of the birth of the great Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova, the world premiere “Overcoming” was prepared under the artistic direction of Nadia Timofeyeva.

Ulanova had no children. She loved little Nadia very much, treated her motherly, and Nadia considered it her duty to release a performance dedicated to Ulanova. The first act called “On the rise” (Bae-Ole) is actually a gala concert consisting of several numbers - from solo to pas-de-sis (from solo to sextet), hence the name. It includes famous works of choreographic classics, pearls of choreography, which have never been performed in Israel before. In the second part, the ballet “The Beat of Life” is performed - a choreographic version staged by Romanian choreographer Ioan Tudzhiaru to the music of a concert for cello and orchestra by Israeli composer Benjamin Yusupov, with the participation of the outstanding cellist Misha Maisky. The main part in the performance is performed by the soloist of the Jerusalem Ballet ensemble Yulia Muster-Verlotskaya - Nadia Timofeeva's classmate in the Moscow Choreography School. In the past, Julia danced in Valery Panov's ballet theater. Scenographer of the play invited Alexander Lisyansky. Part of the costumes and shoes for the dancers were ordered in the Bolshoi Theater workshop according to the sketches of Nadia Timofeeva.

Mayor of the capital Nir Barkat said:

- Jerusalem fully becomes the cultural capital of the country.

Much credit for this, of course, belongs to Nina Timofeeva and her daughter Nadya.

Author — Zinovy ​​Klebanov, Jerusalem