The Pulse of Creativity
Thanks to the excellent resource Moskovskiy Figurist proved to be, here is my take on the words, thoughts and ideas of one of the persons closely involved in the Tutberidze Effect, and for a great part responsible for its success.
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The pulse of creativity
Daniil Gleikhengauz: “We are approaching the creation of a program, like scientists a formula”
Gleikhenhaus Daniil Markovich
Date of birth: June 3, 1991 (Russia, Moscow). Master of Sports (mens single). Candidate Master of sports (ice dancing).
Club: EShVSM "Moskvich", FSO "Vorobyoviye Gory".
Trainers: Natalya Primachenko, Victor Kudryavtsev, Oleg Volkov, Alexander Zhulin.
Education: higher, RSUFKSiT (GTsOLIFK) (2012).
Currently: CSO Sambo-70, Khrustalniy branch (Moscow), choreographer of the group Eteri Tutberidze.
Awards: medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IInd degree (2018).
- Daniil, you, an athlete with this unique work experience in solo skating first under the guidance of such trainers as Natal'ya Dubinskaya, Viktor Kudryavtsev, Alla Belyaeva, continuing under Alexander Zhulin for a three-year period in ice dancing. Which of these experiences influenced your desire to become a choreographer? Because a soloist career seemed to dominate your sporting destiny and being a choreographer is a non-standard choice.
D: Probably the first thing that affected me was that my mother is a ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, who from childhood was preparing me for a ballet career. I was engaged in choreography as far back as I can remember, so I really had no choice.
- Where did figure skating come from?
D: Admittance to ballet school starts at 9 years old, and to figure skating - at 4. I was taken to the skating rink so that I could grow stronger, learn to skate, and develop my coordination abilities. But when the time came, by the age of 9 I had already won too many children's competitions, and the coaches unanimously said that I was a promising boy, therefore, when my mother thought of sending me to ballet school, I was categorically against it. So much that mom gave up. But ev then the amount of choreography in my life did not diminish. The day began with an ice training at 7 in the morning, then we went to school for a couple of lessons, at school she picked me up with wrapped up food, while I ate, I was taken to the next training. Then we drove home, where my mother engaged with me in choreography. Then I did my homework and went to bed. Of course, in childhood, I had moments of negative attitude towards my mother and her initiatives. It seemed to me like she tortured me.
- Doesn’t it seem so today?
D: Of course, over time, the older I got, the more I realized that a child is not always able to assess why parents demand something from him and insist on it. In childhood, we often get angry, resentful of parents who make us do our lessons at the time we want to play with friends or watch cartoons. Now that I myself have started working with children, I understand how important it is that parents 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’s easier for me to do this, because I have not yet gone so far from them by age and remember very well how I myself reacted to parental comments and requirements.
- How did you become the choreographer of the Tutberidze group?
D: Eteri Georgiyevna asked Il'ya Averbukh to help find her a choreographer for her group. He recommended me.
- How went the process of joining the team?
D: Of course, at first they carefully watched me: how I and the athletes find a common language, how I teach sliding, how I work with jumps, what my technique was and so on, to understand whether we come to the same things. This was necessary, because in our group there is no kind of division of labour, that someone teaches sliding, someone spins, and someone jumps. We are all completely interchangeable, we have three (and now four, including Sergey Rozanov) on the same common technique of setting elements, and we can all tell the athlete at any time how and what to do. It’s convenient to work because any of us can go to competitions with athletes or, conversely, stay alone at the rink with the group and there will be no problems.
- You were taken into the group as a choreographer-tutor?
D: Yes, at first I only worked out programs, but in the process I started to offer something on music, on ideas. It was the first time that I voiced aloud my dream of staging a program to Swan Lake. I proposed this idea for Yuliya Lipnitskaya, but she refused. As a result, this program was staged for Alina Zagitova in the Olympic season.
- How did you grow up to be an independent production choreographer? How did this transformation happen?
D: Rather, it’s first necessary to talk about how I was able to prove to Eteri Georgiyevna that I could stage. After all, before I came to work in her group, I had been staging programs at Moskvich for three years. By that time I had already done about 80 programs. Plus, just a month before I came to her (it was September-October 2015), I'd just returned from Sochi, where I helped Averbukh to stage Carmen. So at that moment I already had experience working both with Olympic champions and with young children. I didn’t have any fear or self-doubt. I was quite confident in myself. All that remained was for her to believe in me.
- To whom did you stage your first program?
D: We had very good contacts with Adyan Pitkeyev, who told Eteri Georgiyevna that he wanted have me stage his programs. She agreed, although she already had an agreement with Marina Zuyeva to stage programs for Adyan in the States. It was decided that Zuyeva would give him a free program, and I would give him a short one. It was my first big job. That same year, at the summer training camp in Novogorsk, I began to stage programs on the guys from our group, everyone except Zhenya Medvyedeva, whom Averbukh staged the program “I Hear - I Can't Hear”. It all happened that season.
- It was a brilliant program. Is it a pity that Lipnitskaya also refused it at that time?
D: In our group more than once there were such situations when someone refused, another athlete with this program would become champion. But lately there have been no refusals.
- Daniel, you agree, one story when a choreographer works in freelance mode and is invited by an athlete for a specific production. And it’s completely different when the choreographer works in the group not only as a tutor, but also as a director, who has to stage two programs for each athlete per season. Tell us how you cope with this challenge, where you draw your inspiration from, where you take strength from and more.
D: You are right: it’s easier to be an invited choreographer because there is always an interesting creative story, because the athlete’s ambitions and his potential give the director scope for implementing the most daring ideas. It is much more difficult to find ideas, music for each athlete, each at a different level, from season to season. In our group, the production period starts from end of April - as soon as the last competitions end - until September inclusive. The biggest difficulty lies in the number of productions, but I share this burden with Eteri Georgiyevna, who is always involved in the selection of music and is always on ice during any production. First, we stage programs for the main athletes, then juniors, and then for the 9-10 year old children which 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 in the older group and two in the youngest. From the inside, this process looks like this: we stage programs during the day, in the evening we are going to listen to music and sketch ideas. Therefore, camps in Novogorsk require endurance and strength. It helps that before this we all relaxed on our holidays, although after the staging period we again want to relax somewhere in a quiet place. By the end of August the first competitions will start, and we are entering the main season.
- So you can’t get more rest?
D: Why? In our group it is customary to consider that every time you are at a competition, you're on leave and having a vacation.
- How do you manage to master this whole load of program productions from year to year? How do you avoid repetition? Avoid the temptation to inherit a previously staged program?
D: As for the “inheritance” transfer: we say a categorical “no” to any such approach. This does not respect either athletes, nor spectators, nor ourselves. Of course, staging thirty programs each season is difficult, energy-consuming, but there is no other way. Plus, I really 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 in order. For me there is nothing more pleasant than spending time searching for music, inspiration, then to come to Eteri Georgiyevna and say - "Ready, I've figured it out". And if I hear her answer, yes, it's cool, there is no greater joy for me. When we all go out onto the ice, when everyone is creatively wound up, including the athlete, the coolest and most interesting programs appear. I do not really like the word "masterpieces", but I can say it turned out to be a special and fitting product.
The task of the choreographer is to develop athletes, expand the palette of their style possibilities
- Still, how does this happen in practice? The choreographer distances himself from the athlete and selects music and a program for him or, conversely, an athlete is selected for the invented program.
D: I would say this happens differently in different cases. For example, I really wanted to stage Swan Lake and, accordingly, while still under this idea looked for, was waiting for the right athlete. She turned out to be Alina Zagitova, because not every skater can be a black swan. But it also happens in a different way: when you need to stage the program for an athlete from the group, you tune in to his wavelength, select music, an idea for him. For example, you look at Sasha Trusova and see that such energy radiated from her that you can’t curb her at all, it’s unlikely that a lyrical program will suit her. At the same time, Alyona Kostornaya seemed 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’t always skate some action movie, just like Alyona will not constantly get staged in the form of a “princess”. The choreographer’s task is to develop athletes, expand the palette of their stylistic capabilities, which we do in training: we do some appropriate dances, joining steps together to different music, we dance in all kinds of styles in the dry hall and so on.
- This season you staged your athletes programs under music from the famous hits: Alina Zagitova will perform under "Phantom of the Opera" and "Carmen", Alyona Kostornaya - under "Romeo and Juliet", Alexander Trusova - under the soundtracks from “Kill Bill” and “The Fifth Element”. Is this due to the fact that the images created for them are familiar and understandable to the viewer?
D: I understand your question. You have listed programs whose music is really known to everyone, but for the same Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Usachyova, Valiyeva and others, their music for the most part is generally unidentified and uninitiated, so we say, we “discovered” that music. When I answer your question, I adhere to a ratio of 50/50. For one program we take a hit, for another - an unknown track. Sometimes we take famous music, but we impose an unexpected image on it. So, Polina Tsurskaya, we once staged a program under the soundtrack of “Game of Thrones”, but the idea of the program was in no way connected with the series. As for Alina and her two programs, here we proceeded from the fact that she is able to 'skate out' these hits better than all the others who previously skated under the Phantom of the Opera and Carmen. It was my desire, to stage to this music like never before. The goal was to make her such programs so that for another three or four years no one would take this music, realizing that they would never perform it better than Zagitova did.
- Is the choreographer able to turn a program based on unknown music into a hit?
D: Of course, this is the work of the choreographer. But only on the condition that an unexpected idea will be staged to this unknown music, some interesting image or the choreography of the program will be fresh, original. Other than that, it’s important the athlete has enough qualifications to carry the program, otherwise it will be a complete failure. Although, I think, it’s even more a failure when mediocre programs for poor skaters are staged under famous music.
- At what point do you understand that it is only this music that will create a full-fledged, strong image?
D: Probably, at that moment when you listen to music with headphones and come up with an idea, see an image, a program. But all these ideas must pass the checking clipboard of Eteri Georgiyevna. If the idea is weak or too strange (which sometimes happens to me), it will not pass her filter right here and now. She can say: “It’s wonderful, but without a libretto no one will understand how you will explain the program to the people?” Then we either correct the idea or discard it. We make decisions together, because you cannot make mistakes in this matter.
My task is to help the athlete show the best version of himself though his program
- Which programs are the best in your ranking?
D: I probably will not surprise anyone with my choice, because these are really the best programs of our time. I grew up on the productions of Nikolai Morozov for Alexei Yagudin - “Winter”, “Man in the Iron Mask”. As a child I was so impressed with these programs that when I went out onto the ice, the first thing I did was depict steps and movements from them. The next were the programs of Stephan Lambiel, I really liked all of his, I reviewed them many times, remembered. Today, since Lambiel became a coach, it is almost always possible to guess it was him who staged the program, his choreography is so original. Another question is that his style is not always suitable for every athlete. Next, I’ll probably name Patrick Chan, Shoma Uno, Yuzuru Hanyu and, of course, Nathan Chen.
- How is Nathan Chen interesting to you?”
D: He used to be criticized a lot for his 'run-and-jump' programs, but Chen works a lot in the dry hall and tries to transfer his choreography from the floor to the ice in one piece, which is atypical for figure skating, because traditionally we are more inclined towards ballet. In his programs, I see he is now introducing a different choreography with his various clips and finds, and over time he will show us both hip-hop and characteristic dances. One can see this will become his style, it just needs to be given time. He is sharp, rhythmic, explosive, no one will expect from him "Romeo and Juliet" or lyric programs. He has his own style, he is more groovy, more aggressive, and the more he skates, the more we will see his “This am I”. One also needs to name Javier Fernandez, who concluded his brilliant career at the European Championships. His show number was simply unbelievable. It is so beautifully staged, there are so many interesting things you simply can't stop watching.
- It is interesting that you have now cited a series of examples from men's single skating. And how are things in women's skating?
D: - I don’t even know who to name here. For me, Yuna Kim, Mao Assad, Carolina Kostner have always stood out with their programs. But it was with the programs of Yuliya Lipnitskaya that the so-called “with an idea” programs began. Il'ya Averbukh and Eteri Tutberidze made a lot of good programs for Yulia, which were different from those of other athletes. This is not only Schindler's List, but also Megalopolis, where she seemed to be running after a kite. Then there were already programs for Zhenya Medvyedeva, 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.
- Do other trainers hire you as a program director?
D: I will always be happy to help everyone, provided they are athletes of pair skating or dancing on ice, since we are not direct competitors in these. I would be happy to help them to win, because I want our athletes to be the best in any discipline in which we contest.
- You are the choreographer of the strongest group of female single skaters in the world. Do you realize you are setting any trends in this sport? When you start staging a program, what principles do you follow, what tools do you use so your athletes win?
D: I will not say anything new here. Each athlete is strong in something: one jumps better, the other spins, the third rides. My task is to help the athlete to show the best version of himself by using his program. If he is doing something not that good, I will find a million options for him how to hide it in the program so that no one even guesses anything. We are approaching the creation of a program, the same way a scientist a formula - it will only have the very best. The program should capture the audience in such a way no one even starts to think the athlete is not able to do something. Of course, this cannot be done in all programs and with all athletes, but we are trying our best.
- The prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, who plays the part in Odette – Odile, cannot change the choreography, no matter how complicated or inconvenient it may be for her. The ballerina either can perform it and then she'll be the soloist, or she cannot and then she dances in the corps de ballet. When staging programs in figure skating, the choreographer exclusively starts from the athlete’s abilities, which is a kind of indulgence. Is this correct?
D: We can say that since choreography is not a constant, since it adapts itself to the level of the athlete, it doesn't present itself as indulgent. But figure skating is a sport in which all the elements are rigidly spelled out, all levels of difficulty for each category and age are prescribed, and if you do not meet these requirements, you'd end your sports career. There is no other alternative. For the rest, there really is more freedom of action, and here it depends on the coach and choreographer how to present the ability of their athlete to perform these prescribed elements. Choreography is just a wide area of self-expression.
The coach chooses the best tactics for his athlete so that he can show his best result
- If the athlete brings you music and says: “I want to ride it,” or during the formulation of the program suggests something to do in his own way, how do you feel about this?
D: I always welcome if the athlete offers something during the stagings. If we and him work together, that's great! But this does not mean that we enthusiastically accept everything that 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 more. If a girl dreams about skating in a tutu, and we see that she is not from the balletic stock, then, of course, we will not carry out her wish. If all of us like the proposed music and idea, we as professionals understand that you can win with this program. Simple as that.
- That is, you limit your athletes freedom of choice?
D: The issue here is not freedom, but professionalism. The coach sees the whole picture, he knows the characteristics of the athlete, his abilities and capabilities, he tracks fashionable musical and staging trends, but he is looking for some innovative moves so that the program 'plays' for the athlete. This process, if the athlete wants to succeed, can not be lowered to the level of "I want, I don't want" or "like, don't like." Imagine if a player on a soccer team tells the coach that he does not want to adhere to the tactics that were designed for the game, that he will follow his own tactics? Or the forward will say that he does not want to play as attacker, but wants to play as goalkeeper? It’s the same here. The coach chooses the best tactics for his athlete so that he can show his best result. The main thing for us is to bring our athlete to success, to help him achieve his maximum in a particular season with the music and programs that we offered and delivered to him.
- I saw this season Kamila Valiyeva short program "Girl on the ball." In my opinion, this program deserves to be seen at the Olympic Games, and not just at the Moscow Championship for older age. Is it a pity to spend such ideas on children's tournaments?
D: The idea itself belongs to Eteri Georgiyevna. She came up with it when we sat in the evening in Novogorsk and thinking about programs. In general terms, we immediately figured out how the production would look like, then we found music that could lean on this idea. When we started staging the program on ice, I realized that I want to add a little modernism to the movements, especially since Kamila is a very gifted girl in terms of choreography, it’s easy to work with her. Yes, this program probably could have been Olympic, but it’s not said that there would have been some other athlete who could have done it the way Kamila did this year when she was 12 years old. And it’s not said that Kamila herself will be able to skate this program the same way when 17-18 years of age. Therefore, if we feel a creative pulse, we are not trying to hold it back, store it for later. Someone will probably say that we are very nonchalant about this, but we have a belief that in the Olympic season we will be able to do something good, something memorable.
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Source:
http://ffkm.ru/images/mf/Figurist_1_2019.pdf
PS: with choreography is mostly meant here: dance training/learning and not so much the artistic practice itself?
Very much hope for an in depth interview with
Sergey Dudakov on the bare facts, naked truths and sheer basics of training figure skaters at this level or Sergey Rozanov on working effectively with the very young skaters.
, something like that, but more commanding, more dynamic, more sense of power radiating from her ...
Sorry if it can offend you - but I suspect one can write such suggestion only due to two reasons:
