Another Russian interview for Ballet.co, with Olesya Novikova, who was dancing Apollo and Don Quixote in Baden-Baden last December. A First Soloist with the Kirov-Mariinsky Ballet, she discussed her rise through the ranks, a few months before her first maternity leave.
When Olesya Novikova appears at the stage door, in regular clothes, looking very reserved, it is hard to believe you are meeting a first soloist with the Mariinsky Ballet. Aurora, Raymonda, Gamzatti, Giselle, much of the Balanchine and Forsythe repertoire – her repertoire may already span as many leading roles as that of seasoned principals and the rehearsal schedule hung by list her as Kitri or Terpsichore, but the young dancer still looks like a fragile young fawn. Demure throughout our conversation sitting in the orchestra stalls of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, she gazes at the stage being set up from time to time for answers – as if, even on tour, the mother ship was never very far away. (…)
Olesya Novikova shares one thing with Asylmuratova, who became head of the Vaganova Academy two years before Novikova’s own graduation, in 2002 – she is taught in the company by Olga Moiseyeva, who celebrated her eightieth birthday in 2008. The dancer lights up when discussing her coach. “I absolutely wanted her to be my teacher, I absolutely wanted to work with her”, she says quickly. She mentions her strictness, her strong character, and laughs softly : “We share the same Zodiac sign, and people say it is hard when two people of the same sign meet, but we understand each other very well.” She points out with genuine pride one of Moiseyeva’s star students, Svetlana Zakharova, and her work growing several generations of Mariinsky Ballerinas. Novikova’s own trust in her teacher appears touchingly limitless. I asked what she thinks Moiseyeva saw in her; “no idea” is the short reply – but that Moiseyeva “knows her dancers. She knows how they should be.” (…)
» Full interview in Ballet.co Magazine, August 2009 issue
