“When children, by order of the choreographer, portray sensual Latin American women, it is insufficient.” Stavisky on the age limit and Shcherbakova

World champion in ice dancing, choreographer and trainer Maxim Stavisky, who lives in Bulgaria, explained in an interview with how the world is dealing with the situation in Ukraine, why the age limit for dancing is only a plus and what is the advantage of an Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova over the rest of the skaters.

How do you see the world now? What do you think of what is happening?

“I can only wish everyone to return home safe and sound, so that everything goes well.

As for the penalties, well, I don’t know. They were introduced against Russia, and as a result, we created our own production in many industries. I hope it will be the same for sport. They won’t let us go to international competitions, but ours will now train, miss the starts, and then how they will fuck. Because, of course, it’s not for life, sooner or later everything has to end, and we have to compete with the whole world at least once every four years – at the Olympics. I hope ours will be prepared, bored, thirsty. And when the opportunity arises, they will rush.

You yourself have just returned from Europe. How do they relate to what is happening and to our people?

– The situation is different depending on the country. I was in two: in Hungary and in Bulgaria. In Hungary, there are our people, who understand how they perceive what is happening. And the locals have the feeling that it doesn’t concern them at all, they don’t care. They don’t discuss anything.

And the Bulgarians, they were historically with Russia. It seems to me that ordinary people have not changed in this regard. Now there are big problems in the Bulgarian government, everything is changing there, there are unrest. I think that in this context, the conflict in Ukraine has generally faded into the background. There, they have more serious concerns.

In general, it is calm in Bulgaria. There are a lot of refugees, of course, but it’s mostly women with children who go there. They are really sorry, they are trying to hide from fights, find a job and live a normal life. A lot of young girls work as waitresses, women as cleaners… Well, at least we give them opportunities, we don’t refuse them.

So in the region where I was, there are no problems. Again, everyone knows I’m from Russia. And I had no complaints or questions. People have a normal attitude towards the Russians living there and towards the refugees. Fools don’t live there, they try to reason and understand. They make excuses for both one side of the conflict and the other.

– You say that sooner or later the suspensions will end and you have to be ready.

Well, I still hope so. And I’m glad that Sasha Zhulin now has a training camp in Sochi, Zhuk / Pork is also working. Everyone is working, they have established programs, they are preparing for the season. Moreover, I understand that the federation wants to make an alternative Grand Prix. They are great to organize such competitions. If I understand correctly, foreigners can also come to their place.

– They say, only out of competition.

– It’s still a moment of competition that our guys need. Albena (Denkova, Stavisky’s wife – ) and I also once performed on the Russian Cup stage in Kirov out of competition. I like such a democratic view of our federation, it is the right approach. I don’t think it’s necessary to give it up, but in time everything will return to normal.

Although, of course, full-fledged international competitions will be missed. Therefore, it is good that at least some foreigners come. On the other hand, each dancing couple in Russia, for example, has its own competitors. And if they do not sit indifferently on their asses, the moment of competition will always remain. Behind the same Katsalapovs (Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov), Vanya and Sasha (Bukin and Stepanova) breathe warmly, they strive to beat everyone.

– Well, not only Vanya and Sasha are sitting behind Vicki and Nikita’s back – also Diana Davis with Gleb Smolkin. Who was still going nowhere.

– Yes, in general, the whole team is seated (laughs). I managed to work at one point with Diana and Gleb. I know they are very efficient, technical guys. Honestly, I’m glad they stayed to compete for Russia. If they had to move at all, of course. Our team needs such dancers.

– But, why did I start talking about suspension, wouldn’t it turn out that without our athletes, the ISU simply would not release the “figurine”? And there will be nowhere to return.

– I do not think so. It seems to me that figure skating will not be abandoned at the mercy of fate. Clearly the ISU depends on current global issues, but still. It has always been like this: if the president of the ISU is a short track skater, then everyone is afraid that now this particular sport will develop and that there will be no money left for figure skating. The situation is the same with speed skating. I don’t think there will be a situation in which there will be nowhere to go back. Well, at least I don’t want to believe it.

– That is, without our athletes, the “figurine” will not die?

– Will not die. It’s just that if, taking the example of coaching groups, if the leading couple does not have a competitor, such as a sparring partner, then the couple begins to deteriorate. You calm down, your brain stops working properly. You always need a competitor. Therefore, I believe that the absence of rivalry will not have a positive effect on our athletes, and for them.

Russia is the world leader in figure skating, that’s a fact. So now, of course, they will have the opportunity to grab some medals, and after what? Well, let them rejoice a little. They are shaking.

– Yes, if only a little.

– Well, let them rejoice in jet. You have to be aware that you win without your rivals, without leaders. Rejoice, of course, but sooner or later all this will end. And then you will cry.

None of us tend to relax. At the same Eteri Georgievna try to relax at all.

– Well, let’s say it’s impossible to relax at Eteri Georgievna. But you can also move away from Eteri Georgievna, for example, after finishing the sport. I am now looking at the list of activities with Anya Shcherbakova and Kamila Valieva – they will spend most of the summer on the show.

– In the show – yes, but Anya and Camila will always have a fee. They will perform in the evening in the show and in the afternoon they will practice. The preparation for the season will therefore still be normal. And the shows themselves are very useful for development.

On the other hand, if one of our leaders retires or enters the show, a young new leader immediately takes their place. And suddenly, the team has nothing to lose. We have seen this for several years, and it is unlikely that anything will change. So if they still decide to leave and not fight in competitions, well, that’s up to them.

What do you think of raising the age limit?

– It’s a tough fight with our young champions, of course. They think they have achieved their goal. And I don’t think anything will change at all.

– Fighting champions is possible. But I have heard several times that it is not single skaters, but couples with dancers who will suffer the most from the new qualification.

– Everything is individual here. I went to the master’s degree at the age of 18, and it went well. In general, I would talk about something here – maybe it’s not so critical in a couple, but there really is a problem in the dance. In dancing, you must portray the adult relationships in the program, especially if you are given the blues or any other overtly sexual dance to roll. Or Latina, in which almost half-naked girls dance.

And to start such dances in children … It’s strange. Here you need either some kind of comedy like Chunga-Changi or something serious in itself that becomes comedy. Because when the kids, on the orders of the choreographer, pass themselves off as sensual Latin Americans, that doesn’t always do the trick. So for dance, in my opinion, on a moral level, the qualification is really objective.

– Isn’t it the same problem in individual skating? All things considered, they staged Camila’s “Bolero”, and fans are looking for references to Béjart’s ballet, where everything was quite erotic.

– It seems to me that only those who have set up strange associations in their heads are looking for such a subtext. For me, for example, “Bolero” from Valieva is not associated with anything like that. In general, if we hear Ravel’s “Bolero”, then he wrote it while watching the work of machines in the workshop. And the sexual subtext of this music was already given by Béjart.

And Carmen?

– This is an adult story with its own plots and passions. But “Carmen” is already so battered and exhausted that even a little girl can go out in a red dress and is already working. It is not necessary to represent something like this … Of course, there are also problems in solo skating when a little girl approaches an adult subject with some kind of inner feelings. Sometimes it seems ridiculous.

Although, objectively, some do. If you look at Anya Shcherbakova, for example, she has such a soulful face with deep eyes that you start to believe her. So there the question is for the choreographer, how he is going to stage everything, and for the skater herself, will she be able to interpret the idea. Anya succeeds.

And another example – once in the show I had the honor of skating with Lisa Arzamasova. She was 15 at the time. And I even had quarrels with the judges. They said to her: “You are so small, but do you even understand what the line of the song “Love Boat Crashed About Life” means? Then I got indignant and said, they say, why do you associate this girl only with the TV series “Daddy’s Daughters”, when she has already starred in 30 serious films and acted in 30 serious performances?

It all depends on how mentally ripe the actress or, in our case, the athlete is for such a role. At 15, Liza already fully understood everything, went through on her own. And in figure skating there is a similar case – the director needs to see a person and understand what kind of story he is ready for. You can take Pinocchio or go for adult drama. The only condition is that the drama does not turn into Pinocchio.