“I told the boy, ‘Take the baseball caps and give one to your dad,’ and he said, ‘But I don’t have a dad anymore.’ » Zheleznyakov – about his trip to Donbass

Choreographer Alexey Zheleznyakov, in an interview with , told one of the dramatic stories about a trip to Donbass with master classes.

Zheleznyakov and his team gave a number of free master classes for children of Donbass in Donetsk and Lugansk from May 25 to 31, 2022.

— Your quote — “The trip was memorable for the children. They are completely different, not like our spoiled children. Explain.

— We arrived, disembarked and organized master classes. Everyone was incredibly happy, they were blooming before our eyes, but for us such things are commonplace, because people rush with them, buy gadgets, there is no war, everything is great. Children from Donbass know how to appreciate the little things, all the nonsense, because their life is constantly tense. We have become a little greedy in this regard. Seeing their eyes, I experienced the most wonderful emotions of my life. When we left, some even cried. Many of them lost their parents, at one point I had difficulty holding back my tears, I told the boy: “Take several baseball caps, you will give one to your father”, he m ‘looked with deep, sad eyes and replied: “And I no longer have a father.” It’s very difficult, a seven-year-old boy stands in front of you and says this phrase – everything changes inside.

— How to choose words to communicate with such children?

– There is no need to feign sadness or choose words. You must flourish, be a kind of Santa Claus for them, you have come to give them happiness. You need to smile, joke, you need to keep sad thoughts away from them, so that they feel like full-fledged ordinary guys who are not forgotten.

— How many children came to the master classes? Did you manage to distract them from everything that was going on for a while?

— About 120 people came to Donetsk, about 150 to Lugansk. Many children play sports there.

— Do they now have the opportunity to fully engage in sport?

— Children study, they are taken to competitions. People live ordinary lives. When I arrived in Donetsk, I did not have the feeling that there was a war, only how fireworks began to explode on New Year’s Eve – then the bombs exploded, when closer from you the walls were shaking, further away it was as if fireworks had exploded. . The locals are used to this,” Zheleznyakov told .

The choreographer left Tutberidze’s team in November. Zheleznyakov collaborated with Tutberidze throughout his career in Russia.