Ballet, ballet, ballet… Not the most meaningful art but the most graceful. It’s cloaked in myths about utterly strict discipline, about incredible working capacity of fragile ballerinas… They seem to be aliens indeed. And they are really different. All their life flows on the stage and they have no time for anything else. They come here aged 10 and leave… by efforts of our lawmakers after 60…

Early morning in the choreographic school named after Seleznev

Girls are getting up

Today will be the hard day. An international competition will start. Malika is one of its participants. But study goes first, ballet doesn’t release from comprehensive school.

But studying in the choreographic school is much harder than in the comrehensive one. Here they have many special subjects.

And all these endless rehearsals… Starting with classics…

“Train hard, fight easy” – this rule doesn’t work in ballet, it’s always hard in it, every day.

Girls are all so pretty

It’s not easy to enter the school, competiton is high.

They study for free and get kind of aristocratic education. Where else history of arts is taught today?

Malika has been living in a dormitory since she turned 10. She has only granny in Almaty. Such sacrifice is not for nothing. She’s serious beyond her years and she wants to dance on the world stages.

Chemistry lesson

Yes, they are very serious and goal-seeking, but they remain to be children, girls…

Their diet is not so strict as adults have. But they shouldn’t eat much oils and sweets.

Malika’s turn to dance

Strict jury from Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan are watching her performance.

She’s managed and got a storm of applause.

The jury liked her performance too, she reached the final turn and took second place.

For another student Asya it didn’t finish that lucky. Here’s what she’s got. But it’s an ordinary story for ballet dancers.

Will she be able to perform a pirouette? Here is what she is worrying about now.

Senior students will perform in two hours too.

Partner of Asya.

By the way, out of the stage all ballet dancers wear shoes that resemble uggs.

Asya will play a Black Swan

Their teacher forbade them to show hand balance, and pirouette is too painful for the feet…

Finally they improvized a bit in the end and decided to show a hand balance anyway…

Asya explained that her feet were so much hurting that she wouldn’t be able to perform one more pirouette …

But they failed with the hand balance. Asya landed on both legs, it was a serious mistake.

Crying: “The teacher is so angry with us!”

But the teacher was ready to forgive the guys. The photo was taken three days after the performance. They got Grand prize!

Another surprise was waiting for Asya. She was invited to Moscow, to perform in the Imperial Russian Ballet. May it’s a new Cinderella story? Though in Grand Opera all ballet dancers are higher than 180cm.

Kanat Karazhanov is the teacher of the guys.

He has two sons and he doesn’t want them to be ballet dancers. No way!

But why? It’s a lowly employment as he says. Pension problem is rather critical for ballet dancers.

Dancing till 60-63 years old is nonsense, but life will make them. Being 47 Kanat still performs in the ballet and opera theatre though playing secondary parts…

He gets easier, age-specific roles. But not all age artists are lucky that way. Some of them have to dance in night clubs, work in the construction sphere…

Amir, 26, says that probably in 6-7 years the body will not be able to perform. He doesn’t know what he will do.

“Giselle” play

Kanat is playing a duke

Saule Rakhmedova plays the main part

It’s hard to believe but she’s 42! She dances with pleasure and wants to do it till she can.

Kanat is going “to dance till he falls” cause he has a family he should feed…

Kulchara has been treating ballet artists all her professional life. She remembers Kanat as a student of the choreographic school. She worries for dancers – 20 years on the ballet stage is a working limit for a human organism.

Rupture, radiculitis, arthrosis, feet pathologies – here is what’s hidden behind the curtains of the ballet stage…

But spectators need a feast, the country needs prestige of classic art. And they will continue to perform tomorrow…

via voxpopuli