Brooklyn Gypsy Cossacks or Ensemble BARYNYA rehearsal article written by Mikhail Smirnov for The Balalaika and Domra Association of America (BDAA) Newsletter
Brooklyn Gypsy Cossacks or Ensemble BARYNYA rehearsal
We decided to start the rehearsal around 6 pm in order to finish it by 8pm.
Singer Sasha Menshikov and I arrived around 6:15pm and we were the first ones there. There was a small delicatessen near the studio in Red Hook (part of Brooklyn). Sasha had an idea to buy some drinks, just in case. For some reason the store did not carry any Russian vodka and we bought some chips, nuts and Russian beer with meteorological name “BALTICA-3”.
On the way out we bumped into the dancer Mikhail Nesterenko and famous Leonid Bruk with his enormous contrabass balalaika by his side. As always, two of them were having a professional conversation about how to treat a common “Russian flu”. I overheard very familiar to every balalaika-player terms as “Alka-Seltzer” and “Rassol” (pickle water).
Ukrainian dancer Andrij Cybyk is known for always being on time. He showed up just 10 more minutes later. Everybody lighted up their cigarettes. We were waiting for the girl-dancers and violin-player.
I started to worry; when girls and violin-player are late together it could take quite a while (just like a notorious story that happened during a Slavic festival in Oregon last year).
While waiting for the girls, the conversation was mainly about them. However, just 15 minutes later, Olga, Ganna, and Viktoria brought a lot of “semi-fresh” rumors about the Russian community in Brooklyn. Surprisingly enough, the story that recently happened in the restaurant “CHINARA” was still quite popular.
From the roof of the studio there was a great view on the Lower Manhattan. Once again, everybody lighted up their cigarettes. Leonid Bruk offered to shoot our new video right there on the roof using his video camera that he has just obtained from local street gypsies.
Sasha Menshikov jokingly admited that he does not have the proper underwear for this video. Leonid reassured him however that sophisticated video-editing programs that are temporary in his possession may allow him to cover up all the bad moments, and everything else could be fixed with expensive special effects.
Sasha started to undress slowly while singing his favorite song “VODKA GLASSES” but at this moment choreographer and dancer Vitaliy Verterich showed up, cursing about New York Marathon and traffic.
For some time the conversation was about the upcoming Russian Nobility Ball and the Russian Nobility in general…
To avoid the conflict of versions during the show, at first no changes were made in “KAZACHOK” (Cossack dance) and “TSYGANSKY” (Gypsy dance). This would have been a right way to go but during the rehearsal new versions of the dances appeared to look better than the old ones.
Hospitable Ilja, the owner of the studio and a huge fan of our dancer Valentina Kvasova, offered the vine and other traditional Russian beverages. Sasha loved it, his voice started to sound clearer almost immediately; choreography finally began to look like a professional show.
Dancers lighted up their cigarettes again. Somebody threw my jacked out of the window. Violin player S. went to get it and came back two hours later claiming that he got lost. We went through the whole program once again without him.
Cossack singer Victoria Pichurova left with the dancers at eight o’clock sharp.
As soon as they left, balalaika player Alex Siniavski arrived with his Gypsy guitar. He briefly talked to the owner of the studio Ilia and Valentina the dancer, then, he talked a little more with the contrabass-balalaika guru Leonid Bruk, after that he headed back home. About 15 minutes later me and Menshikov decided to go back home to our Brighton Beach.
Long after that the neighbors of the studio-owner were still talking about the day when Russians were rehearsing next door. But to tell you the truth, there is not much to talk about…
Pictures from ensemble Barynya performance at the Russian Nobility Ball 2007
http://groups.google.com/group/rmda/web/02
Mikhail Smirnov, Artistic Director/Founder
Ensemble Barynya from New York
www.barynya.com
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
