A ballerina’s quest for perfection:

Rhythmic feet, dancing heart

Ruwini Jayawardana

Natalina’s world

Natalia Viktorovna Sokovikova Picture by Saman Sri Wedage

Performed in

* Swan Lake

* Nutcracker

* Coppelia

* Sleeping Beauty

* Giselle

Her own

* Dr. I

* Fire Bird

* Don Juan

Ballet films

* Symphony of Autumn

* Medea

* Don Juan

Through the dimness of lights they emerged on to the stage, their feet hardly touching the ground as they swayed to the music. Their movements drew the crowd with magnetic force. All eyes were glued to the hourglass figures of the dancers as they wove their magic around the audience.

“The skill to excel as a ballet dancer is inborn. It is similar to a good musician who must absorb and train himself or herself to play a musical instrument. Of course you need to possess a good physicality and a flexible body. You should practice your legs to move systematically and rhythmically to the music. For this you should have an ear for music along with physical and mental strength. It takes at least eight years to complete a dancer’s education in Russia and that means eight hours of practice per day: six hours of theory and two hours of practical,” says renowned Russian dancer, teacher and choreographer Natalia Viktorovna Sokovikova.

She added that since many are unable to go through this tedious process, there are only a few fully qualified ballerinas in the world.

Natalia visited Sri Lanka on an invitation extended by the Russian Centre, Colombo, as an examiner for their annual ballet examinations. She had worked as a director and teacher in various choreographic schools in Moscow, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar and was a professor at Chungnamsky University in South Korea where she was awarded a honorable doctorate.

The Siberia-born dancer cum choreographer was trained by iconic Russian dancer and choreographer Yury Grigorovich for three years. Her mother, Gallina, had been a ballet teacher and her father, Victor, had been an art teacher. Natalia had worked in Novosibirsk Opera and ballet theatre and has 10 years of experience in various dance techniques in the Children’s Psychology Department.

She says it is astounding how children pick up the art and transform themselves into graceful and elegant beings who take to roles in famous productions like Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. Natalia had played her part in all these ballets with famous names like Nina Sorokina, Galina Ivanova and Irena Zemanova.

Natalia had even choreographed a number of her own ballets: Dr. I, Fire Bird and Don Juan. She produced three ballet films titled Symphony of Autumn, Medea and Don Juan. She said that the highlight of her career was when they staged Fire Bird at the Soviet Parliament in 1979.

“Over 7,000 people watched the ballet. It was a great honour for us,” she mused.

Gliding back in time into the era when she mesmerized the audience as Odette, the swan queen, in Swan Lake, Natalina said that she had toured Egypt, Korea, Bulgaria, France, Nigeria and all the countries in the former USSR with the team. However, this is her first visit to Sri Lanka.

“The children here are very talented and it is in the teachers’ hands to sharpen their skills. I have tried out some of the Sri Lankan traditional dance forms. They are magnificent but very difficult to master,” she noted adding that she appreciated the role the Russian Centre plays in popularizing the art of ballet.

She is also a Dr. of Psychological Science and is a UNESCO executive committee member who had conducted workshops and competitions. She worked on new educational standards formulated by the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet last year and hopes to tackle her D Sc. doctorate to achieve the highest qualifications for a dancer.