The emotion of improvisation: about the play "Fire and Ice"

The choreographic performance of the Inclusive Theater "I" "Fire and Ice" in dance improvisation shows the relationship of the creator, muse, creation. I don't know how important the nuances of plot twists and turns are for the creators themselves, but for a reason they prescribed them as abstractly as possible. "A long creative path to yourself," is how the author of the libretto and director Irina Pushkareva outlined the idea. The emotions that the creators encrypted in action remain for me the most important key to its acceptance. For myself, I designated the genre as "choreographic fantasy". And how can you understand someone else's fantasy? Only if you fantasize together! All I know for sure is that in dance performances, the dance itself is always important. The beauty and consistency of dance figures, expressive gestures. The accuracy of the performance in the dance evokes the same emotions as a witty remark in a brilliant play. Starting from these emotions, you invent your own story inside yourself.

Dance theater, and especially ballet, is not my direct specialization as a theater critic. Although today, almost every performance uses what is called a "plastic solution", and at least superficially, everyone encounters dance. I remember how one day we were returning from an abstract dance performance with my dear teacher, Professor Vadim Saleev. I complained that I didn't understand anything, how can you talk about a performance if you don't understand the "artistic image" in it. Vadim Alekseevich gently objected to me, saying that in addition to "artistic", there is a concept of "aesthetic", that beauty has its own nature, which may well go beyond the limits of our understanding abilities. I suddenly felt that trying hard to understand, unravel, and enjoy the performance is not exactly the right way for a theater critic and a spectator. Being able to relax and concentrate on yourself is also a great art of watching performances. And suddenly the theater evening became an evening in general. Here a warm good mood will stay with me forever.

"Fire and Ice"... The contrast is already stated in the title. The whole performance is based on these contrasts. This is a universal form. And in this universality and conventionality there is a danger that genuine emotion will not arise. After all, emotions are carved from a collision with something specific. The performance begins with a dark scene, then there is a light one. The heroes are a man and a woman. Statics and dynamics in movements. And yet, despite the abstract contrast, soft and kind feelings remain from the performance. Why is that? It seems to me that the point is in the improvisational nature of the performance, which is as emotional as possible initially.

Improvisation is felt most of all in music. Jazz variations do not illustrate the actions, but rather paint the outline that the performers set. The musicians are closely watching every movement. Not only physically, even a change of mood is musically repelled. Together with the musicians, we are watching the dance improvisation on stage. Marina Vezhnovets and Yuri Kovalev play "close-up". Everything is important, any nuance of facial expression, head turn, finger movement. This is especially noticeable and successfully conveyed in the video version of the play. Is it possible to convey this impression on stage? This is the task of the viewer, to follow the true art of great masters, not to miss a minute, not an inch of their life on stage. Marina Vezhnovets said about her existence in the play: "If in the profession we train, build and break our body, then here we follow it. During improvisation, the brain works completely differently: you don't think about what to do next and how to move, but on the contrary, you turn off thinking and try to "think" with sensations."

The performances of the Inclusive Theater "I" constantly remind us of one of the most important components of any art, which we often forget about now. A work of art is an emotional act. The artist invests his feelings in what seems important to him and excited him here and now, the viewer feels these emotions and empathizes with them. This is exactly how emotional a performance dedicated to Irina Savelyeva, an amazing teacher who brought up many famous performers of the Belarusian ballet, should be. These emotions contain real love, respect and feelings of gratitude. You can not get charged with these emotions at every performance.