Follow up to earlier post
In my final project and previous post named 'agony and ecstacy' I talked about Deanes teaching and how if he taught in a different way he may get better results. I found this article which proves what I said is true:-
sweet-natured Daria a victim of domineering choreographer Derek Deane, reacting with graceful dignity to his barrage of destructive criticism. ‘God almighty, look at her! Absolutely dreadful. It wastes my time talking to her… I can’t be bothered!’ he ranted. It was like Black Swan, except that this was real life. We flinched for Daria, so beautiful and vulnerable in the lead role as Odette-Odile, facing the diminuendo of her career, as she was torn to shreds by Deane, the former artistic director of ENB – and described by one critic as a cross between Diaghilev and Simon Cowell. It made for compelling viewing, but it left a nasty taste.
And no one was more shocked than Czech-born Daria – now two weeks away from her 40th birthday – when she saw herself on screen. Meeting her at ENB’s headquarters in Kensington, West London, where she’s rehearsing, I raise the question of Deane’s bully-boy tactics, half expecting her to shrug it off, to say something diplomatic and self-effacing. But this wasn’t the first time they had clashed. When Daria, who is married to British stage technician Ian Comer, had her daughter Sabina ten years ago, Deane – who had been planning to choreograph Sleeping Beauty for her – was furious with her for the timing of her pregnancy, she claims.
Seeing herself on television being shouted at by Deane – during rehearsals for his spectacular in-the-round production of Swan Lake with 60 swans at London’s Royal Albert Hall last June – opened Daria’s eyes. ‘When I saw it from outside, I thought, “You know what? He will never speak to me like this ever again.” Some days it doesn’t upset you. But some days, if you’re feeling more fragile…many times I end up crying.
‘He achieves [results] because we’re all scared. But he makes a scar on people for the rest of their lives. There’s a different way to make dancers work hard and look amazing and still go home happy, but he doesn’t know how to do that. You know what, I’m not less than he is. He’s a choreographer. I’m a prima ballerina. I’d like to see how he’d react if I said, “This is s*** choreography and I have to dance it.”’
There has been a metamorphosis since the ‘old ballerina’ allowed herself to be browbeaten and humiliated in front of the cameras only a year ago. The partnership viewers saw unfolding on screen with Vadim Muntagirov, a 21-year-old Russian straight out of ballet school, has taken off to ravishing effect, and Daria and Vadim are being applauded as a new Fonteyn and Nureyev. (‘All nonsense,’ says the down-to-earth Daria. ‘The only thing that’s the same is the age difference!’ She was dancing professionally before Vadim was born.)
She is sitting beside me on the floor, hair swept back in a ponytail, looking much younger than she did a year ago. I have been watching her and Vadim in the sauna-like heat of the studio during an hour-long rehearsal of Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky pas de deux, and am utterly entranced. (They are working with Ivan Dinev from the company’s ballet school, who is as gentle and supportive as Derek Deane is belligerent.) Daria, a wisp of chiffon tied around her waist, has the shy vivacity of a young girl as she looks into Vadim’s eyes – ‘It should look like you’re going to kiss each other,’ says Dinev – then leaps with absolute trust into his arms.
‘It’s very rare to find that partner to whom you’re connected emotionally as well as physically’
They practise the catch, until Daria laughs. ‘It is pain-free,’ she says. Perfect. There’s not a hint of the self-deprecating cynicism of a year ago, when she shrugged:‘After 20 years you think the critics will suddenly think I’m a star? I don’t think so.’ It’s not that she feels younger now, she says, because she didn’t feel old. If anything, dancing gets easier; not physically easier – ‘I get more pain’ – but there’s a confidence that comes with maturity. What Vadim has given her is inspiration. She waited
20 years for this, the partner who is ‘the one’, the soul mate. That’s why their on-stage chemistry has such a potent romantic appeal.
sweet-natured Daria a victim of domineering choreographer Derek Deane, reacting with graceful dignity to his barrage of destructive criticism. ‘God almighty, look at her! Absolutely dreadful. It wastes my time talking to her… I can’t be bothered!’ he ranted. It was like Black Swan, except that this was real life. We flinched for Daria, so beautiful and vulnerable in the lead role as Odette-Odile, facing the diminuendo of her career, as she was torn to shreds by Deane, the former artistic director of ENB – and described by one critic as a cross between Diaghilev and Simon Cowell. It made for compelling viewing, but it left a nasty taste.
And no one was more shocked than Czech-born Daria – now two weeks away from her 40th birthday – when she saw herself on screen. Meeting her at ENB’s headquarters in Kensington, West London, where she’s rehearsing, I raise the question of Deane’s bully-boy tactics, half expecting her to shrug it off, to say something diplomatic and self-effacing. But this wasn’t the first time they had clashed. When Daria, who is married to British stage technician Ian Comer, had her daughter Sabina ten years ago, Deane – who had been planning to choreograph Sleeping Beauty for her – was furious with her for the timing of her pregnancy, she claims.
Seeing herself on television being shouted at by Deane – during rehearsals for his spectacular in-the-round production of Swan Lake with 60 swans at London’s Royal Albert Hall last June – opened Daria’s eyes. ‘When I saw it from outside, I thought, “You know what? He will never speak to me like this ever again.” Some days it doesn’t upset you. But some days, if you’re feeling more fragile…many times I end up crying.
‘He achieves [results] because we’re all scared. But he makes a scar on people for the rest of their lives. There’s a different way to make dancers work hard and look amazing and still go home happy, but he doesn’t know how to do that. You know what, I’m not less than he is. He’s a choreographer. I’m a prima ballerina. I’d like to see how he’d react if I said, “This is s*** choreography and I have to dance it.”’
In rehearsal last month in West London for ENB's Strictly Gershwin
Daria and Vadim in rehearsal for ENB’s revival of Strictly Gershwin
She is sitting beside me on the floor, hair swept back in a ponytail, looking much younger than she did a year ago. I have been watching her and Vadim in the sauna-like heat of the studio during an hour-long rehearsal of Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky pas de deux, and am utterly entranced. (They are working with Ivan Dinev from the company’s ballet school, who is as gentle and supportive as Derek Deane is belligerent.) Daria, a wisp of chiffon tied around her waist, has the shy vivacity of a young girl as she looks into Vadim’s eyes – ‘It should look like you’re going to kiss each other,’ says Dinev – then leaps with absolute trust into his arms.
‘It’s very rare to find that partner to whom you’re connected emotionally as well as physically’
They practise the catch, until Daria laughs. ‘It is pain-free,’ she says. Perfect. There’s not a hint of the self-deprecating cynicism of a year ago, when she shrugged:‘After 20 years you think the critics will suddenly think I’m a star? I don’t think so.’ It’s not that she feels younger now, she says, because she didn’t feel old. If anything, dancing gets easier; not physically easier – ‘I get more pain’ – but there’s a confidence that comes with maturity. What Vadim has given her is inspiration. She waited
20 years for this, the partner who is ‘the one’, the soul mate. That’s why their on-stage chemistry has such a potent romantic appeal.
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