Ballet soloist Anna Lauder’s master class
Anna Lauder’s voice is quiet in the house of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet, she catches the attention of the dancers with the movements of her trained body. Although I have arrived at the end of the almost hour and a half long master class, absolute concentration reigns in the heated hall, the students follow the dancer’s example as if fascinated. At the moment, intense rehearsals for the performance “The Jungle Book” scheduled for April are taking place, however, all the flowers of the Latvian National Ballet have come to watch Lauder, including Elsa Leimane, Anna’s friend from the days of the children’s dance ensemble “Dzintariņš” and the Riga Choreography High School.
Darius Florians Katans, the soloist of the Latvian National Ballet of Romanian origin, who himself received both the main prize of the European Ballet in Vienna and the silver medal at the Baltic Ballet Competition in Riga last year, also participates in the master class.
“The master class is meant for girls, but some boys also had the opportunity to participate,” he adds. Decided to participate because it’s a great opportunity to see and learn from such a wonderful dancer: “I saw her dance, and I myself danced at the Jūrmala Ballet Stars Festival last summer and the summer before, and I really admired what she showed there.”
Ballet soloist Anna Lauder’s master class
Photo: Jānis Ķeris, LNO
Ballet soloist Anna Lauder’s master class
Photo: Jānis Ķeris, LNO
Ballet soloist Anna Lauder’s master class
Photo: Jānis Ķeris, LNO
Ballet soloist Anna Lauder’s master class
Photo: Jānis Ķeris, LNO
Ballet soloist Anna Lauder’s master class
Photo: Jānis Ķeris, LNO
The Latvians could not be refused
After the 1st year of the Riga Choreography High School, at the age of 16, Anna applied for the exam at the John Neumayer School in Germany, which at that time, in the 90s of the last century, offered ballet avant-garde, which was not yet understood in Latvia, Anna has reached the zenith of her abilities as a dancer. Became the first ballerina, soloist in the international, 60-member Hamburg troupe. Like her Sevastopol-born husband, Edwin Revazov. However, in the summers, she regularly travels to Latvia, where her family lives, and where I have also met her before at the home of her father, jewelry artist Andras Lauder.
For the first time, the prima of the Hamburg Ballet is devoting part of the Easter vacation to master classes at the ballet school where he started his studies, and at the request of the artistic director of the Latvian National Ballet, Aivars Leimaņi, to his troupe.
Latvian Radio. You couldn’t refuse the Latvians?
Anna Praises: No, I couldn’t. As anxious as I am, I really want to share what I know and be home. If I can share, I am very happy.
When you were growing up, did you have master classes that you remember for the rest of your life, or a ballet dancer that you wanted to see? Was this an emotional moment when you stand in front of yourself and the dancer looks at you with a twinkle in his eye?
It’s such a funny feeling to stand in front. To us [Hamburgā] there have been several master classes, and one of the most impressive was Violeta Verdi, a well-known ballerina. I remember her energy, she had a wonderful class. Yeah, that’s a funny feeling to stand in front of.
After leaving the rehearsal hall, we find a quiet corner in the labyrinths of the opera house, where, however, the voices of the singers announce themselves more and more loudly. Anna also had a dog with her in the master class, a Cavalier Charles spaniel, sleeping completely inconspicuously in her bag.
“Chaplin sits honestly in my hall, watches a lesson. A very patient ballet fan. A stress reliever. We currently have five dogs in the troupe. He travels wherever he can. We have a tour to Baden-Baden every year, and then everyone takes their [suņus] up to. The joy they give is incomparable,” says Anna.
The desire to dance is still there, and the body still allows
The ballerina takes off the soft fabric booties pulled over the pointe shoes and tightens the ribbons that hold the ballet shoes on her feet. It turns out that she also sewed them herself.
“Yes, the shoe arrives, then you have to adjust it to your foot. You have to sew ribbons, you have to sew elastics, I still glue it on one side and the other, it has to dry again, it all takes time and patience,” says the ballerina.
There are stereotypes about pointe shoes, how much they damage the feet. It has not been talked about before how much ballerinas donate. Are they just myths?
“Ballerinas don’t have the most beautiful feet, but the work requires it. The bones deform. You have to try to work correctly, then the bones deform much less. The “protection” that has grown on the toes can be easily eliminated when you stop dancing,” admits Anna.
Although Anna has not hidden in her interviews that at the beginning of her professional career she also had moments when dancing was even on the question mark due to health problems and bright emotionality, now that she has crossed the 40-year threshold, she is still in perfect shape.
“I think the thing about a dancer’s age is that everyone feels for themselves – another dancer’s body and opportunities give him to dance longer, another – less. Another may not have the desire.
But for now, I still have the desire and my body still allows me – then we’ll see how we cooperate,” says the ballerina.
She is said to have come to terms with the departure of teacher John Neumayer, even though the habit is great – the dancers even from the corner of their eyes see the place where he sits in every performance. It happens that the perfume used by the choreographer wafts from the hall opposite. The 51 years that Neumaiers has spent as troupe director is a long time.
“Yes, everything comes to an end. Now we will have Demis Volpi. He is young, he has new ideas, there must be changes. He studied in Stuttgart, he was in a troupe in Dusseldorf, he has also choreographed for the Riga Ballet,” continues Anna.
I have danced everything I wanted to
Will the Latvian ballerina have a role in John Nomaier’s last production as director of the Hamburg Ballet – “Epilogue”?
“He’s just, just started it, and I’m ‘discharged’. We have our first rehearsal on Tuesday. I have to say, we don’t know anything. He wants to have freedom, to have a surprise – for himself, for us, and also for the audience,” says Anna.
She admits – at this point she feels really happy about her career – she has danced everything she wanted to. This season, Blanche Dubois appeared in Neumeier’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s play for ballet, in the performance “The Tram of Longings”.
“I mean, that’s one role that I haven’t danced as I would like to! I didn’t believe myself that it was so… This ballet was not in the repertoire for a very long time, and when I saw that it was in the repertoire and I was going to be Blanche Dubois, I was just happy,” confirms Anna.
As much as she can, she tries to support her husband Edvin Revazov, who even at the expense of a night’s sleep, works with the Ukrainian dancers who have arrived in Hamburg and have joined the “Hamburger Kammerballett” troupe. We will see Anna Lauder and Edvina Revazova again this summer performing at the Ballet Stars Festival in Dzintari.
2024-03-30 09:43:07
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