Before dancing on stage in her native Russia or in America as she will Sunday at the Ridgefield Playhouse, 16-year-old Anastasia Georgieva feels her nerves.
Before dancing on stage in her native Russia or in America as she will Sunday at the Ridgefield Playhouse, 16-year-old Anastasia Georgieva feels her nerves.
“The feeling when she’s behind the curtain, and you have to go on stage, the nervousness and excitement,” said Anna Zorina, a translator with the Rossijanochka dance troupe from St. Petersburg.
“She’s very excited and nervous before,” said Sergei Volkov, a Ridgefielder and Russia native who helped translate. “But when she steps onstage everything goes — and it’s freedom and light and just moving.”
“There is a difference between learning the dance, and dancing the dance,” said Alexandr Nosikhin, Rossijanochka’s choreographer, “learning the moves, and telling the story — you add your own meaning.”
Rossijanochka — it translates as “Little Russian Girl” — is a St. Petersburg-based folk dancing school that has sent to America a troupe of 18 young dancers, nine boys and nine girls, aged 9 to 17.
They’re staying with 11 Ridgefield families for just under three weeks, and have 19 performances scheduled, mostly at area schools.
Their only full public performance will be this Sunday, May 4, at 6 p.m. at the Ridgefield Playhouse.
Tickets, $30 for adults and $15 for kids, are available at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
“Please help us fill the Ridgefield Playhouse,” said Alan Steckler of Creative Connections, which organized the tour, writing to families of students at East Ridge Middle School, where Rossijanochka performed Monday.
Five young dancers and three of the adults traveling with them spoke to The Press on Monday at the Ridgefield home of Sergei Volkov and Rayda Krell, who with their sons Dmitri and Kiril are one of the local families hosting the Russians.
Two performances for East Ridge students were well received, and the dancers were touched by the ovations at the end of their shows in the auditorium, and by the rousing applause they got upon entering the cafeteria later, for lunch.
“When they went into the cafeteria, they were giving them all kinds of applause,” Ms. Krell said.
The young Russians found the atmosphere of East Ridge Middle School interesting.
“We are surprised here: In the schools, there’s no uniform,” said Lena Raykova, a 16-year-old whose English is so good she spoke without help from adult translators. “In Russia we have a law, a regulation, that all schools should have a uniform.”
“It’s a new regulation in Russia,” said Mr. Volkov.
Do the students like that?
“No!” said Anastasia, the dancer who feels liberated when the stage curtains rise.
The students must wear black skirts or pants, with white shirts. “At some schools, the boys have to wear ties,” Ms. Krell said.
“There are some rich kids, and some poor — to make them equal,” said Anna Zorina, a teacher in St. Petersburg who has a son in the dance troupe and came on the trip to help and to translate.
“Sometimes your clothes can reflect your mood,” she said. “If you are casually dressed you feel more relaxed. I know, as a teacher, when your kids come without a uniform, they’re not as disciplined.
“But, of course, kids from high school, they violate the regulations. Some girls should wear their hair in ponytails or braids, and teachers say: Don’t wear your hair loose!”
The clothes kids wore at East Ridge made an impression on the visitors.
“They were very surprised at the number of kids wearing shorts. ‘It’s too cold.’ And flip-flops. The teachers: ‘It’s like they’re at the beach!’” said Ms. Krell.
“Today we had two performances in the East Ridge Middle School, and after we had two classes — gym and after that music,” said Lena, with her good English. “And after that we have some workshops for the kids from the school — trying to learn them how to dance, and some Russian words.”
“‘Thank you.’ ‘Good-bye.’ ‘Hello.’ ‘You’re welcome,’” said Maxim Dosenko, a 16-year-old dancer who, like Lena, is on his second visit to America. Both were part of a Rossijanochka tour in 2009.
Ms. Krell and Mr. Volkov lived in New Canaan then, and their sons, Dmitri and Kiril, have a yearbook from their elementary school there with photos of Lena and Maxim in it.
The dancers staying with them now are Fedor Chekalin and Andrei Arlamenkov.
“My sons are ages 7 and 10 and the two boys we are hosting are both 9,” Ms. Krell said. “Even though my children don’t speak Russian and the two dancers don’t speak very much English, they have been able to discover that they have a lot in common.
“They quickly realized that they all had the game Minecraft on their various mobile devices and were able to all connect and do some virtual building together. …
“They also learned you don’t have to speak the same language to run around in the yard and play tag.”
Being from St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million, Fedor finds Ridgefield’s woods and animals an exciting change.
“It’s my first time in the United States,” he said. “I like the place where I live right now. It’s very good here. …
“There were deer right by the house.”
Rossijanochka’s schedule includes performances at all six Ridgefield elementary schools and both middle schools.
In addition to East Ridge Middle School, they’ve already performed at Veterans Park and Ridgebury schools. They’re scheduled to dance next week at Scotts Ridge Middle School on Monday, Branchville School on Tuesday, Farmingville on Wednesday, and at Scotland and Barlow Mountain on Friday.
Ridgefield High School isn’t on the schedule.
The Russians’ school day varies, but Lena said hers goes from about 9:30 to 3.
How much homework?
“I’m trying not to count,” she said with a laugh. “Two or three hours.”
“The boys say two to four hours,” said Mr. Volkov.
“They feel like it’s a lot.”
Radimir Sorokin, 17, and Maxim Dosenko, 16, listed off courses they take: “Math, physics, biology, geometry, algebra, chemistry, Russian language, English language, literature, history, social studies, and personal safety.”
“Different safety rules, survival techniques,” Anna Zorina, the teacher and translator, said of the safety course. “If there’s a fire, what should they do? If there’s an earthquake, what should they do? Also things like health — no smoking.”
Bernice and Matthew Iwinski are hosting two Russian girls, 9 and 10.
“They are the cutest things,” Ms. Iwinski said.
“I purchased Russian for Dummies. It has been quite helpful. We have run into some bumps along the way. I am happy for Anna, the interpreter.
“However, our daughter Stephanie, who is 8, speaks what we are calling ‘child.’ The three girls are getting along quite well,” she said. “The universal language for a child is some type of toy and laughter.”
Magda Fincham and her family are hosting two 14-year-old Russian boys.
“They speak English ‘so-so,’ which means Google Translate has become our new best friend,” she said. “We have really enjoyed having them with us, learning about their lives as teenagers in St. Petersburg, and introducing them to American culture. Neither has been to the U.S. before.
“They enjoyed the baseball opening ceremonies in town on Saturday and even had a picture taken with Rudy Marconi. They love baseball and have been coming to our kids’ practices and playing on the side. While they play soccer and basketball back home, baseball has been a new and exciting sport to them. They can’t seem to get enough!”
She added, “Given the tense political situation between the U.S. and Russia (which my kids have been paying attention to in the news and have been discussing in school), I think it was good for them to meet these talented, friendly Russian kids, appreciate the similarities between them and American kids and have a chance to see past the tension between the governments.”
Alexandr Nosikhin, choreographer and head dance instructor of Rossijanochka, is also a professor of dance.
“We have 70 different dances, mainly those are different dances of different regions of Russia, and different parts of the world,” he said, with Mr. Volkov translating.
“Scotland, China, Finland, Moldova …” said Lena, finishing his thought. “Gypsy dances, Jewish dances, German, Argentine, American …”
Their one American dance is country and western style.
“There’s some humor in it, but it’s country-based,” Mr. Volkov said, translating. “The base of this dance comes from the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”
About 40 of the troupe’s 70 dances are Russian.
“Some are folk dances and some are stylized,” Mr. Nosikhim said. “It’s adapted to the stage, but most of the dances were danced by a village. It’s a group celebration.”
Many are folk dances from the late 16th Century and early 17th Century. But their origins go further back, to the celebrations of village life in Russia’s deep rural past.
“Since pagan times, some roots of the dances,” Ms. Zorina said. “Weddings, trading fairs, sometimes when there were just festivals. Sometimes young people, they gathered in the village in a special place — they’re having fun.”
Mr. Nosikhin and Mr. Volkov said some folk dances incorporate moves that mimic various animals familiar to the people of the Russian countryside. “They have moves after a crane. Another dance mimics little goats. There’s a move they make that mimics geese. …
“During mating season the cranes have a dance they do: They flap their wings, they bow to each other. Dancers will dance with each other, mimicking the cranes.”
“Learning these Russian folk dances,” said Nadezhda Nosikhina, the troupe’s other head dance instructor, “will help us understand our roots in our own Russian culture.”
“What I like in a dance,” Maxim Dosenko said, “I feel like it’s a style of my life. I feel like I draw energy out of it. It gives me energy and I feel stronger.”