#ave maya

La Rose Malade - Ulyana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov

Nikolay Tsiskaridze remembers Maya Plisetskaya

Maya Plisetskaya would’ve turned 90 yesterday (20/11/2015). A series of gala performances for planned to mark her jubilee. The celebrations will go ahead according to the script Plisetskaya herself approved.

“Maya Mikhailovna wrote down what and who she’d like to see at her jubilee. I’m sure that a lot of people are going to be unhappy, but this is what Maya Mikhailovna wanted.

She changed the aesthetic so much, that anyone who came after her would end up imitating her. Plisetskaya became the symbol of ballet and - in many ways - the symbol of Russia.”

- Nikolay Tsiskaridze for baltika.fm

How they met

In 1998 Pushkin Museum celebrated its 110th birthday with a gala concert at the Bolshoi. I walked past her backstage and said hello. She nodded. I heard someone ask her: “Maya, when are you going on stage?” She responded with: “After Tsiskaridze”. I was amazed that she spoke my unpronounceable name with such ease. I thought: “Dear God. Plisetskaya know who I am.”

A little about Carmen

I saw her perform this role three times. I can’t say what lasted longer, the performance or the curtain call. She drove the audience wild. It didn’t matter who else was on stage with her. There is a scene where she sits in a corner and watches the toreador dance. There was no point to have the toreador there. The audience were entranced with the woman sitting still in the corner.

Ave Maya Gala

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4