#rodkin

Denis Rodkin and Eleonora Sevenard: Couple Goals with Harper’s Bazaar Russia

By popular demand, I bring you an English translation of the Couple Goals segment / interview Denis Rodkin and Eleonora Sevenard did for Harper’s Bazaar Russia earlier this month.

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How did you meet?

D: What year were you 16? E: Denis came to our performance at Vaganova Ballet Academy. We were introduced afterwards, and we met again two years later, when I joined the Bolshoi.

What were your first impressions of each other?

E: I thought Denis was an unreachable star. D: I thought Elya was a nice and talented girl. That was the impression when we first met. The second impression was much more powerful. It happened in Greece in 2018. My parter got injured while we were on tour, and Elya was asked to fly to Greece to replace her. That was our second meeting - a proper one.

When did you first kiss?

D: January 6, 2018

What annoys you about each other?

D: Elya always talks over me. E: Nothing annoys me [about him].

Do you have pet names for each other?

D: When I put my coat on, on a plane, Elya calls me a bullfinch. E: He bundles up even when it’s toasty. D: And when I can’t sleep she calls me an owlet. E: The thing is, if he can’t sleep then I can’t sleep either.

What made you both laugh most recently?

E: Just now, when Denis couldn’t find the bag D: Forget the contents, I couldn’t event find the bag...

What’s you favourite past-time?

D: We like watching movies, I guess. [Ballet] is an exhausting job, so when you have a day off you don’t really want to go out, and watching a movie is the easiest thing to do at home. E: Or a series.

What do you never leave the house without?

D: In winter - my coat. Otherwise, it’s my earphones. I’m cranky in the mornings. I was in New York not long ago, I couldn’t fall asleep till 7am, and I had to get up at 9. I’m in the worst mood when I’m sleep-deprived, and music really helps. E: My phone, I guess. In modern world, that’s the only way to stay connected.

What did you sacrifice for this relationship?

E: One time I went to a different city to see Denis, because he was dancing there. It was my day off, and I thought it would be better to spend it together. Though that’s not really a sacrifice. D: You went to Samara in winter. It is definitely a sacrifice. D: We were dancing in the same show but on different days recently. It’s important to rest between shows; ballet dancers need a day of bedrest to recover. Elya would come and support me after my show, and I would support her after hers.

Do you have “your” song?

D: The Italian classics.

Love is...

E: I think it’s supporting and understanding each other... When they don’t need words to understand you. When they lift you up if you’re sad. It’s when you’re completely at ease with each other and never want to be apart. D: I guess there’s no actual definition of it. Each person has their own. And it’s not something you can say with words, you can only feel it and know it inside yourself. 

Why did Angelina Vorontsova leave Bolshoi for Mikhailovsky? I’m sorry if you’ve answered this before and I missed it.

She was forced to leave. Her life was made unbearable after the 2013 scandal and the attack on Filin. Because her ex (Dmitrichenko) and her teacher (Tsiskaridze) were at the centre of the scandal, Angelina became embroiled in it as well. The press cast her as a femme fatale who inspired the whole thing and she was generally defined entirely by the men around her. It was disgusting and still makes me angry when I think about it. The good news is, Angelina found love and a fulfilling career at the Mikhailovsky. I’d like to think that she came out on top.

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I believe that some students who get a 2 in exams are eligible to retake... and only a 2 in classical ballet results in expulsion. Also physique comprises part of the exam mark, so a student who gets a 2 and therefore fails the exam might in fact have performed well but was judged to have developed an unsuitable physique.

You’re right. In Elya’s interview (if that’s what you’re referring to), she says that “2″ is get you expelled, but that isn’t necessarily true. As you said, some students are given an opportunity to retake the exam a months or two later, but not everyone takes this opportunity. And, yes, there is the matter of “form” – a controversial subject...

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Omg Elya’s virtual animal ahahah so cute

Low-key the best “pet” in that series.

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Don’t Elya and Denis have a cat?

Denis has two cats, but I think they live with his parents?

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Had Nikolai gotten an opportunity to dance Spartacus, do you think he would have danced the title role or Crassus? Same question for Ivan the Terrible (title role or Kurbsky?)

Nikolai is a firm believer in emploi, and it’s always been my understanding that the absence of “Spartacus” and “Ivan the Terrible” from his repertoire was a conscious choice on his part. I think that Crassus and Kurbsky are heroic roles, whereas Nikolai was a lyrical danseur, so it wouldn’t have been a good fit. I would’ve liked to see him as Ivan the Terrible though. I think it would’ve been interesting. 

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I don’t think so. I think that everything mentioned it it was pretty well-known. Of course this depends on how much you know about Denis...

The only thing that was new and surprising to me is that Tsiskaridze doesn’t like Denis as Spartacus. He doesn’t think that it’s his type of role, even though he helped Denis prepare for it. I saw Denis dance the part live and I thought he was great, so that was news to me...

From Denis Rodkin’s interview with La Personne.

Everyone has that one person in their life who has a huge impact on them; some who changes everything. Who was it for you?

For me, it was the artistic trinity of Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Yuri Grigorovich and my partner, Svetlana Zakharova. I spoke about Nikolai Maximovich earlier. Yuri Nikolaevich gave me an opportunity to dance in his ballets. He saw me as a “good fit” for them, and trusted me to rise up to the challenge. I alway try to make him happy, make him proud of the level at which his creation is performed. I am, after all, a part of it. I dance in “Spartacus”, “Ivan the Terrible”, “The Legend of Love” and some of his other ballets.

As far as Svetlana Zakharova is concerned - she is the partner who propelled my career forward. I consider her to be the best ballerina in the world today. She has always been my role model, and she has transferred her immense experience to me in our rehearsals.

If it weren’t for these people, I would never have enjoyed such rapid career rise or been afforded such [vast] experiences.

How is partnering Svetlana Zakharova different from partnering other ballerinas?

At first, we spent a lot of time breaking the roles down from the technical point of view. It had to look beautiful and we both had to be comfortable, because any inconsistency is immediately apparent to the audience. They can sense the discomfort. Rehearsals with Svetlana are never mundane, and every performance with her is coloured in different emotions.

Translated by melmoth

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Regarding the Rodkin and Sevenard DQ rehearsal what do you meant with the fact it caused a lot of discussion? A part from a few comments on the YouTube video from non Russians I didn’t see anything else, did it spark so much outrage? At what extent?

There were quite a few comments on YouTube, Facebook and some forums. Several people have also messaged and emailed me about it. I don’t know how or why this became a “thing” but it did, though it wasn’t a massive scandal or anything. For a while there it just felt that wherever I turned, there’d be comments about Rodkin and their personal / professional relationship with Sevenard. I’m guessing / hoping it’s over now. The situation really didn’t warrant much attention.

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Melmoth have you ever encountered Elya and Denis in person? What are they like with e/o ?

Yes, I have, albeit briefly. You can read about it here and here. Short answer: they’re both nice and approachable. Elya is soft-spoken and sweet. Pretty much exactly as I though she would be.

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To add a little contribution to the Sevenard/Rodkin rehearsal, just yesterday they danced in a famous gala in Rome,Les Etoiles. I watched an interview Elya and Denis released for the gala, Denis said Elya is “a very young ballerina, a leader of her generation, she is different from the others” and Elya said “Denis helps me a lot, he is not only my partner but also my teacher and mentor”. These are their own words. I think they always try to help each other, their relationship is so misunderstood.

Thank you for sharing. I agree. All evidence out there points to the fact that they are very supportive of each other.

Also, here’s an excerpt from Rodkin’s old interview:

I was astounded by her kindness and thoughtfulness... She is a good friend who will always there for you. I know that I can trust her like I trust myself. Most importantly - I want to come back to her. I have never experienced this feeling before. I never used to long for home when I was on tour, but now I miss her. I think that Elya is the perfect life partner. I am happy that I found “my person”.