Alla Sigalova: “Jewish blood is very strong in me!”

Childhood and youth

The fate of Sigalova, the famous choreographer, was already predetermined before birth. An intelligent St. Petersburg family belonged to the family of the artist Konstantin Somov. His father is a talented pianist, and his mother Tamara Vyugina is a ballerina. Talking about nationality, Alla Mikhailovna claims that she feels her father’s Jewish roots more strongly than her mother’s Slavic ones.

The girl was born on February 28, 1959 in Volgograd, where her parents moved from Leningrad due to assignment. But soon, together with little Alla, they returned to the Northern capital.

Sigalova did not immediately enter the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. According to one version, the applicant seemed to the commission to be a bit tall for a ballerina (height is about 166 cm). And having entered, I often found myself in the director’s office. The reason for this is the student’s appearance. One day Alla came to class wearing red shoes with a large platform.

Alla Sigalova in her youth
Posted by Elena Kim on Sunday, February 28, 2021

Alla Sigalova in her youth
Over time, the choreographer's taste became restrained, which was greatly facilitated by her mother. Vyugina was considered the first fashionista and tidyist. The dancer tried to instill these qualities in her daughter. Sigalova enthusiastically recalled in an interview with Glamor how her mother took her “shopping” with her - in the apartments of the black marketeers, relatives tried on stylish outfits from large suitcases.

In 1978, an unforeseen event occurred that dramatically changed Sigalova’s creative biography. During classes, the girl received an injury, which put an end to her solo career. As soon as her health was restored, Alla moved to Moscow and entered the directing department of GITIS.

During her studies, an incredible event at that time happened to Sigalova: the student was photographed for American Vogue. Journalists came to the USSR to report on Soviet women. One of my acquaintances gave contact information for young Alla. The photographer spent a long time choosing a place for the background. As a result, a foreign film crew arrived at Sigalova’s apartment. After a long search for the desired image, a black and white photograph of the artist appeared - without makeup, in a regular turtleneck.

Alla Sigalova - biography

Fragile, beautiful, with a chiseled figure and huge, smiling eyes - this is in no way a portrait of a professor. But Alla Sigalova is really a professor; she taught dance and plastic arts to dozens of pop stars and hundreds of students of theater institutes, not only in her homeland, but also in neighboring countries. They say that Sigalova is a choreographer from God, who can choreograph any dance.

First of all, Alla Sigalova is a choreographer, then an actress, teacher, and professor. She has the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation and was awarded the Golden Mask award. The performances she staged were applauded by the audience of the Mariinsky Theater, the Brussels Royal Opera, the Grand Opera and La Scala.

Childhood and youth

Alla Sigalova was born on February 28, 1959 in Volgograd. Her parents were assigned to this city after university, but soon after the birth of their daughter they moved to the Northern capital. My father's name was Mikhail (Moses) Sigalov, he was a famous pianist. Mom Tamara Sigalova is no less famous ballerina. Alla is Jewish on her father’s side, and she herself often said that it was thanks to her Jewish origin that she achieved a lot in life. She is sure that her Jewish blood predominates over Slavic.

Alla Sigalova in her youth

The girl grew up in a creative atmosphere. Her mother taught her to love poetry, literature, and dance; thanks to her father, Alla fell in love with classical music. Sigalova grew up as a creative child; she had a special passion for dance. Her first accompanist was her father.

Alla spent a lot of time in the dance hall; she really wanted to enter the Vaganova School. Teachers constantly praised her plasticity, artistry, and natural abilities. In 1969, she entered the Leningrad Vaganova Ballet Academy, and studied there until 1978, under the guidance of teacher N. Dudinskaya. The teacher predicted a great future for her.

1978 forever changed the biography of Alla Sigalova. During one of her classes, she injured her leg, and her solo career remained a pipe dream.

The girl lay with her leg in a cast for six months, and then not only dance, she even learned to walk again. She understood that her dream was not destined to come true, and this gave her mental pain, which was much stronger than physical pain.

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But Sigalova is not one of those who just gives up. After recovery, she went to the capital and entered GITIS. The girl studied with A.V. Efros and I.M. Tumanov. She left the university in 1983 with a brand new diploma as a teacher-choreographer.

Creation

Alla Sigalova’s cinematic career began in 1978, when she was invited to film the melodrama “My Love, My Sorrow.” In this Soviet-Turkish project she played the main character. The script for the film was written based on the play “The Legend of Love” by Nazim Hikmet, and told about the sublime feelings of two young people – Shirin and Farhad. The roles of other characters went to Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Irina Miroshnichenko, Anatoly Papanov. In addition to them, popular actors from Turkey also starred in the film.

Alla Sigalova in the film “My Love, My Sorrow”

After that, Alla was invited to the cinema several more times and she visited the film sets of the films “Plato is my friend”, “Broken Sky”, “Sky in Diamonds”. Soon Sigalova realized that she liked going on the theater stage more.

In 1987, Alla joined the Satyricon Theater as a choreographer. She worked there for two years and left in 1989. At this time, she got excited about the idea of ​​​​creating her own dance group. Soon after leaving Satyricon, she presented her creation - the Independent Troupe of Alla Sigalova. It was the first domestic theater that was involved in the development of modern dance styles.

Her productions were striking in their unusualness and novelty; they gained their first fans and made frequent foreign tours. However, the troupe failed to survive the crisis of the 90s. The audience became fewer and fewer, the repertoire was not updated, and in 1999 they announced their closure.

Alla Sigalova in "Dancing with the Stars"

Alla offered her services to domestic pop stars. She began choreographing dances for Anzhelika Varum and Laima Vaikule. When the decision was made to film the project “Songs about the Main Thing,” Sigalova became its choreographer, and in all three seasons.

Radio station “Culture” launched the “Contrdance” program, where Alla told listeners everything she knows about dance, its history and development. In 2010, Sigalova went on air on this radio with her own original programs - “All Russia”, “Eye to Eye”.

For three seasons, Sigalova became the host of the Bolshoi Opera competition. Her co-host was Alexey Begak. In 2013, Alla accepted the invitation of the “Culture” channel and, together with Vadim Eilenkrig, began hosting the “Big Jazz” competition. Then the audience saw Sigalova in the same capacity in the Bolshoi Ballet program.

In 2007, the Russia channel presented the program “Dancing with the Stars,” where the dancer joined the panel of judges. The organizers of the show liked her, and soon received an invitation to a similar project - “Dancing on the Floor”.

Alla Sigalova teaches choreography

In 2004, Sigalova joined the staff of teachers at the Moscow Art Theater School. A few years later she is already a professor at the department of plastic education. She willingly shares her knowledge and skills not only with students, but also with teachers and choreographers who came to her from all over the country. She was invited to give master classes abroad, and Alla visited several European countries and North America.

The lion's share of her energy and time goes to work in the theater. Alla Sigalova’s most striking work was the musical production “Poor Liza,” in which the role of the main character was played by Chulpan Khamatova. This performance was seen by the audience of the Theater of Nations, which is headed by Evgeny Mironov.

In 2001, the premiere of the play “Dreams of Love” took place at the Variety Theater. In addition to Sigalova, the Imperial Russian Ballet took part in the production.

The Mossovet Theater also used the services of Sigalova. She took an active part in the creation of the dance musical “Casting”. The director involved Olga Kabo, Anatoly Adoskin, and Stanislav Bondarenko in this production.

Alla Sigalova in the theater

In 2008, Alla Sigalova was awarded the Golden Mask award. Thus, they noted her merits in staging dance numbers in the play “Carmen. Sketches".

Latvian audiences also appreciated Sigalova’s contribution to the play “Othello”, which took place on the stage of the Latvian National Opera House. For this production, the choreographer received the “Best Ballet Performance of the Year” award.

In 2016, Sigalova herself became a participant in the “Dancing with the Stars” competition. She came out onto the floor accompanied by dancer Eric Mirzoyan.

Personal life

The first time Alla Sigalova got married was in her second year at GITIS. In 1982 she gave birth to a daughter, Anna. The marriage did not last long, the couple soon separated, and Sigalova remained alone for a long time. Her daughter turned 12 when a new man appeared in her personal life. Alla met the theater director Roman Kozak, who soon became the artistic director of the theater. Pushkin in Moscow.

The lovers got married, and after some time became parents of a son, Mikhail. The couple lived together for sixteen happy years until Roman died in 2010. This was not Sigalova’s only loss; her parents died that same year.

Alla Sigalova with Roman Kozak

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The choreographer's children did not become creative people. Anna trained as a designer, and now she owns her own design and construction bureau. She got married and pleased her star mother with her grandson. She gave birth to a son, Fyodor, whom his grandmother simply adores. Journalism and television became the vocation of his son Mikhail; he went to the States to get an education.

In November 2015, Sigalova became a guest of the “Alone with Everyone” program, which airs on Channel One. She talked about her life, answered questions about her family, children and plans for the future.

Alla has always had a slim figure, and has been able to maintain it to this day. Her height is 165 cm, and her weight does not exceed 55 kg. She has her own recipe for slimness, and it’s quite simple. The choreographer’s morning begins with a glass of warm water; throughout the day she eats whatever she wants, but only in small portions. Alla has never been on a diet or resorted to fasting, she simply cannot stand it. She even allows herself sweets, but only has tea or kefir for dinner.

Alla Sigalova now

The life of Honored Artist Alla Sigalova continues to be in full swing.

In March 2017, she was invited to the jury of the “Everybody Dance” project, which also included Vladimir Derevianko and Yegor Druzhinin. Each member of the jury had to give preference to one of the teams in the final so that the audience could take part in the popular vote. Alla liked the Baikal Dance Theater most of all. It was he who received the most votes and won this show.

Alla Sigalova

Sigalova keeps up with modern technologies, is friends with social networks and recently registered her page on Instagram. There, the choreographer posts not only pictures of work moments, but also personal photos. Judging by her page, her life is very active, she is full of new ideas and plans. In the summer of 2018, Sigalova rode a bicycle for the first time and decided to learn how to ride it. She is sure that it is never too late to learn anything, if only you have the desire.

In 2017, Sigalova told fans that she was writing memoirs, which she planned to publish under the title “Alla Sigalova. Memory of the heart." Minor fragments of her book could already be read on the pages of Snob magazine.

Filmography

• 1978 - My love, my sorrow
• 1979 - Shattered Sky
• 1990 - Hoaxer
• 1999 - The sky in diamonds

Links

• Wikipedia page
• Instagram

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Movies

Even in her youth, Alla began acting in films. Sigalova appeared in the Soviet-Turkish dramatic fairy tale “My Love, My Sorrow,” where she received the main role. It was not possible to find a suitable background in Turkey for all the shots, so some of the episodes were created in the vicinity of Ashgabat.

Later, Sigalova appeared in a number of films, among which the crime comedy “The Sky in Diamonds” stands out. The Russian-French film received the Golden Aries award for best music. But the theater turned out to be closer for Alla Mikhailovna.

Theater

After working at Satyricon, Sigalova decided to create a dance group. In 1989, the “Independent Troupe of Alla Sigalova” appeared. The team became the first group in Russia to develop modern dance styles. Despite the success, the choreographer was forced to close the project in the late 90s due to the consequences of the economic crisis.

Then Alla Mikhailovna switched to collaborating with pop stars. Sigalova devoted a lot of time and effort to directing. Among the famous works are the musical performance of the Theater of Nations “Poor Liza” with Chulpan Khamatova in the title role and “Romeo and Juliet”, which the master created for the Moscow Art Theater School.

Alla Sigalova dances

In 2003, the audience admired the production of “The Fairy’s Kiss,” for which Alla Mikhailovna assembled an excellent team: Valery Levental designed the scenery, Andrei Sharov designed the costumes, and Teodor Currentzis rehearsed with the orchestra.

Sometimes the director acted as an actress, as was the case in the play “Casting.” But more often than not, the attractive woman preferred to remain in the shadow of the curtain.

Work on radio and television

Since 2007, Alla Sigalova has been a permanent member of the jury in the television projects “Dancing with the Stars” and “Stars on Ice.” In 2015, she was the main choreographer of the “Dancing with the Stars” project on the Russia 1 TV channel.

On the television projects “Old songs about the main thing-2”, “Old songs about the main thing-3” Sigalova was a choreographer. She also staged New Year's shows on the NTV channel.

As a presenter, Alla works on radio and television in many projects.

As an actress, Alla worked in the following films:

• “My Love, My Sorrow” (1978);
• "Shattered Sky" (1979);
• "The Hoax" (1990);
• "The Sky in Diamonds" (1999).

The most beloved people in Sigalova’s life have always been her family members. Like any normal mother, Alla adores her son and daughter and does not hide the fact that she can “bite at them” for them. Doesn't give advice to her children if they don't need it. They will call and ask how to behave in a given situation, Alla will immediately come to their aid; she herself never interferes in the personal lives of children.

There were two marriages in Sigalova's life. In the first, a daughter, Anya, was born in 1982, but Alla soon divorced her first husband. Now daughter Anya already has her own family, she is a designer and together with her husband she is raising her son Fyodor.

Alla married for the second time, when she was 36 years old, to theater actor and director Roman Kozak, he directed the Moscow Drama Theater named after A. S. Pushkin.

The couple had a boy, Mikhail, in 1994. In addition to great love, family and child, they were connected by creativity. They worked together at the Moscow Art Theater School, Alla played in her husband’s plays.

In 2010, after a serious long-term illness, Roman Kozak died. She and Alla were an ideal couple and lived in their own little ideal world, and suddenly in an instant she was left alone. Even in these moments, Sigalova did not allow anyone to feel sorry for her. After her death, she supervised her husband’s students and staged the play “Giselle, or Deceived Brides” with his graduates. Alla says that only her husband Roman knew what she really was like, and no one else will know about it. To this day, she remains faithful to the memory of her husband, despite all her efforts, the yellow press has not been able to catch her in any new connections over the years.

A television

In 2007, the Rossiya channel began broadcasting the show Dancing with the Stars, in which Sigalova participated as a judge. After a successful debut, Alla Mikhailovna was invited to join the judging team of the “Dancing on the Floor” competition.

Posted by Vadim Shults on Sunday, November 30, 2014

Alla Sigalova and Alexey Begak at the Bolshoi Opera program

Since 2010, Sigalova has hosted original programs on the Kultura TV channel: “Eye to Eye”, “All Russia”. Even earlier, the teacher was invited to work on the radio in the show “Contrdance”. For three seasons, Alla Mikhailovna and Alexey Begak worked as TV presenters of the “Big Opera” program.

In 2021, Sigalova performed in the project “Dancing with the Stars” paired with Eric Mirzoyan. On March 19, 2017, the “Everybody Dance” program started on the Russia-1 channel, in which Alla Mikhailovna, together with Yegor Druzhinin and Vladimir Derevyanko, were members of the jury.

Alla Sigalova today

Today, Honored Artist Alla Sigalova continues to lead an active creative life.

On March 19, 2021, the “Everybody Dance” project was launched on the Russia 1 channel, in which Alla Sigalova, together with Egor Druzhinin and Vladimir Derevyanko, joined the jury. In the final of the competition, each jury member had to choose a team so that the audience could begin the popular vote. Sigalova chose the Baikal Dance Theater, which became the winner of this show.

Alla Sigalova in the show “Everybody Dance”

Alla Sigalova is a progressive woman, so no one was surprised when she opened an account on Instagram. By the way, she regularly posts photos and stories, shares with her subscribers not only posters of upcoming performances, but also footage of her personal life. Judging by her Instagram, she leads an active lifestyle, full of strength, energy and new ideas. For example, in July 2021, she announced that she was learning to ride a bicycle. He believes it's better late than never.

The figure of Alla Sigalova is an example to follow

And in 2021, she shared the news with fans that she was writing a book of her memoirs, which would be called “Alla Sigalova. Memory of the heart." Small excerpts were published in Snob magazine.

Personal life

As a 2nd year student at GITIS, Alla got married, and in 1982 she became a mother - her daughter Anna was born. Soon the union broke up, and for 12 years there were no changes in Sigalova’s personal life. It is worth noting that in a later interview, the choreographer admitted that even before her first marriage she had an affair with her married lover.

In adulthood, Alla Mikhailovna decided on a second marriage. The chosen one turned out to be director Roman Kozak, who soon took over the post of artistic director of the Pushkin Moscow Drama Theater. For the sake of Sigalova, Kozak left the family.

Watch the documentary film directed by Yuri Kvyatkovsky “Dedicated to Roman Kozak,” filmed in 2012 for the TV channel...
Posted by Moscow Art Theater. A.P. Chekhov on Thursday, May 28, 2020

Alla Sigalova and her husband Roman Kozak Soon
their son Mikhail was born. The choreographer claimed that her husband turned out to be a good father. I spent time with the child and established contact with Anya. And Alla Mikhailovna also got along with her beloved daughter from a previous relationship. Happiness lasted 16 years, until the death of her husband in 2010. The year turned out to be tragic - not only Kozak left Sigalova, but also her mother and father.

The children did not follow in their parents' footsteps. Anna works as a designer. The heiress gave Alla Mikhailovna a grandson, Fyodor, in whom the grandmother dotes. Mikhail is interested in journalism and television, and trained as a cameraman in Washington. On Sigalova’s Instagram account, among the working staff, there are also family photos.

Alla Mikhailovna (Moiseevna) Sigalova on social networks:

Facebook: facebook.com/alla.siga… Instagram: instagram.com/allasiga… Official website: allasigalova.ru

The future presenter, actress, dancer and musician was born in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), but a few months later Alla’s family decided to move to Leningrad. Sigalova calls this city her homeland. Alla grew up in a creative family.

She followed in the footsteps of her mother, who was also a famous dancer, and only thanks to her, the girl fell in love with classical ballet and understood all its beauty.

Alla's father was a pianist, and therefore her daughter performed her first steps to his accompaniment. All the little ballerina’s teachers admired her natural abilities and artistry, but even despite this fact, Alla was able to enter the Vaganova School only thanks to her parents’ connections.

At the age of 19, a huge tragedy occurred in the girl’s life; she had to leave classical ballet, because the irreparable happened - a professional injury at the barre.

For six months, Alla was in the clinic, she was bedridden . I had to spend another year learning to walk and get out of depression.

She understood perfectly well that only she herself could help solve her problems. The only right decision was to start a new stage in life.

After 4 years, Alla finished studying at GITIS in the directing department. Since then, her career has taken off.

The girl began teaching students at the theater academy, staged plays, and even created her own independent troupe.

She was assigned to manage the theater and even broadcast on a Russian television channel . Alla did not stop there, and therefore soon fans of her talent were able to see Sigalova on the big screen in four films.

Since 2004, Alla has been the head of the department of plastic education at the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio. Works as a choreographer for the variety programs of Laima Vaikule and Angelika Varum. He is involved in staging ballet and opera in Vilnius and Moscow.

In 2008 she was named laureate of the Golden Mask Award.

Alla doesn’t like to talk about her personal life, but she doesn’t hide the fact that even dizzying career successes can never replace a woman’s love and warmth from her beloved family.

In 1981, Alla got married for the first time . Then, while studying in her third year at university, she became the mother of a girl, Anya. The marriage broke up, and the responsibility for her daughter fell on Sigalova’s shoulders (in the photo on the right are Alla’s daughter and grandson).

Alla's second marriage was happy; she met Roman Kozak and married him at the age of 36. The talented director considered her an amazing person; he enveloped her in care and love.

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In married life, the couple had a son, Mikhail. For 16 years they were happy, but in 2010 Roman died after a serious illness.

Alla adores her children, considering them her main wealth and achievement . The daughter became an interior designer, Mikhail dreams of becoming a reporter, and therefore is studying at the journalism department. Plus, Anna gave Alla a grandson - a boy, Fyodor, about whom the talented grandmother is crazy.

Now Alla Sigalova sits on the jury of the TV project Dance Revolution on Channel One. She is considered the strictest of the judges.

Alla Sigalova now

Now the choreographer is full of strength and creative ideas. In addition to her professorial work at the Moscow Art Theater School and GITIS, Alla Mikhailovna is passionate about her theatrical career. So, in 2021, I worked on the choreography of the play “Passion of Bumbarash”, into which Vladimir Mashkov started to breathe new life.

Channel One is launching a new dance show “Dance Revolution” with the participation of Alla Sigalova.
Watch on February 9 at 22.00. https://rg.ru/2020/01/28/premera-shou-dance-revoliuciia-sostoitsia-na-pervom-kanale.html Posted by Alla Sigalova-Alla Sigalova / Official group on Saturday, February 8, 2020

Alla Sigalova, Sergei Polunin and Vera Brezhneva on the “Dance Revolution” project
At the end of May, Sigalova appeared on Channel One in the “Dance Revolution” show as a member of the jury. In an interview, Alla Mikhailovna shared that she decided to pay attention to the emotional message of the dance, and not to the technical component.

An excerpt characterizing Sigalov, Alla Mikhailovna

To her surprise, Princess Marya noticed that during this time of illness the old prince also did not allow m lle Bourienne to visit him. Only Tikhon followed him. A week later, the prince left and began his old life again, being especially active in buildings and gardens and ending all previous relations with m lle Bourienne. His appearance and cold tone with Princess Marya seemed to say to her: “You see, you made it up about me, lied to Prince Andrei about my relationship with this Frenchwoman and quarreled me with him; and you see that I don’t need either you or the Frenchwoman.” Princess Marya spent one half of the day with Nikolushka, watching his lessons, herself giving him lessons in the Russian language and music, and talking with Desalles; she spent the other part of the day in her quarters with books, an old nanny, and with God's people, who sometimes came to her from the back porch. Princess Marya thought about the war the way women think about war. She was afraid for her brother, who was there, horrified, without understanding her, by human cruelty, which forced them to kill each other; but she did not understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her the same as all previous wars. She did not understand the significance of this war, despite the fact that Desalles, her constant interlocutor, who was passionately interested in the progress of the war, tried to explain his thoughts to her, and despite the fact that the people of God who came to her all spoke with horror in their own way about popular rumors about the invasion of the Antichrist, and despite the fact that Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, who again entered into correspondence with her, wrote patriotic letters to her from Moscow. “I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend,” wrote Julie, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear spoken... We in Moscow are all delighted through enthusiasm for our beloved emperor. My poor husband endures labor and hunger in Jewish taverns; but the news I have makes me even more excited. You probably heard about the heroic feat of Raevsky, who hugged his two sons and said: “I will die with them, but we will not waver!” And indeed, although the enemy was twice as strong as us, we did not waver. We spend our time as best we can; but in war, as in war. Princess Alina and Sophie sit with me all day long, and we, unfortunate widows of living husbands, have wonderful conversations over lint; only you, my friend, are missing... etc. Mostly Princess Marya did not understand the full significance of this war because the old prince never talked about it, did not acknowledge it and laughed at Desalles at dinner when he talked about this war. The prince's tone was so calm and confident that Princess Marya, without reasoning, believed him. Throughout the month of July, the old prince was extremely active and even animated. He also laid out a new garden and a new building, a building for the courtyard workers. One thing that bothered Princess Marya was that he slept little and, having changed his habit of sleeping in the study, changed the place of his overnight stays every day. Either he ordered his camp bed to be set up in the gallery, then he remained on the sofa or in the Voltaire chair in the living room and dozed without undressing, while not m lle Bourienne, but the boy Petrusha read to him; then he spent the night in the dining room. On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrei. In the first letter, received shortly after his departure, Prince Andrei humbly asked his father for forgiveness for what he had allowed himself to say to him, and asked him to return his favor to him. The old prince responded to this letter with an affectionate letter and after this letter he alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. Prince Andrei's second letter, written from near Vitebsk, after the French occupied it, consisted of a brief description of the entire campaign with a plan outlined in the letter, and thoughts on the further course of the campaign. In this letter, Prince Andrei presented his father with the inconvenience of his position close to the theater of war, on the very line of troop movement, and advised him to go to Moscow. At dinner that day, in response to the words of Desalles, who said that, as heard, the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered the letter from Prince Andrei. “I received it from Prince Andrei today,” he said to Princess Marya, “didn’t you read it?” “No, mon pere, [father],” the princess answered fearfully. She could not read a letter that she had never even heard of. “He writes about this war,” said the prince with that familiar, contemptuous smile with which he always spoke about the real war. “It must be very interesting,” said Desalles. - The prince is able to know... - Ah, very interesting! - said Mlle Bourienne. “Go and bring it to me,” the old prince turned to Mlle Bourienne. – You know, on a small table under a paperweight. M lle Bourienne jumped up joyfully. “Oh no,” he shouted, frowning. - Come on, Mikhail Ivanovich. Mikhail Ivanovich got up and went into the office. But as soon as he left, the old prince, looking around restlessly, threw down his napkin and went off on his own. “They don’t know how to do anything, they’ll confuse everything.” While he walked, Princess Marya, Desalles, m lle Bourienne and even Nikolushka silently looked at each other. The old prince returned with a hasty step, accompanied by Mikhail Ivanovich, with a letter and a plan, which he, not allowing anyone to read during dinner, placed next to him. Going into the living room, he handed the letter to Princess Marya and, laying out the plan of the new building in front of him, which he fixed his eyes on, ordered her to read it aloud. After reading the letter, Princess Marya looked questioningly at her father. He looked at the plan, obviously lost in thought. - What do you think about this, prince? – Desalles allowed himself to ask a question. - I! I!.. - the prince said, as if awakening unpleasantly, without taking his eyes off the construction plan. - It is quite possible that the theater of war will come so close to us... - Ha ha ha! Theater of war! - said the prince. “I said and say that the theater of war is Poland, and the enemy will never penetrate further than the Neman. Desalles looked with surprise at the prince, who was talking about the Neman, when the enemy was already at the Dnieper; but Princess Marya, who had forgotten the geographical position of the Neman, thought that what her father said was true. - When the snow melts, they will drown in the swamps of Poland. “They just can’t see,” said the prince, apparently thinking about the campaign of 1807, which seemed so recent. “Bennigsen should have entered Prussia earlier, things would have taken a different turn...” “But, prince,” said Desalles timidly, “the letter talks about Vitebsk...” “Ah, in the letter, yes...” the prince said dissatisfied, “yes... yes...” “His face suddenly took on a gloomy expression. He paused. - Yes, he writes, the French are defeated, which river is this? Desalles lowered his eyes. “The prince doesn’t write anything about this,” he said quietly. - Doesn’t he write? Well, I didn’t make it up myself. - Everyone was silent for a long time. “Yes... yes... Well, Mikhaila Ivanovich,” he suddenly said, raising his head and pointing to the construction plan, “tell me how you want to redo it... Mikhail Ivanovich approached the plan, and the prince, having talked with him about the plan for the new building, angrily Having looked at Princess Marya and Desalles, he went to his room. Princess Marya saw Desalles' embarrassed and surprised gaze fixed on her father, noticed his silence and was amazed that the father had forgotten his son's letter on the table in the living room; but she was afraid not only to speak and ask Desalles about the reason for his embarrassment and silence, but she was afraid to even think about it. In the evening, Mikhail Ivanovich, sent from the prince, came to Princess Marya for a letter from Prince Andrei, which was forgotten in the living room. Princess Marya submitted the letter. Although it was unpleasant for her, she allowed herself to ask Mikhail Ivanovich what her father was doing. “They’re all busy,” said Mikhail Ivanovich with a respectfully mocking smile that made Princess Marya turn pale. – They are very worried about the new building. “We read a little, and now,” said Mikhail Ivanovich, lowering his voice, “the bureau must have started working on the will.” (Recently, one of the prince’s favorite pastimes was working on the papers that were supposed to remain after his death and which he called a will.) - And Alpatych is sent to Smolensk? - asked Princess Marya. - Why, he’s been waiting for a long time. When Mikhail Ivanovich returned with the letter to the office, the prince, wearing glasses, with a lampshade over his eyes and a candle, was sitting at the open bureau, with papers in his far-off hand, and in a somewhat solemn pose was reading his papers (remarks, as he called them), which were to be delivered to the sovereign after his death. When Mikhail Ivanovich entered, there were tears in his eyes, memories of the time when he wrote what he was now reading. He took the letter from Mikhail Ivanovich’s hands, put it in his pocket, put away the papers and called Alpatych, who had been waiting for a long time. He wrote down on a piece of paper what was needed in Smolensk, and, walking around the room past Alpatych, who was waiting at the door, he began to give orders. - First, postal paper, do you hear, eight hundred, according to the sample; gold-edged... a sample, so that it will certainly be according to it; varnish, sealing wax - according to a note from Mikhail Ivanovich. He walked around the room and looked at the memo. – Then personally give the governor a letter about the recording. Then they needed bolts for the doors of the new building, certainly of the style that the prince himself had invented. Then a binding box had to be ordered for storing the will. Giving orders to Alpatych lasted more than two hours. The prince still did not let him go. He sat down, thought and, closing his eyes, dozed off. Alpatych stirred. - Well, go, go; If you need anything, I will send it. Alpatych left. The prince went back to the bureau, looked into it, touched his papers with his hand, locked it again and sat down at the table to write a letter to the governor. It was already late when he stood up, sealing the letter. He wanted to sleep, but he knew that he would not fall asleep and that his worst thoughts came to him in bed. He called Tikhon and went with him through the rooms to tell him where to make his bed that night. He walked around, trying on every corner. Everywhere he felt bad, but the worst thing was the familiar sofa in the office. This sofa was scary to him, probably because of the heavy thoughts that he changed his mind while lying on it. Nowhere was good, but the best place of all was the corner in the sofa behind the piano: he had never slept here before. Tikhon brought the bed with the waiter and began to set it up. - Not like that, not like that! - the prince shouted and moved it a quarter away from the corner, and then again closer. “Well, I’ve finally done everything over, now I’ll rest,” the prince thought and allowed Tikhon to undress himself. Frowning in annoyance from the efforts that had to be made to take off his caftan and trousers, the prince undressed, sank heavily onto the bed and seemed to be lost in thought, looking contemptuously at his yellow, withered legs. He didn’t think, but he hesitated in front of the difficulty ahead of him to lift those legs and move on the bed. “Oh, how hard it is! Oh, if only this work would end quickly, quickly, and you would let me go! - he thought. He pursed his lips and made this effort for the twentieth time and lay down. But as soon as he lay down, suddenly the whole bed moved evenly under him back and forth, as if breathing heavily and pushing. This happened to him almost every night. He opened his eyes that had closed. - No peace, damned ones! - he growled with anger at someone. “Yes, yes, there was something else important, I saved something very important for myself in bed at night. Valves? No, that's what he said. No, there was something in the living room. Princess Marya was lying about something. Desalle—that fool—was saying something. There’s something in my pocket, I don’t remember.” - Quiet! What did they talk about at dinner? - About the prince, Mikhail... - Shut up, shut up. “The prince slammed his hand on the table. - Yes! I know, a letter from Prince Andrei. Princess Marya was reading. Desalles said something about Vitebsk. Now I'll read it. He ordered the letter to be taken out of his pocket and a table with lemonade and a whitish candle to be moved to the bed, and, putting on his glasses, he began to read. Here only in the silence of the night, in the faint light from under the green cap, did he read the letter for the first time and for a moment understand its meaning. “The French are in Vitebsk, after four crossings they can be at Smolensk; maybe they’re already there.” - Quiet! - Tikhon jumped up. - No, no, no, no! - he shouted. He hid the letter under the candlestick and closed his eyes. And he imagined the Danube, a bright afternoon, reeds, a Russian camp, and he enters, he, a young general, without one wrinkle on his face, cheerful, cheerful, ruddy, into Potemkin’s painted tent, and a burning feeling of envy for his favorite, just as strong, as then, worries him. And he remembers all the words that were said then at his first Meeting with Potemkin. And he imagines a short, fat woman with yellowness in her fat face - Mother Empress, her smiles, words when she greeted him for the first time, and he remembers her own face on the hearse and that clash with Zubov, which was then with her coffin for the right to approach her hand.

Awards

• 1989 - Award of the Interpodium festival, for the play of the Independent Troupe of Alla Sigalova - “Hide and Seek with Loneliness.”
• 1991 - Moscow Prize for the performance of the “Independent Troupe of Alla Sigalova” - “Othello”.
• 1996 - Award “Best Choreographer of the Year” in Latvia, for choreography in Roman Kozak’s play “Dance of Death” Latvia.
• 2001 - Honored Artist of the Russian Federation
• 2007 — Grand Prix of the international festival of student works at VGIK. Gerasimov for the graduation performance of the Moscow Art Theater School “Carmen”.
• 2007 — Grand Prix of the international festival of student performances “Your Chance” for the graduation performance of the Moscow Art Theater School “Carmen”.
• 2008 - Grand Prix of the fourth international festival of student performances “Your Chance” for the graduation performance of the Moscow Art Theater School - “Stravinsky.Games”.
• 2008 - Golden Mask Award, “For the fruitful synthesis of choreography and drama.”
• 2013 — Russian Federation Government Prize of the Year in the field of culture for the creation of the television program “Bolshoi Ballet”
• 2013 — Gratitude from the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation for work on projects of the TV channel “Culture”
• 2014 - Honored Artist of the Russian Federation for achieved labor success, significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation, implementation of the foreign policy course of the Russian Federation, merits in the humanitarian sphere, strengthening of law and order, active social activities, many years of conscientious work
• 2018 — Moscow Government Prize for creating the play “Katerina Ilvovna” at the Moscow Oleg Tabakov Theater.
• 2019 — Order of Friendship for his great contribution to the development of national culture and art, many years of fruitful activity