Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap. Sorry it's been so long....our internet went to "slooooowwwww" mode for several weeks. It took some leg work but Volodya fixed the problem so we're back.
To start off, I must document one sad bit of news. Volodya's father Sergei Rovinsky, died last week.  He was suffering from Parkinsons and the last few years had been very bad.  Volodya and his sister attended the funeral with Sergei's wife and family.  Volodya is fine and is glad his dad is now at peace.

lego birthday sign made by Sasha

blini eatin' at the BBQ party

On an oddly related note, we celebrated Volodya's birthday March 24 at his Mom's house then again two days later at our apartment with 6 of his friends.  It was fun to see everyone and especially cool to catch up with Anya who I worked together with on "The Meyerhold Project" when I was at Yale 1997-1999. She looks great and sends big love to anyone from the project I am in touch with (shout out to Yalies reading).

blini! how does she make them so THIN???

the "zakuska" for Volodya's birthday dinner

 

See photo of the food at the Rovinsky home and Ludmilla's four grandchildren all together (Sonya, Ignat, Daniel and Sasha). For those who didn't know, Ignat has been recovering from surgery, chemo and radiation to treat brain cancer and is doing amazingly well! He is truly a miracle. I adore this kid (now 21!) who has decided to become a social worker. He's in college now, only one year behind where he would have been.  He's really good with the boys as he speaks English and is just such a gentle and patient young man.

all four of Ludmilla's grandchildren in one place

We hosted a BBQ dinner at Baba Luda's last weekend.  The BBQ (I made ribs after Volodya hunted high and low for BBQ sauce) was a huge hit.  We are so happy we have corrupted them to be partial to the cooking of the Southern U.S.  While the ribs slow cooked, the boys ate blini (of course) made by Baba Luda. Because Blini go with everything, even BBQ.  I know I mention blini a lot...I'll work on adopting other interests.

sleds

sledding at the "bar hill" at night

Sledding,  Russian style means finding dangerous, old strips of plastic someone threw out to slide down hills in the nearby park. Here they are sledding at what we call "bar hill" because the "hill" is basically the roof of a bar.  The thumping base beat makes for good back ground to sledding.  Luckily this snow is old news. The melt is on. Sun every day and the dirty snow fades to memory. Unfortunately Russians are not in the habit of keeping public places clean. The streets are full of trash. But today and yesterday, all the detritus that the receding snow revealed was being cleaned by many many sanitation workers. So, I look forward to full on spring!

our neighborhood blini stand. "Teremok"

Iguan dance will be in festival too

We have artistic news.  We (Theatre Novi Most) will be performing our show M2:Mayakovsky and Marinetti at the Bodyword Festival here in May.   Three of the TNM gang, Dan Dukich, Julianna Drajko and David Steinman will join us from Minneapolis! We are so grateful to various last minute funding helpers for making their trips possible.  The festival is a "celebration of unusual forms of dance in connection with art and literature". As M2 is about Mayakovsky's writing and is certainly "unusual dance", it seems a perfect fit.  We'll be conducting workshops in physical improvisation for this international festival too.  The website is down right now but it's beautiful and can be found at www.bodyword.spb.ru
I think we perform May 19th, so tell all your Petersburg friends.

The State Theatre Academy, Makovaya St.

In teaching/academy news, we have begun the course with the teachers.  Academy web site  http://www.tart.spb.ru/).  They are a really dynamic group and eager for the exchange.  It's interesting to talk with them about teaching young actors and directors here. The challenges are so similar! Igor is a pantomime teacher (Decroux trained) and we spoke about the kids being "plugged in to computers and smart phones so much that they forget what real life and human contact feels like" and Acting teacher Lena talked to me about wanting kids to get out of their heads but finding they don't trust their bodies at first....sound familiar?  One difference:  I often ask "how did that exercise feel to you and what did you notice?" and then there is a pause during which I wait for a response. With both the teachers and the student group, people take a while to answer me at first, as if they are not sure I mean it-- is it rhetorical?  One teacher said "that's the first time a teacher actually asked me that and expected me to answer!" She was half joking but I think there is some truth in this.  The teacher as "Master" is a pervasive icon here.  The American notion of "everyone's opinion is valid" and "we are all artists!" is somewhat suspect. In part for good reason....quality is valued here and quality is elitist.  I am elitist in some ways so I get it. The student group is so wonderful! I will post photos of these talented, young, energetic, positive, hard working students soon. As our time together is only one day a week I am focusing only on improvisation. I'm not trying to build a performance so as not to take any time away from the training.  They are growing so quickly it is dazzling.

Maxim Gorky -- our Metro stop is "Gorkovskaya"

I've been thinking about the meaning of art.  A Russian dramaturg once said to me that she thinks democracy and freedom kill art because in a free society art is not needed in the same way.  It is not as urgent. It is no longer where one goes to see and hear the truth, even in metaphor (especially in metaphor!). I'm not sure I agree completely, but there is something to this.  I ponder.  Life is harder here, there is just no two ways about it.  But it's not like it was in Soviet days for sure. Not even like it was ten years ago even with the moves toward nationalism.  One friend, speaking of Russia now, said "yes, we have more malls but less freedom". So, is the art "urgent" now?  I don't know yet.  We are seeing a bunch of theatre next week when the European Prize Festival is in town. Peter Stein's piece is one I'm quite excited to see. We saw DEREVO a few weeks ago.  Artistically stunning, with some beautiful movement. It didn't add up to a satisfying whole for us but we loved the audience! They meet the actors so bravely here.  Acting is considered such a noble way to live and the audience seems to want to shower them with love and support. It's quite moving. Bows go on forever.....

We have been in planning stages for the upcoming season of work in Minneapolis (exciting plans for shows at the Southern, Playwrights Center and Children's Theatre) so my mind has been in two places....we have been here about 1/3 of our time already and there are days of being home sick.  We miss you all!
Please write us and keep us in your thoughts.

Bonus: Russian word of the day -- кухня (Kuknia) KITCHEN

on the couch/dinner chairs in Baba Luda's house