however again and welcome to spotlight the show on r t m i'll bring all of them guest on the show it is the day. we today are as you see inside the bolshoi theater which to six years of renovation is opened once again for opera and ballet but not only the building but the company itself has changed it has changed dramatically for the first time in centuries its first first time in the history of the bolshoi a foreigner has been hired as i'm a dancer in the ballet company of the. what is it is it the end of the bolshoi as we know it and as the world knows it or is it the beginning of a new era of this old and famous theater we'll be talking about it to one of the most famous dancers in the world now the principal dancer on the bolshoi ballet company. david hallberg is an award winning performer and

the united states number one bill a dancer who joined the people to merican bill a theater at the age of twenty in just a few years became its principal dancer mr holder is journey to moscow to join the bolshoi theatre companies truly symbolic until now russia has carefully preserved his conservative beliefs school and only exported death was tossed to the west. to welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us pleasure to be here david well first of all i'd like to know how surprising was it for you when you got the invitation from the new artistic director. from sergei filin i mean to come here for a full time job in the bush. you know it was obviously something i didn't expect. it's something i really didn't even dream of or has it been this mecca of ballet of dead. it's for so long that. i really didn't think it was in my career path in

a sense but when he made the offer i was very very surprised i would felt privileged i felt humbled and you know from the very beginning i really tried to ask as many questions as possible about the offer and to be honest. he could answer all of my questions i mean he was very very prepared to make a substantial commitment to me and the bolshoi theater this is the first time in history when the former takes a full time job the job of the bolshoi when you told your friends. should be a joke this could i mean this could happen i mean an american couldn't be a president of the russian federation and you can be both. you know i mean my friends have remained and will always be very supportive but they realized i think as much as i did that this is a once in

a lifetime opportunity this opportunity doesn't happen to many people and many dancers obviously and it was it was it was something that a i had to accept i didn't want to regret. regret having not made the decision to come but. it be the case that you will regret that you decided to accept the offer i will explain what i mean you actually are opening a new era in the bolshoi like foreign dancers coming to this stage that means you're closing era of century. you know one thing they're doing i mean you know i mean i guess you could look at it like that there's there's not a in my opinion there's not a closing of doors but really an opening of another door and i'm not coming to own this theater because the theater is already owned. i'm coming really.

as an american as a foreigner as an outsider and i'm really rising to this occasion and taking this opportunity to be the only foreigner premier in the company and i think it's a it's a very substantial. piece of history you have always been with the call of the hero lover and classical classical ballet and are you going to to stick to this to this oh oh oh oh we want to try to soften contemporary. you know there's something to be said for what you're given naturally i feel whatever comes to you naturally as an artist but for me what's most interesting is also to push to push the boundaries a little bit to really to challenge yourself as an artist and so i feel that i will be doing the prince roles i mean i will be debuting sleeping beauty with the heart of but i will also be doing roles that maybe i'm not so much suited for or new

works new contemporary works because that's the constant search of the artist i feel. you will be dancing both this stage and also in the united states this is going to be a fifty fifty split or they'll be preference for yeah yeah there will be there will be a fifty fifty split it was very important for me and also it was that was part of the offer from sergei filin to keep my place at american ballet theater in new york because it's my home it's where i've been for ten years it's what has made my career up until this point and so it was very important for me to stay at abt but also. very important to make a substantial commitment to the bolshoi theater i like some veteran he's your coach and he he works in the us and he does you know english enough to to to communicate with you to most definitely really but you know. it doesn't harbor my my interest

to learn russian because i am in russia you know and i do need to start speaking the language so to sum up with students i definitely speakers are very bad language so you've got you've got a lot of my hands full yet how do i know you living already or you just plain just to pick it up i mean no you know i think i lived in france for a year and the best education is living in the country and so you speak french so you. did i would you say yes you know like your fellow americans most of them not like the stereotypical. but you know is the best the best way to learn the language and learn the russian language and is really just to be in rehearsal to be every day in moscow just making a fool of yourself and really trying out the language to talk yes exactly ok. did you have to study something did you have to take some special training to fit

into the bolshoi company because because russian ballet is different even even from the classical ballet you brought yes you know i don't know if i if i had to to study anything but i will be studying something when i go to the bolshoi theatre when i dance with the dancers they have a very different style they have a very signature style of the bolshoi theatre and it's something that i really want to learn from that's part of the reason i accept which is still today yet no it's not and it will be a challenge but that's part of the reason i came is if you want to become your style you want to become a bull showdown a russian dolls or you want to see an american don't sing in the boat i want to find a balance you know it's important i think to stick to what i was taught i was taught american style and french style but it's also important you know to really ingrained yourself in the. ariens and i won't be i won't becoming

a russian i won't be becoming a russian dancer because then i would be imitating an imitation is. it superficial really i really have to be myself how comfortable so far do you feel in the bolshoi company and people around here because because they're not used to having fun it is they they may be a little hostile just as i was in the beginning of this interview and you know who is this guy think you will think the honesty you know the dancers have really been . very friendly very open there obviously is a language barrier to every day conversation but you can also feel the energy of the room and i haven't yet felt hostility i feel like everyone in the bolshoi most everyone is quite open to this new idea and this new new you know opening of doors and they're supportive of the yes they are i've found them to be very supportive

did you did you have a chance to make any friends people that you prefer working with for the not yet well well i have danced a lot with natalia was supposed. to dance in new york with abt and i have danced once with the bolshoi theater with the she is a good partner of mine and a good friend of mine she's a fabulous dancer and we have a great connection but i'm also looking to dance with other you know major ballerina. she has she's a she's a star she's one of the greatest salary will be different this year but you know she's one of the greatest ballerinas of our time i mean let's be honest and i'm honored absolutely honored to be dancing with her i think it's an amazing experience so you know it's going to be it's really going to be such a challenge but yet i'm so open for it. with with svetlana another question while

trying to fit into into a russian ballet company do you feel that the roots of american ballet are russian do you feel it well you know yes of course i mean historically yes of course so with balanchine obviously came from st petersburg. with the dancers who defected in this you know during the soviet union words can also you know yes of course and. you know the origin comes from friends and then comes from russia so there are definite. major factors you know with russian ballet to america says david hallberg spotlight will be back shortly after a break so stay with us. you

know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

welcome back to spotlight i'm older now and just to remind that my guest on the show today is the whole group and we're here in the bolshoi theater talking about the new star of the bolshoi came from the united states first time in the history of this theater the star is from america david let's talk about russia. and the value russian brits in the sixty's and seventy's there was a great exit as well a significant existence of the russian soviet bally's tourist and. to two different countries in the west and to the united states well. one of the greatest stars of the russian ballet of the past he was i think he once was the director of the abt it is very much so so did these people influence you as a young dancer i mean did they did they did they somehow have any impact on you or

on your vision your future career the future dolls you know i feel like in. ballet globally there are very few dancers that have made such an impression on the world then. and of course rudolf nureyev and so i think every male dancer who is aspiring to become a professional who is a professional. is very much influenced by by me shows dancing and rudy's dancing and you know we have videos to look at now when he was classically trained and they're still just as influential i mean he still is one of the greatest dancers to have existed yes person really only ordinary was why i didn't ask about marie of because because you know i don't think you have a chance to see you know i mean i saw. him do you think that. the bolshoi

today still is a reference in the ballet world is it as great a label as it used to be most definitely without a doubt i mean the bolshoi ballet. is still a household name as we say in english meaning that everyone knows the bullshit about when the bullshit comes to america when the bolshoi makes a tour to japan everybody knows the bolshoi ballet and the fact that it is one of the top companies in the world it's without a doubt you know this is a changing in the twenty first century because i mean in the twentieth century even even the critics of the soviet system said well ok outer space and the bolshoi ballet the russians are beatable today he is changing it today you just said one of the greatest companies of the world yes well art is a matter of opinion always and so there are french audiences that would say that the person opera ballet is the best company in the world it is by far one of the

best companies in the world so is the bolshoi so is the marine ski you know. it's just that's the way it is i mean it really is a matter of opinion but in this day and age i feel yes the bolshoi has definitely maintained its its prestige its height its style of training and they've they've definitely kept. their signature style as well which i have much respect for so you're saying that the french are more refined and more simplistic so the russians then you may know. that so yes i feel that the bolshoi style is extremely exciting i mean it still has the excitement that it had in the sixty's and seventy's i believe i remember watching a performance of flames of paris with the tell you of. a c.f. and the whole company just looks so exciting they looked so fresh they looked so committed and that's something that. really stuck in my mind when the offer was

made it's like i looked at this performance and i was so inspired it was it was really great the main the main reason for the usual. spending so much time abroad first in france know in russia is because you want to become part of the european don't sing school or because that will make you great to start a back in the states and. young i mean just the time to come back in the building the rest of your crew you know. again i feel that this it's a very global world now and i've always been up for a challenge i've always. travelled elsewhere for experience i went to paris opera school to study which was a very hard experience being the only american there and i'm very much equating that experience to this experience it might not be as challenging i hope it isn't but. it's it's it's going to be a challenge it's going to be. i'm really going to have to step up to the plate

there's a lot of pressure but also i hope i will leave the experience completely enlightened and more textured as a person though let's talk about the ceiling and also the walls i mean you you're here in this theater which was closed for about five years more than five years six years of just opening opening up to reconstruct construction opinion i mean the place i first amazingly intimidated i think it's. i danced in the theatre once before the renovation and it was it was a memorable experience then but now having come back joining the company as a premiere doing the premiere of sleeping beauty with. it's. it's an intimidating experience but it's so inspiring it's and i'm i'm just as ready as i could be you know for this experience well after. six nearly six years

of renovations bolshoi theatre is finally open again for bally and opera lovers spotlights you in a demeanor that has war and that's. the bolshoi theater closed for innovation in two thousand and five for six years the sounds of music workplace by the noise of trills in hammers before that the legendary bolshoi had survived without major reconstruction for one hundred fifty years as soon as work began to see creation appeared to be even worse than expected with foundations that were largely reduced to dust under so descent amid a crack runnin through the walls the theaters reopening was initially scheduled for two thousand and eight they had to be pushed home several times reconstruction did not go smoothly at one point claims of mass and best moment emerged there were investigated by russian prosecutors from then on their innovation was supervised by

the president's office. the bolshoi's highly anticipated reopening eventually to place on look to what two thousand and eleven the wealthy and the beautiful got their invitation is from the kremlin. even three months after the opening gala get in into the poll showing is still a bit of a challenge for most people people who are in for the bullshit performance right nobility enough to get the tickets which sold out almost immediately after the books office opened the doors on to the ticket three subsides those who want we can like you're not going to please come here to enjoy an amazing view of the bone street theater one of the greatest of most films and one walks he's finally cleared off the green safer demanding that's covered it for the last six years those who managed to get inside can feel how seven hundred million dollars renovation brought back the spirit of two. sorry structure grandeur to the bolshoi but that doesn't

mean everything remains archaic here the bolshoi now boasts a brand new on the grounds stage which can move up and down while the demand for tickets still exceeds supply the theatre introduced excursions inside so that more people can get closer to the magic of their innovated bolshoi. can you remember when did you see a bulge performance for the first time in your life. you know i think i first saw the company perform only a couple of years ago and i did it as a whole and i've always seen dancers and dollars and things but i saw a balanchine program a couple of years ago and i was amazingly impressed obviously and then i saw flames of paris like i said which was a fantastic experience i mean it's just it was it was so so inspiring you know most

of the artists come to moscow they like to say good words about the russian audiences but the russians picked it's russian theater it was that the russian audience is the best in the world. is true or people are trying to be nice and probably be yeah you have to be nice to the public yes of course yeah well you know i've been very fortunate to experience many audiences throughout the world cuba japan australia new york everywhere. there's something about the moscow audiences and the russian audiences that i've never really felt before which is elsewhere which is the fact that they have ballet in their cars in their culture they have ballet in their blood they have this appreciation for the art form that. does not it's in comparable throughout the rest of the world you can feel it in the applause you can feel it in what they appreciate and what they show their

appreciation for a lot of newer audiences on the clap for the big turns and the big jumps and all of that but i feel the russian audiences really know what they're looking at they really know what to look at they're educated you know they know how to how to watch classical ballet so do you think that the people in the people who sit here and watch the they know more of you moves and the and the thiel they get a better with the love and the of what it actually costs you to do whatever you do and i think there's a. huge appreciation for for you as a ballet dancer and the knowledge that you've made your life out of this and you have been you know chosen by god also and you've made this huge commitment to this art form there is a major appreciation for that i believe you are a pretty ambitious you know and so you should think of bringing something to this

you should dream of trying to to change it so. are you thinking about. i am you know i answer this question quite humbly because something on the wall. so leave your side no you know i really hope i i leave the experience and rich from the bolshoi. theater but i also hope that the bolshoi theatre leaves this experience and richard as well i mean having learned from someone who does and who doesn't come from the school who doesn't come from the interior and has a different kind of style and way of of doing things and dancing and they're inspired and changed as well because it would be nice if it would become full circle like that rather than me just leaving the experience having gained everything in them then just saying you know with anya you you think the russians are ready to learn from you i certainly hope so because i'm ready to learn from the russians they're not all they're conservative this is one of the most conservative

places in the whole world yes but we speak we speak a similar language i speak english they speak russian but we speak the language of ballet if you leave it to less question probably what's been the most difficult parts of your russian experience so far. i think the most difficult part was making the decision to come. apart from learning russian of course but when the offer was made. it was very important for me to. they think through the whole. the whole offer and make a very substantial commitment to the theater because it really wasn't an easy decision i'm i'm moving away from new york new york is my home i'm moving to moscow i don't speak russian i'm the only american in the company and the only foreigner premier you know right now and so it's a huge commitment and it's a huge sponsibility and that was the biggest that was the biggest challenge you

know it will be probably the biggest challenge but i'm up for it so probably the world series. ok thank you thank you very much david and just a reminder that right guest on the show today was david hallberg one of the most famous ballet dancers in the world since recently a part of the bolshoi ballet company and that's it for now from all of us if you want to have your sales pipeline drop them will be back with more precise comments on what's going on in the outside russia until then they are to take it thank you elizabeth.

a wave of online protest blocked out google and wikipedia pages into a prevailing hacker attack on government websites force us lawmakers to rethink tough new anti-piracy legislation. the u.k. revokes be wrong so press t.v. broadcasting licenses for breaching a string of regulations a move which the channel calls a clear censorship. and syria thousands of people have taken to the streets of damascus to demand president assad release political prisoners held since the start of the ten months along uprising this comes despite a general amnesty earlier this week that saw the early two hundred for. coming up

we head to our washington studio to discuss the latest u.s. protests this time and to mark the anniversary of the supreme court's infamous ruling that lifted many restrictions on political spending the big picture that's next on r.t. . hello i'm going to washington d.c. and here is what's coming up tonight the big picture i can't buy that courts across america people took to their local court houses to protest the to.