guest on the show it is day. to day 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 is changed dramatically for the first time in centuries 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 fabled american ballet theatre at the age of twenty in just

a few years became its principal dancer used to hold his journey to moscow to join the bolshoi theatre companies truly symbolic until now russia has carefully preserved his conservative beliefs school and only exported 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 at the bolshoi theatre has been this mecca of ballet of dance 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. may it be the case that you will regret that you decided to accept the offer i explain what i mean you actually are opening a new era in the bolshoi like forand sers coming to this stage that means you're closing era of century. you know losing the jury 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 or cajun 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 and classical ballet these are you going to to stick to this to this zero zero zero zero zero 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 already you 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 listen to the 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 through most different and they 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 listen up with students and i definitely good 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 should just to pick it up i mean no you know it 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 practice within that year. which is yes you know like your fellow going because 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 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 us you want to become a bull showdown a russian dolls or you want to see an american dancing in the balls 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 experience 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 and how comfortable so far do you feel in the bolshoi company and people around here because because they're not used to having five years 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 or on that yet

well well i have danced a lot with natalia suppose and she has danced 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 well she's she's one of the greatest shall remove the difference this is obvious 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. question while trying to fit into into a russian belly kumba. do you feel that the roots of american ballet are russian do

you feel it well here yes of course i mean historically yes of course so with balanchine obviously came from st petersburg. with the dancers who defected in the you know during the soviet. 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 the spotlight will be back shortly after a break so stay with us and. more

news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images and seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are ruled today. which brightened if you move soon from france to pressure. you start on t.v. dot com.

welcome back to spotlight i'm now going over and just to remind that my guest on the show today is haunted and we're here in the bolshoi theater talking about the new star of the ball show 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 about your russian brits in the sixty's and seventy's there was a great exodus significant exodus of the russian soviet ballet stars 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 what i think he once was the director of the. right is very much so so did these

people influence here as a young dancer i mean did they did they did they somehow have any impact on your on your version of the future korea dolls you know i feel like in. ballet globally there are very few dancers that have made such an impression on the world than to come 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 bursting off an area really when there were three of us why i didn't talk about marie of because because you know i don't think you have a chance to to see you know i mean i saw d.v.d.'s of people as you know 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 is changing it's if 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 paris 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 bullshit 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 and even buy c.d.'s 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 had looked at this performance and i was so inspired it was it was really great the main the main reason three years. spending is so much time abroad for us and for all the snow in russia is because you want to become part of the european don'ts in school or because that will make you great to start a back in the states and. young i mean you still have 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 and six years of it just opening opening up through a construe construction. what's your opinion i mean the place i first off i'm amazingly intimidated but i think it's. i danced in the theater 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 sweat as a heart it's. 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 nearly six years of renovations bolshoi theater is finally open again for bally and opera lovers spotlights yelena demeanor as war and that's. the bolshoi theater closed for innovation in two thousand and five for six years the sounds of music were replaced by the noise of trills and hammers before that the legendary bolshoi had survived without major reconstruction one hundred in 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 just send to me to correct a runnin through who was this the it is reopening was initially scheduled for two thousand and eight they had to be postponed several times reconstruction did not go smoothly at one point claims of mass and best moment emerged they 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 there and the patients from the crown one. even three months after the opening gala get in into the ocean always still a bit of a challenge. for most people people hurrying for the bullshit performance right nobility enough to get the tickets which sold out almost immediately after the books office opened the doors until the ticket craze subsides those funds 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 landmarks is finally credo 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 sorrows to russia grandeur to the bolshoi but that doesn't mean everything remains archaic here the bolshoi now boasts a brand new on the ground stage which can move up and down while the demand for tickets still exceeds supply the theater 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 ball shot performance for the first time in your life. the question. 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 of 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 the russian theater to go with 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 my shoes 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 in 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 that they're educated you know they know how to how to watch classical ballet so so so so you think that the people in the people who sit here and watch the they know more the moves and they and they feel they get a better with the love 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

thing you should dream of trying to change it some way are you thinking about it i am you know i answer this question quite humbly because something on the wall. so leave your science open 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 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 that 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 ok lee we do 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. i 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 i'm 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 i 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 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 pop right drop them i will be back with more for his comments on what's going on in the outside russia until then they are to take it thank you as.

well to the. technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got those huge earth covered.

the future of the arab league mission in syria is caught between the. president. of the group. and. the poorest country to the nation's worst. just stepping on the. build of permanently.

it is good to have you with us on this day you're watching. with me. the arab league is deciding what to do next in syria true. room of the group will extend its observer mission in the country because they think the presence of. the crisis in some areas. following the situation for us inside syria. the arab league ministers are going to be meeting to present their findings on what's been happening here in syria and to discuss what their next move will be now the arab league mission we're here in the country to oversee the implementation of the arab peace plan by syria's government now among other things that included the release of political prisoners who withdrew over government troops and tanks from some of the towns and cities.