how again a welcome to spotlight on our. guest on the show it is day. to day are as you see inside the bolshoi theater which 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 century its first first time in 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 will be talking about it to one of the

most famous dancers in the world now the principal dancer on the ballet company. david hallberg is an award winning performer and the united states number one ballet dancer who joined the fabled american ballet theatre at the age of twenty in just a few years became its principal dancer mr holder 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. david 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 of the 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 something i really didn't even dream of 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 the full time job the job at 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 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 losing the jury i mean you know i mean i guess you could look at it like that there is there is not a in my opinion there's not a closing of doors but really. opening of another door and i'm not coming to own

this theater because the theater is already owned. i'm i'm coming really. as an american as a foreigner as an outsider and i'm really rising to this ok jd 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 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 on the 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 too 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 that's an opportunity and i definitely speakers are very bad language so you've got you've got a lot of my hands full yet how do i you living already or you just plain too 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. which is 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 theater 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 and 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 don't sing in the boat i want to find a balance you know it's important i think to just 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 fun it is they they may be a little hostile just as i was in the beginning of this interview i do 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 or people that you prefer working with work 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 she's one of the greatest movie difference 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 am 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 with balanchine obviously came from st petersburg. with the dancers who defected in the you know during the soviet union words can also yes 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 sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

welcome back to spotlight i'm elgar know 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 ball show came from the united states first time in the history of this theater the star is from aaron david let's talk about russia. and about your russian brits in the sixty's and seventy's there was a great exodus 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 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 the 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 really only ordinary was why i didn't talk about marie of because because you got. i think you have

a chance to 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 that would be able to do use 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 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 think of the french are more refined and more simplistic so so the russians they're more aggressive you may know. that so yes i feel that the bulls are still 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. a c.f. and the whole company just. it's 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 reason for you. 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 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 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's just opening opening up through a construe construction opinion i mean the place i first off i'm 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. aspiring it's i'm i'm just as ready as

i could be after 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 more on that story. the bolshoi theatre 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 the situation appeared to be even worse than expected with foundations that were largely reduced to dust under so to send to me to correct her audience 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 took 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 up to the open in gala get in into the poll show you 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 its doors until the ticket three subsides those who want we can like you're not going to just come here to enjoy an amazing view of the bone street theater one of the greatest of most films when watts is finally cleared of 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 tzarist russia grandeur to the bolshoi but that doesn't mean everything remains arky here the bolshoi is 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 bullsh or we. can you remember when did you see a bolshoi performance for the first time in your life but until the area question. you know i think i first saw the company perform only a couple of years ago and i did as a whole and i've always seen dancers and gal as anything 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 about the russian spectators about the russian theatre that the russian audience is the best in the world. it is true or people are trying to be nice to the public but you have to be nice to the public with that 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 so so so you think that the people in the people who sit here and watch the they know more of your moves and they and they feel they get a better theel of 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 your way are you thinking about it i am you know i answer this question quite humbly because something on the wall. to leave your side it's open to. you know i really hope i. i leave the experience and rich from the bolshoi. theatre 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 good 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 really think through the whole. the whole offer and make a very substantial commitment to the theatre 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 responsibility 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 you'll miss the world series also i think. ok thank you thank you very much david and just a reminder that my guest. on the show today was david hallberg one of the most famous ballet dancers in the world and since recently a part of the ball sharks valley company thanks and that's it for now from all of us if you want to have your say spotlight just dropped by will be back with more personal comments on what's going on in an outside pressure until then they can take a thank you. will

live. audience technology innovation all the list of melanin still around russia we've got those huge earth covered.

islam is when an overwhelming majority of egypt's first parliamentary vote since mubarak was deposed the muslim brotherhood takes almost half the ballots. the future of the arab league mission in syria cup between those saying the observers present at reduced violence and others sledding the group for a lack of progress. police clashed with protesters in croatia is copied where hundreds took part in a rally against joining the e.u. ahead of sunday's membership referendum. and within the e.u. would sell for more anti austerity anger protests rage in romania the bloc second poorest country leading to the nation's worst violence in more than

a decade. eight pm in moscow why matter as a good to have you with us here on r t our top story islam is parties are the overwhelming winners in egypt's first post revolution parliamentary elections the final results show the muslim brotherhood claims forty seven percent of the lower house parliament will hold its first session in two days time for more on this we go live to our g.'s maria if an ocean a live with more in cairo our maria so what do the results mean for the future of the country. well. cool is the fact that the absolute majority over the first palm into a new egypt of post mubarak be taking some conservative politics which is which all of them brotherhood's a fee free to.