3873  interview with one of the world's greatest dancers

Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 01:29:25 +0900
From: astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>
Subject: Fw: [TANGO-L] interview with one of the world's greatest dancers

Since noone seems to be up to translating this interview excerpt for me, I
will do it myself, as I find this dancer's words very inspiring. (I do not
dance ballet, only tango.) Just replace the word "ballet" with the word
"tango", and "stage" with "floor"and maybe you can feel what I feel when you
read this.

> I think, the excerpts below that I copied from an interview with Ruzimatov
> can be quite useful for anyone who wants to become a great dancer, even
> though he is from the world of classical ballet.

>
> Faruk Ruzimatov: "I have no time to think of myself as a great dancer."
>

............................................................................

> --?Es su temperamento o su capacidad fisica lo que lo ha llevado a ser uno
> de los mejores bailarines del mundo o son las dos cosas?
>
> (Is it your temperament or your physical capacity that has led you to
> become one of the best dancers of the world? Or is it both of these
> things? )
>
> --Para ser sincero, nunca he pensado si soy de los mejores bailarines.
> Inclusive me es dificil pensar y responder a ese tipo de preguntas. En

este

> trabajo no hay tiempo para esas cosas, porque si no trabajas o dejas de
> trabajar, dejas de ser bueno y eso te sucede muy rapidamente, con mucha
> facilidad te puedes acabar, por eso no hay tiempo que perder.
>
> (To tell you the truth, I have never thought that I am one of the best
> dancers. For me, it is difficult to think about and to respond to these

kind

> of questions. In this work there is no time for these things because if

you

> do not work or you stop working, you cease to be good and this proceeds

very

> quickly, you can be finished very easily, that's why there is no time to

be

> lost.)
>
> "Solo con el trabajo diario sostienes la forma, y de nada sirve ponerse a
> pensar que uno es el mejor bailarin del mundo. Lo que hay que hacer es
> dedicarse de tiempo completo a lo que uno hace, a lo que a uno le gusta y

le

> apasiona."

(Only with work do you sustain the form, it serves nothing to put yourself
into thinking that you are a world class dancer. What one has to do is to
dedicate oneself all the time to what one is doing, to what one likes and
what excites one.)

>
> --?En que o en quien se transforma cuando esta en la escena, que siente,

que

> piensa?

Into what do you transform yourself when you are on stage, what do you feel,
what do you think?

>
> --Es muy dificil decir en que piensa uno cuando se esta en escena... Quiza
> en lo que mas me concentro yo es en el control. No perder el control de la
> escena, mantener el control de lo que hago. Aunque a veces las emociones
> pueden hacerme perderlo y cuando se desbordan las emociones todo cambia y
> tambien es maravilloso.

It is very difficult to say what I feel when I am on stage. Maybe what I
concentrate on the most is the control. Not to loose control of the scene,
to maintain the control of what I am doing. Although sometimes the emotions
can make me loose it and when the emotions overflow, everything changes and
that too is wonderful.

>
> --?Que le gusta mas: el baile atletico o la actuacion?

What do you like better: the athletic dance or the performance?

>
> --Ambas cosas. No se puede bailar sin interpretar, como no se puede
> interpretar sin bailar. Es algo que me parece dificil, imposible de

separar.

Both things. One cannot dance without interpreting, just like one cannot
interprete without dancing. It is something that seems difficult to me,
impossible to separate.

>
> --?Como construye a sus personajes?

How do you construct your personages?

>
> --Yo no construyo nada. Cuando estoy en escena soy exactamente mi propio

yo.

> Especificamente no construyo ninguna imagen, simplemente me desarrollo en
> escena; en este caso, desarrollo mi propio yo y, por lo tanto, mi

personaje

> tambien se desarrolla.

I don't construct anything. When I am on stage I am exactly my own self.
Especially I do not construct any image, I just unfold my self on stage; in
this case, I unfold my own self and for all of that, my personality also
unfolds itself.

> (...)
> --?Le gusta unicamente el ballet? ?Alguna vez ha incursionado en la danza
> contemporanea? ?Que interpreta mejor: los ballets tradicionales, los
> romanticos o personajes mas contemporaneos?

Do you like only ballet? Have you ventured into contemporary dance a few
times? What do you interprete better: traditional ballets, romantic ones or
more contemporary characters?

>
> --A mi lo que me gusta es bailar.

What I like is to dance.

> (...)
> --?Si usted no hubiera sido bailarin a que otra profesion se hubiera
> dedicado?

If you were not a dancer, what other profession would you dedicate yourself
to?

>
> --No tengo idea. Si no fuese bailarin, creo que me dedicaria... No podria
> hacer nada mas, no se hacer nada mas, no puedo hacer ninguna otra cosa,
> seguramente haria la limpieza de algun lugar, o arreglaria algo... No

se...

I have no idea. When I am not a dancer anymore, I think, I would dedicate
myself to... I could not do anything else, nothing else would be possible, I
could not do anything else, I would probably be cleaning in some place or
have some sort of arrangement... I don't know...

>

--

> Title: Ruzimatov: "No tengo tiempo para pensar si soy un gran
> bailarin".(Faruk Ruzimatov, bailarin de ballet)(TT: Ruzimatov: "I have no
> time to think of myself as a great dancer.")(TA: Faruk Ruzimatov, ballet
> dancer)(Entrevista)
> Author: Rosario Manzanos
> Publication: Proceso (Magazine/Journal)
> Date: May 13, 2001