Hanyu at Tutberidze? He is unlikely to get involved in an adventure
- You worked before the Olympics in Sochi with Yuzuru Hanyu, around whom there is a halo of mysticism. How did he seem to you?
- He came to Moscow several times, did not speak Russian then, only weakly in English. But I always saw in his eyes the absence of indifference, he drove up and already asked with a look: "What is so, what is not?" He always wants to do more. You can make 200, 300 jumps - but then the indifference begins. Man is bored with monotony. Desire for the skater is the most important.
Chania remains unique, such as he will appear soon. Not everyone like him knows how to love figure skating. ISU is thinking about how to change the rules, whether to raise the age limit, about the artistic program - and its programs still cause me tears of tenderness. Look at his face. With his asceticism, he can even show a lot of emotions without moving his face. This is talent. If a person has a need not only for technical, but also for sensual self-expression, even a Japanese athlete can show us an example of how to ride for the viewer.
- Say "even" because emotionality is not peculiar to Japanese culture?
- Yes, we perfectly saw their behavior on the coronavirus problem - they are obedient. If I come to train a Japanese, I become a guru for him, a Sensei - a person who has come to do good. Not only in sports, but in production, anywhere. I will never forget how during our departure from Sochi he called and asked me to drive through their hotel. His team came out together with the head of the federation and silently bowed synchronously. So touching they never thanked me. Hotel staff were more shocked than me.
- Why did the cooperation stop?
- He went to Canada to Orser, there is his own team, his principles. But I see how he still applies our best practices in his programs.
- Last season, when Orser did not come with Chania to the Grand Prix finals, they talked in social networks - should he go to Tutberidze? Would you get a tandem, do you think? Sema Uno tried.
- The Japanese are wise and cautious people, they will not get involved in adventures. Hanyu has an excellent coach and team. I think he found his niche in this company. His mother travels with him like a guardian angel. He is not alone, he has many friends. And he has no reason to cross, he even gives everyone a head start with age. I think they are afraid of him.
In Lyon, 10 homeless people fell out on the rink before the performance
“Do we have something to learn from the Japanese in terms of behavior?”
- We have a lot to learn after 1917. The easiest way to chop off, ban. Our country needs to look, weed out and think what can be applied on our reckless soil. And as Valentin Nikolayevich Piseev (the former head of the FFKKR. - Approx. "SE") liked to say at our meetings - to draw the right conclusions.
- You speak as if you have a negative attitude towards the Soviet period.
- It’s hard to say right away. No, I have no negative. After a sports career, I was able to create my own theater and embodied unrealized ideas in sports there. In sports there were 10 programs, and in the theater he staged 15 performances. This is a worldwide recognition, working with artists, many of whom have achieved much in their sports careers. Artists had to be educated, of course, managing a team is difficult, but insanely interesting.
- Had to coordinate the production?
- At first, they did not escape the artistic council. But it was difficult to find fault with the theme of Chaplin, The Nutcracker. The only time they made a mistake and missed the play "Rasputin". But we were lucky - the premiere was in the USA, in Syracuse, and when we showed the ovation of the Americans after it on the video, the artistic council did not have any questions.
- Now the theater has no problems? Quarantine is still here, the business is suffering.
- I am far from the financial part. But Natasha is our director, and I see her eyes lately, sad eyes. And I understand that everything is bad. But we have the principle that never in 35 years of the theater's existence have we resorted to the help of the state or philanthropists. And the bandits at one time who wanted to stick. Get out yourself.