It could be said that ballets are always in a crisis, but in the case of Bulgaria, the crisis is not only financial, it is societal as well. The Sofia Echo’s Magdalena Rahn talks with the Bulgarian National Ballet, one of its primas, and a dancer who has left the country to pursue the greater ballet opportunities abroad, in an attempt to find out why.
The disciplined posture, the walk of years of training, feet turned out, the slicked-back tidy hair, the graceful movement of her hands: Sylvia Tomova’s dedication to a life of ballet shows itself in her every action. Born in Bulgaria, she graduated from the world-renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg, Russia, and then returned to her home country to dance as a prima ballerina at the National Opera and Ballet, where roles included Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Elina in The Goat Horn by Bulgarian composer Krasimir Kyurkchiiski, Polly in the modernistic Boomerang, Esmerelde in Roland Petit’s Notre-Dame de Paris. Tomova is also a laureate of international ballet competitions in Varna, Osaka, Paris and Moscow. She has a master’s in ballet pedagogy, and teaches at the National School for Dance Arts, at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts and at New Bulgarian University.
Since 1996 she has headed the National Committee Dance Art – Bulgaria, a UNESCO project. Tomova has been artistic director of the ballet troupe of the National Opera and Ballet since the 2003/04 season. In an interview with The Sofia Echo, she discussed the human need for artistic expression, Bulgaria’s potential as a ballet hotbed and the current precarious status of the National Ballet.
“There are many people who gather here – it’s something of a necessity in Bulgaria to dance ballet. I started early, but there’s always the opportunity to learn. Children need to be exposed to music, dancing, singing, arts, drawing,” Tomova says passionately. She explains that in children, such artistic talents have not yet been cultivated – they lie hidden beneath a preoccupation with computer games, toys, television, schooling – and if not discovered or nurtured, could later disappear.
The very fact of exposing someone to ballet, she continues, is enough to wake up this desire to learn more. “And when people learn something, they become a fan – they know something of what is going on (on the stage) and they like that.”
She says that the desire to learn is the most important factor. Unfortunately, it’s not often enough given the opportunity to be developed. “This path, an attempt to change the current mentality of society, this is the most difficult thing. (Societal) changes – these things take a long, hard time,” she says, comparing the need to grow the country’s artistic sensibilities to Bulgaria’s process of democratisation after the end of communism. “Looking at other societies, they have also had hard periods. For us, it’s happening now.”
There has been a large decline in the number of children interested in learning, which she calls “normal” for the current world status, but not normal for the decline to continue on for such a period. She ponders the prolongation of the trend: where will ballet be then, in 10, in 15 years?
An ongoing dream of hers is for Bulgaria to be a great centre for ballet. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened,” Tomova says, though as a tradition, “as knowledge, as artistry, here (in Bulgaria), it’s the best in the Balkans”. At present, ballet is in a crisis worldwide. But, they’ve managed to persevere.
The crisis is both one of human interest, and of economics.
The state helps some, financially, “but not enough”, she says. “For people outside of Sofia to study ballet – support – is almost impossible.” There are a number of ballet schools for young learners around the country, but for professional training, Sofia is the required location.
And then, she continues, many ballet students study here, and then go abroad for work, not because they want to, but because there’s little to no employment here and the salaries are very low.
Another problem is the lack of instructors of modern dance. Under communism, the system for such education was “closed”, and Bulgaria missed out. Somewhat aggrieved, because it’s not happened, Tomova comments that there are academies of modern dance with which the National Ballet could have exchange programmes, where instructors from one country would trade places with others for a period.
This is in step with her belief that “ballet is an amazing ambassador. As we know Europe, America, so people know us through our arts. People see that Bulgaria can also do a good Balanchine or Serge Lifar, a Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. In many places in the world, Bulgaria is unknown, but we’ve worked with many great masters. Whoever decides to work here is impressed, and comes again.”
She explains that if the programme of Sofia’s national ballet school would attain Europe-wide status, if it were renewed, if it had more professors, more people would come from abroad. This country would be able to show that, besides classical, Bulgaria has a trove of traditional treasures that is worthy in itself. “It’s not something homely,” she says. “We can’t change a water bottle into a sugar dish. We are what we are, and the dancers would be our ambassadors.”
The ballet language is international, she continues. There’s no need to compare how we do it here, how they do it there. It suits very well globalisation, goodness and good humour. And it’s here (in Bulgaria) – all that is needed is someone to exploit it.
The art of ballet encompasses many a field – art, acting, music, literatures, sport, psychology, personal character. “We’re like an army,” she says, “discipline and learning. Our art is hard … It’s hard to climb the stairs to make a troupe that people want to see. Artists want people to come to congratulate them, to say ‘Bravo!’”.
What of the status of the National Ballet itself? Sylvia Tomova makes a puttering sound. “There’s no status of the National Ballet – it exists as part of the Opera. Our state has to work on its attitude towards ballet. Theatre is theatre, opera is opera: why shouldn’t ballet be ballet? But this is nothing new in the world,” she says regretfully. “And our Governmental structure is old, outdated.” She says that if new legislation regarding culture would come into place, there wouldn’t be such a problem, and gives the example of the New York City Ballet being funded by large firms, something not common in Bulgaria.
“If the same structure is here, we could do it, but (the ballet) needs to be independent. We need an amazing manager, because at the end, art is also an industry. To lead well, buy, sell, to support, because ballerinas must not live in dire conditions. As a form of work, we need to be a team, to work together, to present a functioning structure. This is a huge goal; I hope that we succeed in overcoming these old limits. It’s hard to live in the 21st century: We must move forward.”
And ballet is not only the traditional pas de deux with tutus and pink slippers – it’s open to all forms: modern, neo-classic, classic. Society has changed, and the arts have become more varied, Tomova notes. People want different things, and the ballet’s job is to provide them.
But it’s hard for the National Ballet, which necessitates outside professional training, sufficient funding, external support. This is otherwise impossible, because the masters are very highly paid. But it’s what Bulgarian ballet needs.
“In recent years, Bulgarian ballet has reached its level – it needs to be re-stimulated, educated, brought to new heights. We need more funding, to have different shows (Bulgarian and the classics), to learn new techniques, to promote state, world, European politics. We’re like a little star that is shining, shining, waiting for someone to discover it with a telescope.”
Ballet is an art that requires all participants to be all together to effect a production. It’s not possible to do it independently, like actors would learn their lines while on the train, or musicians would practise their scores at home. Thus, proper facilities are vital to the show’s realisation and the troupe’s well being, along with sufficient pay, “so we can eat”, nice costumes, choreography, possibilities of being filmed.
Currently, there are about 60 National Ballet troupe members, including teachers and choreographers. When Tomova returned from St Petersburg in 1977, there were about 100. At 100, a troupe can fulfil its possibilities – it can do large shows, not exhaust its dancers. “With 50, we can’t do two shows a day because they need breaks, they need to rest.”
One of Sylvia Tomova’s goals for ballet in Bulgaria is to create some sort of educational outreach programme to students and children. Finances, again, are the problem. She deeply wants dancers to go to schools around the country to demonstrate their art, for schools to come to the ballet, and not only for shows, but also for behind-the-scenes opportunities. In this way, children can see all the aspects of what ballet really is.
“There are many children who have never seen a ballet or an opera. Maybe some have seen one on television, and in preschool they might learn a few dance steps in physical education – and they really want to learn, just from that.”
The idea of educational programmes isn’t to put children on stage, she says, but for them to be close to ballet, to be somewhat a part of what goes on, to participate.
Such programmes also need to occur outside of Sofia, she insists. “I really want to do a national tour of the ballet. People in Rousse, Kurdjali can’t come, but we can go to them. In every town in Bulgaria there’s a stage. It’s a politic that needs to be exploited. People would very much love to accept it: people in the provinces have a right to live these arts.”
The beauty of ballet applies to all, she extols. “You fall into another world watching. The soul releases itself; you see that life isn’t only our quotidian routines – there are other experiences. We’re obliged to show this to people because life in Bulgaria is very hard. Everyone has the right to this.”
