Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky Partners at Home and on Stage
Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky Partners at Home and on Stage
A beautiful, in more than one sense of the word, couple who generate excitement is American Ballet Theatre’s Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky. When attending a ballet in which they are featured, one can always be confident that their dancing will be spectacular. Dvorovenko’s technique is rock solid with extensions that wow even the most jaded audience members. Beloserkovsky’s beautiful feet, line and princely deportment are a joy to behold. Balletically, they are top notch, but to be a little shallow, I must add that physically they are equally beautiful. To catch a glimpse of them walking down the street, one could easily mistake them for models right out of the pages of Vogue or Gentlemen’s Quarterly.
Since 2000 this couple has been principals in ABT. They were both born in Kiev, Ukraine and trained at the Kiev Ballet School. Her parents were ballet dancers, and his mother encouraged him to dance from the time he was a toddler. “In school there was an attraction between us from the time we met,” muses Beloserkovsky. “She was 10 and I was 11.” They married in 1993 and are now the parents of a little girl, Emma Galina.
Irina<br> Discussing partnering, Dvorovenko feels emphatically that respect is most important. “Whether I am dancing with my husband, a teenage boy who has had no experience or a seasoned professional, for me it is the number one rule.” She adds that it is true, not only in a dancing partnership, but also in a personal relationship. “I had an experience when I was 17 and my partner was in his 40’s. Even though I didn’t have a clue to what I was doing, he was kind and gentle. He didn’t make me feel like he was a star and I was just a young girl. In fact, he made me feel like a ballerina. At that time I had won many different competitions, but it is a different thing to be on stage in a real performance. I feel fortunate that I had such a good experience in the beginning of my career.”
From the beginning of their partnership they decided not to be disrespectful to each other. She referred to it as ‘acting over the top’. “That there are some dancers who make their partners feel miserable. Sometimes rehearsals can be very difficult. You are physically and mentally exhausted. It’s overwhelming to be working on the technical aspects as well developing your character in a story ballet. Sometimes it’s easy to lose control.” When that happens they try to find a balance. They take turns cheering each other up when they are down. If they are having a really bad day, they either leave the rehearsal or try to work on something else. If she is rehearsing with someone other than her husband, when things go wrong, she tries to remain polite and understand what the person is experiencing.
Dvorovenko tries to be considerate of her partner by not hanging on him. Humorously, she says she doesn’t want him to die of exhaustion after the adagio. When executing partnered pirouettes, she tries to help with the turns, although, when dancing with Jose Manuel Carreño, he prefers to turn her. To be accommodating, she tunes down her energy for him.
First rehearsals are the most difficult for Dvorovenko. “It’s a personal process. I like to be able to get the feel of my partner. Therefore, I prefer to rehearse behind closed doors………..just the two of us and our coach. Different partners bring new experiences. Even though she primarily dances with her husband, she also dances with the other principals and even some soloists with the company. She says that her greatest experience was when she was cast in “The Merry Widow” at the last minute. She and Julio Bocca had only one rehearsal before the performance. He is such an amazing partner, dancer and actor that it was truly memorable. “There were some rough moments because we didn’t have much time to work, but his expertise was so great that it didn’t show. It was thrilling.”
Dvorovenko loves the story ballets like “Giselle” and “Romeo and Juliet,” and especially loves to dance them with her spouse. “It’s nice to dance with someone you really, really love. You share the stage, you share each performance. It should be exciting and a celebration of achievement. We’re both working for the best.”
Maxim <br>Beloserkovsky begins, “The majority of my life has been ballet. It’s my passion……….it’s who I am. It’s my thinking, it’s my being. But when Emma was born, my life changed. There is this other little creature who is a part of Irina and me. Now my priorities are 50-50, and I feel it is shifting more towards Emma everyday. Fatherhood has changed me……onstage and in life. It changed my values and my perspective. I think I am a completely different person. Everyday I go to work, stand at the same barre and do the same exercises. I have done this for over 30 years, but for the last two (since the baby arrived), it is a different person doing the same thing. As a parent you’re not selfish anymore, and the things you used to worry about no longer exist.”
When asked about their working and dancing together, he responded, “We were in the same school, but I was a year ahead of her. Irina’s teacher wanted to put us together and make a partnership in school, but my coach was absolutely against it because he wanted to pair me with his daughter who was in my class. All through school the desire to partner each other was growing.”
At last, when they were out of school and working in the theatre, the director finally paired them up. In the beginning they did small pas de deuxs. Beloserkovsky was surprised to find he couldn’t even lift Irina. He describes himself as being slim….even skinny. He advises male dancers, “to make your partner look like a feather, you must have muscles.”
The first big ballet they did together was “Giselle.” Next was “Sleeping Beauty,” and then “Legend of Love.” Finally, they learned the entire repertoire. He describes the experience, “This is Petipa. You must be on your leg, with every arm and finger in the right place, but we had not had the opportunity to perform emotional ballets. When we joined ABT and did “Romeo and Juliet” for the first time, it was eye-opening. We had to go beyond form……..beyond technique.”
“You think you know a person when you’ve been married for 13 or 14 years, but when doing an emotional ballet, you have to relearn everything about each other. We had to remember how to be shy; how to fall in love again. We had to rediscover each other.”
In ballets like "Swan Lake" that they have performed numerous times, they make an effort to keep each performance fresh. They try never to exactly repeat a performance. “Knowing each other in life…..being together all the time works for us. She knows my slightest move on stage. If the tempo doesn’t work or my back is in spasm, .she knows exactly what to do.”
This relationship was meant to be. “When we were 10 and 11, we found our soul mates. To make a partnership like this work you must have the willingness to go down the same road, to listen to and complement your partner. We have unbelievable trust…..physical and emotional. Yet, there is still an everyday discovery. We are still students. We’ll die students. We’re searching together, and are reaching for the same goal. We don’t know what it is, but we’re running together.”