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We are pleased to bring you a very special chat today. With us in the ARTSEDGE offices, we have Vladimir Arefiev of the Stanislavsky Ballet. Joining him is Anna Smirina, a former curator of dance and theater and now here in both her administrative capacity with the ballet and as a translator. The Stanislavsky Ballet Theater is making its U.S. premiere at the Kennedy Center and we are very happy to be able to have several interactive opportunities for our online audience.

 

Britt: Can you tell us about what you do? Can you describe a typical day at work for you?

 

Mr. Arefiev: The goal of my work is to invent the space and atmosphere in which to place the characters of the performance.... to imagine the characters, the dresses, I must imagine what the performance will look like. Then I must draw it, and spend a lot of time to realize my ideas. That is what I must do as set designer. It is typical of most set designers. Besides work on the performance, I must work as an administrator because I am the chief designer for the theater. And that is why I have a lot of little problems to solve, and a lot of technical questions to be discussed, a lot of people to talk to and deal with. So my work is very interesting.

 

Gail: How long have you been scene designer for the Stanislavsky? How does one become a scene designer of a company like this?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I joined the company in 1992. Before that, I worked as an independent set designer in different theaters. There are different ways to become a theater designer for a company like Stanislavsky. First of all, I wanted to use my experience from working in different theaters and I wanted to construct an ideal model of relationships between the set designer and the theater. But my wish wasn't enough to become a set designer. I think that I was lucky to sign a contract with a theater after a few productions which I made as an independent designer. I was invited by the company to become a chief designer after working with them on a number of productions.

 

Kira: Did you have to go to art school? What kind of training did you have to go through?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I graduated from the art school at the Moscow Surikov Art Institute. And then I started studying at the Institute at the high school level. Now, my son studies at the school of the Institute. I started with Professor Ryndin who was a famous stage designer in Russia. He was the chief designer of the Bolshoi Theater. I studied with Professor Kurilko who is also a wonderful set designer. I am very grateful to one more of my teachers, Mrs. Pozharskaya, who was a specialist on the history of theater design.

 

Gail: Did you always want to be involved in technical theater, to do theater design? Do you dance or do other kinds of art?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I am absolutely satisfied with my work as a set designer. I do not dance. I dance only at parties! My wife was a ballerina with Stanislavsky.

 

Tara: You are both a set designer and a costumer. Is it easier to do both things for the same production, so you have more control over what the whole stage will look like?

 

Mr. Arefiev: For me, it is much easier. Though I know that many designers work only on the sets or on the costumes. I tried to invite the costume designers, but then I understood that it is very difficult for me to work with them. Their work may be wonderful but it is not my work. That is one of my characteristics!

 

Steve: Do you do scene design for things other than the ballet, like for theater or television?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I worked in different genres of theater. I did set designs for ballets, operas, dramas, operettas, and for TV. It is not very different for me to do the different ones. But most of my productions were made for the music theaters, operas or ballets... I have worked on more than 100 productions.

 

Kira: How involved do you get with the details like props? Do you design them too?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I get involved in all of the details. I make designs for all of the details of the production, all that is brought on stage must be drawn by me. I work not only on the set. I work on the atmosphere. I must create the world in which to place the heroes.

 

Ysabeau: Swan Lake has very specific costumes, lots of white Swans and then the Black Swan later. How do you express your own vision when things are so dictated by the story and by tradition?

 

Mr. Arefiev: In Swan Lake, my fantasy/ imagination is not needed for the costumes of the swans. Those costumes were invented more than 100 years ago... I think that in their time, they were quite modern. And now it is classical tradition. This only refers to the costumes for the swans. My vision is expressed in the other costumes in the ballet.

 

Kira: The sets for Swan Lake are very delicate and beautiful. What visual artists inspire your work?

 

Mr. Arefiev: This is difficult to answer. The ballet has been running nonstop for 40 years. I made new costumes and sets. But I understood that I must be traditional. I had to present to the spectator the traditional performance but I also had to express my views on traditional performance. I must make it so that the spectator could understand my love and respect for tradition. I expressed my nostalgia for harmony and Romanticism, for naive beauty and richness of the traditional theater.

 

Gail: How does one become a costumer? Do you have to know how to sew, or do you just make the designs and someone else constructs the costumes?

 

Mr. Arefiev: Thank goodness I am not involved in the technicality of the costumes. My work is simpler. I must only imagine the costumes and draw them! And then I begin to work with our technologist and he makes the patterns.

 

Steve: Do you help paint the backdrops and set pieces, or do you show your drawings to your staff and let them paint?

 

Mr. Arefiev: It was my aim for many years not to paint the sets myself! I try only to show my staff how to paint them. But in real life, you have to work on the sets also.

 

Steve: Do you ever design on a computer?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I am afraid of computers! There are a lot of buttons and I don't understand them!

 

Kira: What is your favorite ballet and why?

 

Mr. Arefiev: My favorite ballet is the one which I work on at that moment.

 

Ysabeau: How do you find the Kennedy Center as a performance space?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I like it very much. It is a professional stage, if I may say so. You may realize any idea when you have such a stage. And I like the crew very much. They are professionals.

 

Ysabeau: Has it been hard to work with people (like the crew members from the Kennedy Center) when every thing has to go through a translator?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I think it was more difficult for them than it was for me! I didn't find it too difficult. I have such little time that I couldn't waste it on these feelings!

 

Steve: How many crew people came with you to the U.S. How many people is it taking to put on your shows?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I must count!... There are 10 of them in the U.S.... in Moscow, a lot of people are involved in the process of creating a production. We have our workshops, and about 100 people work in the workshops. And about 100 people work in the production department.

 

Kira: What do you do on the night of a performance? (what are your responsibilities?)

 

Mr. Arefiev: First of all, I must control the performance, as friendly as I can. I control the changeovers, the lighting, the condition of the costumes... I must look at the costumes to see that there weren't any changes made by the dresses. I need to make sure they dressed the dancers as I had planned it. That is routine work, dull work, but I have to do it.

 

Bruce: What is your favorite part of your job?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I like the first days of my work, when I discuss the project with the choreographer and draw the sketches. But I understand that it's impossible to produce a performance without the routine work.

 

Kira: What do you consider your best work so far? Is there a production you are particularly proud of?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I hope that I haven't yet created my best production. I am a modest man!

 

Bruce: What theater would you like most to stage a production in?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I like my theater. I'd like to work in all of the famous theaters but that is not for me to choose. If you asked me this question 30 years ago, then I would have been more definite of an answer!

 

Tara: How do you like America so far? Is this your first time here?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I like America very much. This is my second time here. In 1991, I visited a lot of American cities and towns: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and so on. I had workshops at different universities. I was invited as a teacher.

 

Moderator: As a final question, do you have any advice for young designers, people who want to work in the theatre arts?

 

Mr. Arefiev: I'd advise them to hope that in due time, they will be able to fulfill all their dreams.

 

Moderator: That brings us to the end of today's chat. Mr. Arefiev and Ms. Smirina, thank you so much for being with us today. It was a great experience for us and for our audience!

 

To our audience, thank you for being with us. We encourage everyone to visit the Stanislavsky Ballet mini-site developed by ARTSEDGE in honor of the Stanislavsky's first visit to the U.S.!