Mahmud Esambaev

Mahmud Esambaev

dancer



Mahmud Esambaev: A dance for life

"Finally, the genuinely French grace returned to us!"

An aged man was standing by the playbill announcing Mahmud Esambaev's concerts and holding the hand of a little girl.

— It Is impossible!.. — he muttered looking over the play bill. I watched his performance twenty five years ago or even more. Is he really still dancing? It is impossible!..

— Everything is possible, — he heard a voice behind him. The man turned around. A tall, lean man in a silvery shirt was standing in front of him.

— Everything is possible, — he repeated smiling and, having waved goodbye, went his own way...

Yes, it was him — Esambaev. The man who became a live legend. Hero of Socialist Labour, deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet, national artist of the USSR. He spent 46 years on stage.



— Mahmud Alisultanovich, how did you begin dancing?

— The dance is in the blood of our nation. Come to Chechnya-Ingushetiya, enter any house, choose the smallest child who has not yet learned to walk, — as soon as he hears the rhythm of lezghinka his hands strike the pose characteristic to this dance. Evidently, this is the reason why my dance was born with me. At four I already danced at all the weddings in auls. My childhood impressions are inseparable from the dances. We moved to Grozniy when I turned eight. Once a circus arrived to the city. This was a fantastic parade. I wanted to learn all of it and as soon as possible. The rope wasn't enough for me, I started walking on the fence… They helped me prepare an item "Snake-man" in the troupe, and I ran away from home for a week — went to Orjonikidze with the circus.



Then I saw Lyubov Orlova in a movie. I learned by heart all her roles from "Cheery lads", "The Circus", "Volga-Volga" and imitated her endlessly, I liked her so much. And once during a lesson the Mathematics teacher entered the class and said that they are waiting for me behind the doors to take to Orlova. As it turned out, she came to the city, and someone told her about a boy who imitates her really well. She wanted to see him… I raced home wanting to put on my only good shirt. Then I sang Orlova's songs for her and she laughed until she cried.



In school I continued to learn to dance by myself. Later, there was the Choreographic College of Grozniy and fourteen years in the Kyrgyz Theatre of Opera and Ballet. In the theatre I understood what a great matter, both ethical and aesthetical, ballet performances embody. I understood that the actor is important not when he copies other's long established canons, but when he brings into the audience his attitude, his thoughts and feelings.



— Nevertheless, you left ballet...

— Yes. I wanted to turn to the national art of dancing. This path was difficult and rich in surprises. We did not have the traditions of solo performances of dances of various nationalities. The work of a dancer is more difficult than that of a performer of even a large part in a play. There, there are 2-4 acts, the gradual formation and development of the portrayed character, there, you are surrounded by other performers. On stage, the dance lasts from one minute to a quarter of an hour, you are one on one with the audience, and you must tell everything about the hero's life with irreproachable precision in this short time. The nation does not have to be so precise in its dances, but you should be accurate to the limit in each gesture.



When I dance I forget that I am Esambaev, I feel that I am the person who I am portraying. Brazilian newspapers wrote of him: "Learn our dances from Esambaev!" Dolores Ibarruri told him once: "You are a Spaniard, Mahmud!"



There is an extremely difficult element in Esambaev's famous Indian dance "Golden God". "Shiva God" is rising, with his knees parted widely in the course of one and a half minute. This is painfully difficult. The Indians have estimated this speed of rising for the dancer a thousand years ago — the sun rises from the horizon this way. The God's face is dispassionate and wise. Straps with dozens of bells are tied to his feet. During the rise and descending — at the beginning and end of the dance — they must not ring, on no account. The sound should be heard only when God makes the first move. And if a leg shakes slightly, they ring… Prior to the dance, standing on stage, he imagines that he is in the temple and has to save people and the world. "I rise because I must. Gods do not suffer; no grimaces on the face. When I descend, it is easy to become stupefied from fatigue… I had to train to the point of exhaustion". Nevertheless, once he lost control over himself. This happened during a trip abroad. He saw himself performing the Indian dance on television. His face was sour, and the stomach "breathed". "I would give anything to destroy this film!.. But this was a wonderful lesson for me. I started to train even harder. Not a muscle moved since then and I breathe only with the breast, although it is hard…"



— You took part in many international and All-Union competitions. Which one was the most difficult?

— All the competitions are difficult. But I believe that if you are participating than you must win. So I always prepared thoroughly for them, was self-disciplined to the limit. Intense competition helps me. On the whole, each performance is also a contest. A competition with yourself. People come to the concert and want to know if Esambaev is anything like he is described. And Esambaev has to be much better...

I don't have strong or weak performances. I always dance as if it is the last time.



— Have you had defeats?

— Oh, as much as you like! Here is an example. During the war we used to perform in cities and military units with the concert crew. At the beginning of 1943 we were giving a concert in Pyatigorsk. After the show, the director of theatre of operetta approached me and asked: "Do you want to be the leading man of our ballet?" I didn't know at that I time what is a leading man and so agreed without hesitation. Then Zoya Zorina, the soloist of the ballet came up to me and asked if I know salon dances. It was embarassing for me to confess that I didn't know what salon dances are and so I answered in the affirmative. We learned with her the tango salon dance. In the first day of performance I was robed in a tailcoat — a garb with a slit on the belly and a tail at the back, my neck was immured in a tall stiff collar and I could turn my head only together with the body. When we finished dancing I understood that this was failure. I even heard how one artist told the other: "What a blockhead!.." I cried and went to the director to ask him to let me go. He said that he gave me the wrong part and comforted me. And so I stayed in the theatre. Then there were new items which, it seems, turned out better that the salon tango... But then fate took me away from operetta to the Frunze theatre of opera and ballet...



Mahmud Esambaev is a Soviet ballet artist and variety dancer. He was born in 1924 in Starie Atagy village of Urus-Martanovskiy region in Chechnya. In the period of 1939-1941 he studied in the choreographic college of Grozniy city. In 1944-1956 he was the soloist of the Kyrgyz Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Since 1957 he danced on stage, performed the dances of different nations of the world: "Chaban" (Chechnya-Ingushetia, Uzbek dances), "The Warrior" (Bashkerian), "Golden God" (Indian), a ritual dance to the music of De Falla and many others. His dances are characterized by masterly technique of performance. He was awarded governmental awards and premiums, was an academician of the International Dancing Academy and the president of the International Union of Variety Artists. He died in January 2000 in Moscow.

His creative work is well known to people aged 35 and above.



— Is there a dance, which is the most difficult for you?

— I do not have easy dances. I feel like after a sauna after each one. And if the audience sees that the dance is easy than I achieved my goal. While, if it is noticeable that the dance is physically hard — than the artist is out of form. You may be out of form but the audience should not see it. Even if you are ill. And this happens sometimes.



Esambaev had to dance even with a nail in his toe literally. He "examines" the defects of the stage with his feet because he performs many dances barefoot. Once, during a dance, a lamp fell from above and broke. But he did not stop dancing. He washed out his cut foot during break and in order to stop the blood, he covered it in polish and went on the stage...



— How do you manage to stay fit in the course of so many years?

— This depends only on oneself. If you want to be handsome — have patience. I have a cast-iron regime. Daily trainings, rehearsals. I eat very little. But I remember about food always because I always want to eat… I dream to eat a full plate of borsch (red beet soup). But if I will be full, no one will come to my concert: it will be uninteresting to watch me. If I lose shape, my art will suffer. I would have never achieved what I have achieved if I gave vent to human weakness to food. My friends, who sit with me at the table feel sorry for me, call me unlucky. But I am happy: I keep myself in hand.



I always rehearse. I walk on the street and think about the dance movements in my head, repeat them. I rehearse as much as I can. Until I feel: one more minute and I will fall. I stop and immediately realize how much there is still to be done! And I start all over. I don't have a single fully polished dance because all of them are in the working out stage. Polishing is an endless process. And even during a short rest I think about the dance. I don't need a sanatorium rest with three meals a day. I can give you the best advice in the world on how to stay fit. Do you wish to never gain weight? From the very childhood. Do physical exercises every day and don't be afraid to feel sweat on your body. Sweat, by the way, is a showing of your conscientiousness towards… yourself. Yes, yes, not the light warm-ups to music, but exhausting work. And conquer laziness. Don't look for salvation in diets. Arm yourself with patience and you will be rewarded.



Of course, you heard all of this before. I am not agitating you at all. To be or not to be slim, healthy, handsome is a private matter. I am simply sharing my experience. I am sixty years old and I am not hiding it. Come to my concert and you will see whether my principles are good or bad… And, of course, you should dance. The wise Plato assured that dancing is the best method for mind repose and fortifying body strengths.



When Esambaev performed in France, one of the Parisian trendsetters exclaimed: "Finally, the genuinely French grace returned to us!" Height - 180cm, waist - 47cm...

A splendid dark crimson sombrero hangs on the wall of his room. This is from the costume for his new programme. From the "Carnival" of Latin American rhythms. I recall something else — a silver sombrero, gift from Mexicans, which is now in a museum in Grozniy. The inscription reads: "To the best dancer of Mexican dances — Mahmud Esambaev".



The castanets are lying on the table. Tomorrow they will be beating out a fiery rhythm on the concert.

The dance is life for him.

Life goes on.



Sourse: www.timeout.orexca.com