Ballet has always been a central part of my life. Since I started dancing at age three, the language of ballet has been a part of my vocabulary — a way to express or let out my feelings without the barrier of language. Everywhere I traveled, the smell of the theater had always been reminiscent of home. Ballet, both dancing and watching, has been a bridge between ‘home’ and Armenia.
My collection of programs and tickets to the performances I saw
Since arriving in Yerevan, I have been able to go to 4 ballet performances (including a school performance), 1 Armenian national dance performance, and 1 play acted in Armenian. After I had watched my first ballet, Sleeping Beauty, at the Opera, my host family and their friends asked me for my opinion — not only about the performance but also its audience.
Throughout all the performances I have attended, my first impression from Sleeping Beauty hasn’t changed: the average age of audience members was very young. Seeing little ballerinas with tiny buns on their heads discuss and imitating the dances during intermission was a joy for me. Being a lover of ballet, I have continuously noticed the lack of young audiences in professional performances both in Tokyo, London, Paris, and New York. At times growing up I was one of only a few children in the audience. Seeing young parents taking their children or school age children going to watch performances on their own in Yerevan gave me hope that ballet as an art form can continue on to younger generations.
The ballet side of the Opera Theater
Just after a month had passed in Yerevan, I got in contact with a ballet teacher who had graduated from Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet through the help of my classmate’s host mom. When I mentioned that I had been dancing for 18 years and wanted to dance in Yerevan, he invited me to try out for one of his classes. My first class with him was very humbling. Not in terms of dancing, but rather in terms of how much I could understand in Russian (the class was taught mainly in Armenian, but he spoke to me in Russian). It seemed to me that when I danced, my listening comprehension ability had decreased to almost zero! The only word that I understood the whole class was “shoulder”! As someone who had taken ballet classes in my second language, English, and French, which I only know a few words in, not understanding a lot of advice in class was a surprise. I had to inevitably guess the corrections through body language and past corrections I received in Japan.
However, I soon started to get used to it. Although I do still rely on his body language, I can sometimes pick up corrections and instructions without it, and have successfully taken a private class with him, all in Russian, after the girl who was supposed to take class with me decided not to come last minute. Last Saturday, I was invited to watch their school performance (and he made sure I could understand the Armenian words on the ticket). Having taken classes with those who performed, I am left with only one feeling — the love of dance and ballet has no boundaries!
Inside of the Opera Theater before the start of Sleeping Beauty with my classmates Adrian and Gabriel (photo credit: Gabriel C. Kelly)
By Shiori Yamamoto Horton
Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program
Yerevan, Armenia, Summer 2024