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Dance Preview: Tcherkassky passes torch at PBT Tcherkassky mentors PBT's next generation of Giselles in the role she mastered as a dancer Sunday, February 11, 2001 By Jane Vranish, Post-Gazette Dance Critic
Her arms waft slowly into the air like unfurling tendrils. The face is luminous. For a brief moment it seems as if this Giselle, so poignantly beautiful, may actually take flight.
Only this Giselle is Marianna Tcherkassky, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre ballet mistress. And she is dressed in a purple sweater and matching tights while demonstrating a movement in the company atrium, an area that is filled with the messy results of building construction.
But, in that moment, it is so easy to understand why she was regarded as one of the world's leading Giselles in a not-too-distant past.
Tcherkassky accompanied husband Terrence Orr when he was appointed artistic director at PBT in 1997. Few knew that it would turn out to be a package deal, with Tcherkassky assuming her role alongside veteran Dana Arey and new ballet master Roberto Munoz.
Even fewer knew this package would contain a surprise: New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff had called Tcherkassky "one of the greatest Giselles America has ever produced."
This week, as PBT presents its production of "Giselle," her knowledge and skill will be evident in the guise of the company's young ballerinas, whom Tcherkassky has meticulously coached.
And the underlying passion will be unmistakable. For this is a love affair that began, quite remarkably, at the age of 4.
As a toddler, Tcherkassky saw a film performance of the legendary Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova in "Giselle." It had such an extraordinary impact that two years later, at age 6, Tcherkassky was practicing the mad scene around the house.
It was an artistic home, full of classical music. Her father, Alexis, was a singer and her mother, Lillian Oka, was Tcherkassky's first ballet teacher.
"I grew up learning 'Giselle,' " she says. Her mother taught her a few variations prior to Tcherkassky's entrance into the School of American Ballet. There she would forge lifelong relationships with such talented people as former PBT principal dancer Janet Popeleski.
The two entered American Ballet Theatre just months apart and began making their way through the company and, for Tcherkassky, through all the roles in "Giselle" -- corps parts, a peasant, Giselle's friend, Peasant Pas de Deux and a second-act Wili (a restless spirit who has died with her love unrequited).
Tcherkassky and Popeleski watched all the greats, including Italian ballerina Carla Fracci and Russian defector Natalia Makarova, often paired with Denmark's Erik Bruhn, considered by many to be the ultimate partner with his interpretation of Albrecht.
Then it happened.
The golden couple at the time were Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland. During an ABT run at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Kirkland became injured and was unable to perform "Giselle" with Baryshnikov.
He requested Tcherkassky as his new partner ... with only five days' notice. Technically, she had never been coached in the role.
"I was probably speechless on one hand," Tcherkassky recalls. "But I had been doing the role all along. I said to myself, 'If Mischa believes I can do it, then I can.' "
The two spent those five days rehearsing in the studio.
He was incredibly supportive, she says. "I always want to say he did it all. A partner can create an illusion in how he handles the lifts, and Mischa understands a woman's weight and sense of balance. Then everything pulled together for the performance. It was a surreal kind of experience, but it was a success."
Popeleski was there.
"Dramatically, this role has to be the best one for a ballerina," she says. "Giselle goes from a sweet peasant through madness to the purity of technique as a Wili. 'Sleeping Beauty,' although a very nice dancing role, doesn't have that depth of character. Marianna's Giselle had a great sense of style and exuded a certain naturalness. That first one was particularly fresh, something she was able to maintain through many performances."
Tcherkassky would go on to make it her signature role over the course of more than 25 years. She agrees with Popeleski that her early performances had a certain spontaneity in the first act, but the ebb and flow of the movement in the second act eluded her at first.
ABT ballet master Dmitri Romanov was the first to coach her. Says Tcherkassky, "I developed a really clear idea of the foundation and how to bring it alive every time." The Russian invasion of ABT began in 1980, when Tcherkassky studied the role with ballet mistress Elena Tchernichova. "There I learned the quality was never ending, like walking on clouds," she says.
The process continued -- one that Tcherkassky never tired of. "I tried to create an illusion in the role, a love of dancing, a passion for dance that was a metaphor for passion in life." But the real key came as she began to develop a life perspective. "The theme of the ballet is forgiveness. Giselle has the ability to forgive, and that is what sets them free. When you harbor anger, it becomes your burden."
The peak, however, only came during her last six years of performing. Russian ballerina Irina Kolpakova joined the ABT staff. Tcherkassky was asked to change her interpretation. She asked herself, "Have I really been that bad all this time?" But she listened ... and learned once more.
"The last six years I went along another path," Tcherkassky recalls. "That's what makes this role so rich."
She celebrated her 25th anniversary with a special "Giselle," one performed with an early partner, American danseur Fernando Bujones.
Now Tcherkassky is taking all of her experiences and is coaching a trio of PBT dancers: principals Ying Li and Maribel Modrono and soloist Jennifer Langenstein. Langenstein is still in awe.
"This is No. 1 on the list of ballets that I wanted to perform. There's something about the music that envelops me. Tears ran down my face the first time I ran through the ballet."
As with Tcherkassky, Langenstein watched a special performance of "Giselle" (in New Orleans) at an early age. Only this time it was Tcherkassky herself, performing with Fernando Bujones. In another connection, Langenstein's mother handled the props for the production and shopped "all over town" for Tcherkassky's bouquet of lilies.
So working with Tcherkassky takes on a special significance.
"I would give anything to match her arms," says Langenstein. "She doesn't even think about it -- it's just there. She has such an eye for things like the way the wrist breaks. It's such a small little transition that can get lost in the wholeness of the role. But she reminds us of that detail."
More importantly, Tcherkassky gives the women choices. Notes Langenstein, "She wants us to go inside deeply, as an actor would do, to discover our own roots for Giselle."
Tcherkassky gathers the dancers in a corner of a PBT studio. Surrounded by large, heavy trunks and racks of costumes, they begin to create another world -- the pivotal scene in which a young woman, so full of life and joy, suddenly goes mad. The instructions flow:
"Define in yourself where you've been and where you can go."
They listen, absorb, emote ... hanging on every word, internalizing her comments with the passion that Tcherkassky holds deep inside her lithe body.
Later, she explains it all.
"I just get their imaginations going. For the audience to believe, you have to believe."
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Where: Benedum Center, Downtown.