13.06.2018

Zemlyansky Sergey Yurievich

Famous Director

Choreographer

Sergey Zemlyansky was born on June 15, 1980 in the city of Chelyabinsk. In 2002 he graduated from the choreographic department of the Chelyabinsk State Academy of Culture and Arts, specializing in teacher-choreographer.

Already in his fourth year, he was invited to Yekaterinburg, to the “Provincial Dances” theater of Tatyana Baganova, where he worked as a dancer for five years.

During this time, as an assistant choreographer, he participated in productions: “Autumn” by Tatiana Baganova for ABCDancecompany and I. Stravinsky’s opera-ballet “The Nightingale”, nominated for the Golden Mask award.

As a dancer, he worked with foreign choreographers: the play “On the Road” staged by J. Schlemer, the play “STAU” staged by Anouk Van Dyck, the project was implemented in July 2004 in Moscow.

In January 2006, he was invited to Moscow by Vladimir Pankov, the Artistic Director of the SounDrama studio, as a choreographer and actor.

Their joint work on the first play “Transition”, in the center of dramaturgy and direction by A. Kazantsev and M. Roshchin, was presented at the Golden Mask award in the Innovation category in 2006. In collaboration with the SounDrama studio, as a choreographer, he staged 15 performances in Russia and abroad.

The next stage in Sergei’s work was the play “Orpheus Syndrome.” This work attracted excellent press during a long tour in France and Russian cities. It was attended by two leading students of the school, professional dancers who now work in world dance companies. Sandra Bordua and Manon Andral. In 2012, as a choreographer and actor, he took part in the film “Doctor” directed by Vladimir Pankov based on the script by Elena Isaeva, produced by Vladimir Menshov and Alexander Litvinov.

In 2012 he staged the play “Mother’s Field”, which premiered on October 9, 2012 at the branch of the Pushkin Theater.

This performance can be called the first in the direction of New Plastic Drama, which appeared at the intersection of three theatrical genres: dramatic performance, dance theater and expressive emotions of pantomime. The basis of the wordless style was the creation artistic image not only with the plasticity of the body and bright musical accents, but also with the use of characteristic dance elements. Sergei Zemlyansky's performances are distinguished by enormous expression, grotesque presentation of character images, and the use of visual and musical effects.

A major role in the creation of the new style was played by the main production designer Maxim Obrezkov - the main artist of the Vakhtangov Theater and the composer Pavel Akimkin and the author of the libretto Vladimir Motashnev.

Until 2016, Sergei and his team staged 8 independent performances in which he honed his style. “Mother’s Field”, “Lady with Camellias”, “Winter”, “Demon”, “Idulis and Aria”, “The Inspector General”, “Gypsies”, “Joan of Arc”.

The value of the new style of Plastic Drama is that it translates dramatic works into a language understandable in any country in the world. Emotions are understandable to everyone. Only the deepest meaning remains, cleared of the falsehood of words. Depriving the dramatic actor of his important instrument - the text, the voice - Zemlyansky finds new tools. Music, scenography, and visual effects come to his aid.

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Choreographer, artist.

In 2002 he graduated from Chelyabinsk State Academy culture and arts (specializing in choreography). He studied at master classes with European and American teachers and choreographers. In the period 2001-2005 he was a dancer at the Provincial Dances Theater (Ekaterinburg).He worked as an assistant choreographer during the production of “Autumn” by Tatiana Baganova for ABCDancecompany (production by ABCD Company, Austria, 2003) and I. Stravinsky’s opera-ballet “The Nightingale”.

He worked on the play “On the Road” by choreographer J. Schlemer (Germany), as well as on the play “STAU” by Dutch choreographer Anouk Van Dyck (the project was implemented in July 2004 in Moscow).
In November 2005, he staged a play at the Acid Rain company (Chelyabinsk) "The FABULOUS".

Since 2006, he has been constantly collaborating with the SounDrama studio as an actor and choreographer of projects.

Choreographer of performances:

"Transition". (2005 Center for Drama and Directing, SounDrama Studio, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
"Morphine". (2006 Et Cetera Theatre, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
“Gogol. Evenings" Part I. (2007, V. Meyerhold Center, SounDrama Studio "Theatrical Solutions", Director V. Pankov, Moscow).
"After me". 2008 (Non-strict dance company, Chelyabinsk)
Duet for the ballet competition "Arabesque". (2008 Perm)

“Gogol. Evenings" Part II. (2008 V. Meyerhold Center, SounDrama Studio, “Theater Solutions”, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
“The Third Shift” (2008, Joseph Beuys Theater, director F. Grigoryan, Moscow)
“Territory of Love” (2009 “Art-Partner XXI”, SounDrama Studio, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
“Chukchi” (2009, Scene-Hammer Theater, director F. Grigoryan, Perm)
“Gogol.Evenings” Part III. (2009 V. Meyerhold Center, SounDrama Studio, “Theater Solutions”, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
“Phaedra” (2009, A.S. Pushkin Theater, director M. Khemleb, Moscow)
“Les deux genres” (2009 Grand Ballet gala “Masterpieces”, Moscow)
“Romeo and Juliet” (2009 Theater of Nations, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
“Room” (2010 Art-site “Station”, Kostroma)
“Seven Moons” (2010, M. Weil Theater “Ilkhom”, SounDrama studio, Director V. Pankov, Tashkent)
“I, Machine Gunner” (2010, SounDrama Studio, “Theatrical Solutions”, Director V. Pankov, Moscow)
“O.S.” (SounDrama studio, 2011)
"City.OK", an experimental program of the international theater festival them. A.P. Chekhova, SounDrama studio in collaboration with Studio 6 (USA), 2011
“Woe from Wit” (Perm State academic theater"THEATRE", 2011)
"Autumn Sonata" (Contemporary, 2012)

“Orpheus Syndrome” (a joint project of the Vidy theater, Switzerland, SounDrama studio, Maurice Béjart ballet and the International Confederation of Theater Unions, 2012)

At the M.N. Ermolova Theater he staged the plays “Demon” (2014) and “The Inspector General” (2015).

Interview with Sergei Zemlyansky, director-choreographer of plastic performances and creator of the “new plastic drama” direction

Sergey Zemlyansky joined the Expert Council of the festival “About Movement” in 2016. His productions are bright, expressive, powerful, and have been winning the hearts of Russian and foreign audiences for several years now.

Where is the border between modern choreography and plastic theater? Or does it not exist at all? How do these two concepts coexist?
— Recently, I have seen very little modern dance in Russia. Basically what it is is an imitation of the “West”, without any individual style, and this depresses me. Yes, there is a fashion for uniforms that is born there. But it turns out that the Russian modern dance- this is just a borrowing of forms that were invented and created “there”, there is no originality in it, it does not reflect “our” mentality at all. We have our own mentality, perception, style, which, for some reason, are not used.

— You can’t invent a bicycle, but there is a lot of room for creativity, because modern dance is a laboratory. But the scope of the experiment should not be limited to how your left shoulder blade relates to your right elbow. All the movements were invented a long time ago, so just watching the dance is no longer interesting to me. I can say for sure - it’s not as interesting as 10-15 years ago.

— For the average person, modern dance is something “murky”, it is impossible to make out anything in it, it is a certain sequence of incomprehensible, sometimes illogical movements, which often do not make much sense. And the saddest thing is that he really isn’t there.

“I believe that the dance goes away, and the viewer goes away with it. If we take a closer look at what is happening now in the same “West”, we will see that the leading dance troupes are turning towards plot stories. Thus, NDT (Netherlands Dance Theater) is preparing new productions based on plots inspired by the work of David Lynch, and Teresa de Keersmaeker plans to stage Shakespeare in London. I see the salvation of modern dance in combining with drama.

How do you work? How are your performances born?
- Firstly, there is always a literary basis, with its own characters, characters, there is an interweaving of the lines of these heroes, development. I try to take into account all the classical foundations of dramaturgy and directing, to build a structure for the existence of dramatic actors on stage.

— Secondly, it’s working with artists. For dancers, the performance material may seem primitive, but for dramatic actors it requires a certain level of training, which must be achieved through daily training.

“My assistant and I come up with the entire plastic design of the performance, because the bodies of dramatic artists are not so free as to give them the opportunity to improvise and then use this material. The task is to identify emotion, to create a text for the physical existence of the characters, so everything is worked out right down to the tips of the fingers, the turn of the head, and this is a colossal work.

Who do you like to work with more - students or established artists?

- With everyone. They always charge, motivate, provoke, inspire. Students have more enthusiasm, genuine vitality and maximalism. Professional artists are calmer, but they also approach their work with enthusiasm, because for them plastic art is one of their professional tools.

Tell us more about your work with students of the Theater Institute named after. Shchukin.

— The master of one of the courses is director Alexander Koruchekov, who watched my performance at the branch of the Theater named after. Pushkin - “Mother’s Field”, invited me to conduct a series of master classes for his students. Based on the results of these classes, we composed the phantasmagoria “Winter,” which can still be seen on the stage of “Pike” performed by 4th year students. This the performance is on through the intermission with another student, but already vocal work - “Vaganta”. In June last year, with the same course, I staged a plastic performance based on Pushkin’s poem “Gypsies.”

You started as a dancer in Tatiana Baganova’s “Provincial Dances” troupe in Yekaterinburg. How did you become a director in Moscow theaters?

— I moved to Moscow in 2006 and began collaborating with Vladimir Pankov’s studio “SounDrama” as an artist and choreographer. Then the Theater named after. Pushkin invited me to be a choreographer in one of his dramatic performances. I had a wonderful experience working on the movement with young theater artists; I wanted some kind of continuation, but it was unclear in what form it could take place, under what conditions.

— Soon, one of the theater artists suggested that I think about staging “Mother’s Field” by Chingiz Aitmatov. When I read the story, I immediately realized that this was a good basis for plastic drama. Then we started negotiations with artistic director theater by Evgeniy Pisarev, and I could not explain in any way what exactly it would be: not modern dance, and not ballet, and not a theater of facial expressions and gestures.

“In the end, we were given a trial month, so to speak, to apply for the play. We have come a long way this month, there was a lot of enthusiasm and motivation on the part of the artists. We made sketches of scenes that were not yet a complete work and showed them. Only after this the artistic management approved the work on the play and included us in the repertoire.

Did the performance win a prize at the Golden Mask?

— No, there is no nomination for us yet. As far as I know, the award’s expert council discussed whether to nominate the play or not, because the nominations “drama” or “ modern choreography"didn't fit. It seems to me that it makes sense for the “Mask” experts to think about the “plastic drama” nomination, since many theaters are already undertaking this kind of experiment. Although long before the decision of the expert council, the play “Mother’s Field” was included in the Russian case program and later, as part of the festival “ Golden Mask"was shown in cities of Russia and abroad.

Let me finish with a slightly pretentious but important question: what do you see as your mission as an Artist, a Person of Art and a Person of the Theater?

— I like the tradition of saying “serves in the theater” about the work of an actor, director, or any employee who concerns creativity. The meaning of the word “service” is close to me, the service of the Muses, which, as we remember from the classic, does not tolerate fuss. Do not compromise with public opinion and vulgar taste, respect your audience by showing them real theater, high art, - this is the task of any person who creates. Perfectionism and exactingness towards all participants in the production, including himself. And a lot, a lot of work. That's the whole mission.
It’s really pretentious, but somehow...)))

Interviewed by Veronica Chernysheva.

Zemlyansky Sergey Anatolyevich has been working at the State TV and Radio Company “Vladivostok” since 1997.

In his creative activity devotes Special attention information support for the work of internal affairs bodies, increasing legal awareness and legal literacy of residents of the Primorsky Territory. Participates in socially significant events and preventive raids conducted by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Primorsky Territory and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Vladivostok. Prepares “live” reports about employees of services and divisions of the internal affairs bodies and their work, examples of courage and heroism shown by police officers, residents of the region with an active civic position who assist the internal affairs bodies in their daily activities (representatives of Public Councils under the internal affairs bodies, members of voluntary people's squads).

For ten years he has been the author and presenter of information and analytical programs “Vesti:Primorye. Events of the week" and "Accents". As part of these programs and other projects, State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Vladivostok constantly pays attention to information coverage of problems of law and order, legality, crime prevention and delinquency, and the activities of law enforcement agencies in the Primorsky Territory. Prepared and broadcast on television materials that increase the legal literacy of the population and enhance public interaction with the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Primorsky Territory (in 2010 - 2012, a series of interviews with the management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2010 - a special project “I Have the Right!” (about the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the implementation of the law “On police"), in 2010 - a series of materials about the suppression by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of crimes committed by a criminal group from the Kirov region), in 2011-2014 - interviews and information reports on the activities of various units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Primorsky Territory and ordinary police officers, in 2012 . – materials on the work of the police during the preparation and holding of the APEC summit in Vladivostok, in 2013 – a series of materials on monitoring citizens’ opinions on the work of city and district police units of the Primorsky Territory, in 2015 – materials on the activities of the police in creating municipal volunteer people's squads, information coverage of the activities of departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to search and detain a criminal who escaped from custody).

In interaction with the heads of structural divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Primorsky Territory, he raises topical issues on the problems of the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, cooperation with civil society institutions, executive and legislative authorities of the Primorsky Territory, explaining the official position of the leadership of the Primorsky police on various aspects of its activities. Organizes film crews from the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Vladivostok" on business trips to the North Caucasus to prepare video reports about the service of soldiers of the combined detachments of the coastal police in regions with difficult operational situations.

He was repeatedly awarded Certificates of Honor from the leadership of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Repeatedly won creative competition Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Primorsky Territory among media representatives covering law enforcement issues “Shield and Pen”. Marked letters of gratitude Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Primorsky Territory for active work on the patriotic education of youth, the creation positive image police officer, increasing the prestige of service in internal affairs bodies.