The Nureyev Seasons, an international cultural project dedicated to the legendary artist and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev, has ended in Moscow. The special guest of the festival was Lisa Sotilis, a well-known sculptor, artist and jeweler. Lisa is Greek, and her creations carry the power of Greek traditions. Among her friends were Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali. The MK reviewer met with the famous artist and asked about the festival and friendship with Rudolf Nureyev.
– Liza, please tell us about your festival impressions?
– Impressions are as positive as possible. I understand that Rudy is a man of the era, and the organizers did everything for his memory at a high level. I am grateful to Ms. Alfie Chebotareva, project leader, for the invitation. This, of course, was not done for me, but for Rudolf Nureyev and his memory. In Russia, finally, they honor a man whose significance and creativity were not always accepted here. I hope this festival will become permanent and international in the future.
– Have you been to Ufa, where Nureyev spent his childhood, where he studied at school, and then at the ballet school, danced at the local theater?
– It was my first time in Ufa, but I knew and felt this city before I was here. According to Rudy’s stories, Ufa was still wooden, not modern, before my eyes. Rudy always spoke very warmly about his city, vividly described life. He talked a lot about the wooden house with a Russian stove where he lived with his family. This house no longer exists, but we visited the place where it stood. It was very important to me. In that house there were skins, in my opinion, bearskins, which served both as a bedding on which they sat and as a blanket. He never turned away from Russia, although he was persona non grata in the Soviet Union. Rudy loved his mother very much. Due to the fact that he did not have the opportunity to communicate with her, he even called my mother, also mother. Mom Hani, that is, mother-honey. In Paris, he had a cook, she cooked borscht for him and baked Tatar pies. I was also treated to such here – very tasty.
– At the festival for the first time for the Russian public showed the feature film “Venice. Carnival. Love”. Did you manage to see this recently found and restored painting for the Nureyev Seasons? In it, he played his last film role, along with such stars as Carla Fracci, British actor Peter Ustinov, actress Clarita Gatto?
– Of course, I looked. Carnival time in general really liked Rudy. He repeatedly came to Venice and visited it, because deep down he was a perfect child.
– He was a man of extreme personalization and talent. It was, in principle, difficult to recognize and understand. Especially if you weren’t close to him. As for scandals… Rudy was not a man of scandals, but he was an idealist, a person who wanted everything to be perfect, so the reputation of a brawler was the result of his excessive demands on himself and others. He told his partners: “If you eat even one pasta, your asses will get fatter.” One day in Trieste, Italy, a performance was to be premiered. Some very influential prima ballerina was supposed to dance with Rudolph, as Ruolf said, from the category who cannot be fired just like that and who, after eating pasta, get fat. During rehearsals with her, Rudy had a huge problem with her weight. He constantly made remarks to her, which she strongly disliked. During the general, and then at the premiere, she constantly tried to let him down, to play a dirty trick, so that he stumbled somewhere or played unevenly. And when she once again tried to set him up, he slapped her with the back of his hand, as if it were part of the play. The audience did not notice anything, but the conductor and the participants in the performance noticed. After that, a huge scandal erupted, to which lawyers joined. As a result, the La Scala theater was closed for Rudy: he could not perform there for two years.
– For the Nureyev Seasons festival, which will be held next year, in the year of its 85th anniversary, a new film is already being shot with your participation, dedicated to the island in the Mediterranean Sea, Lee Galli. Nureyev bought this island from the famous dancer and choreographer of the Diaghilev troupe Leonid Myasin. Have you been there?
– You will laugh, but I have never been there. When Nureyev was going there, for some reason I was insanely busy and despite repeated invitations, unfortunately, I did not manage to go there. Apparently it was meant to be.
– At your exhibition in Minsk, a sculpture was shown – Nureyev’s naked torso from the back. It seems that it is made of gold – it looks like 40 kg. Is it gold plated?
– It’s bronze, not gold, not even gilded. And not covered at all. Such a special technique to make the surface shiny. But I won’t tell you the weight – art is not measured by weight. I will bring it to Russia! Now she is at customs, as the exhibition in Belarus has already ended.
– For this work, he posed for you?
– I made this sculpture in the 70s and 80s. Naturally, he posed. He generally posed for life. After all, I watched their work with Eric Brun, their joint rehearsals. I’m the only one who was allowed in, but I’m not very interested in Eric: it seemed to me that he was cold, without a spark. And I perceived him as just a great classical dancer. But in Rudolph this spark was, that’s why I painted him. He attracted me: a magnificent body, like a god – not like an athlete. Exceptional!
Most loved Nureyev for his appearance, but I always appreciated his open soul, honesty and childish spontaneity, which he was able to maintain! I saw Rudy on stage, I saw him backstage, I saw him at work and in private. And in intimate moments, when I was training, rehearsing. I brought Rudolf as a gift the most beautiful things from Bukhara, from Afghanistan. When he came to my house in Milan, he tried on my jewelry. He did not specifically pose for this bust. I didn’t need this. Because he posed for me hundreds of times, both for real and as a joke. I had a huge number of sketches and sketches – unfortunately, not all of them have survived. For the Nureyev Museum in Ufa, just now, I submitted two drawings. I did his bust after all from memory. But if you want to see Rudy’s back, it’s here. I usually place this sculpture in my garden where, together with my flowers, they form my world. The spirit of Nureyev is immortal, like this sculpture.