Theater critic is a profession rare in our time. Usually it is chosen by independent individuals, sometimes condemning themselves to a difficult life in a theatrical society. To express your opinion, which can radically diverge from the public, you need to be a person of a strong character and a certain temperament, confident in his rightness and not wanting to give up his word under any circumstances.
One of the varieties of this profession is a ballet critic. He must have extensive knowledge of the theory of dance and its poetics. Ballet studies, like theater criticism, appeared in Russia in the second half of the 18th century. Then ballet as an art was just beginning to develop, and from that time the first publications began to appear, even a "Dance Dictionary" was published so that readers were aware of the complex names of dance elements. It was very fashionable and relevant.
Getting started in the profession
For the profession of ballet critic and theater critic Natalya Chernova went for many years. Since childhood, she was attracted to ballet. She was born in 1937, during the heyday of this art. The extraordinary nobleness and elegance of the dance fascinated her. After studying at school, she decided to devote her life to the study of theatrical choreography and drama. In 1960, she successfully graduated from GITIS with a degree in Theater Studies, where the study of the history of literature, music and film, theater was compulsory.
Having chosen a narrow specialization, Natalya Chernova did not count on high fees. Literary and theatrical editions never possessed special wealth. Therefore, a theater critic is, first of all, an enthusiast in his field, who loves him infinitely. Who Natalya Yurievna Chernova was, it became her vocation and profession for life. After all, writing a
review of the play, analyzing each episode, is a rather delicate matter. Natalya Yurievna had the gift to pay attention to those little things, the description of which would be useful for every reader and interesting.
Teaching at school
Another direction in the biography of Natalya Chernova is pedagogical and research activities. In 1976, she began work at the Moscow Choreographic School. This is one of the oldest educational institutions in the capital, created by Catherine II. Here was opened the first class of dance and fine arts. By decree of the empress, a rescript was signed on the establishment of a theater management committee.
In 1806, classes became the Moscow Theater School. Throughout the entire existence of the institution, eminent teachers conducted classes, among them Natalya Chernova. They taught girls and boys the art of choreography, ballet science.
The history of ballet at a Moscow school
Wondrous, sophisticated art. Here, the content of each role is revealed in dance images. Natalya Chernova told in her lessons how art was born, how it developed in the Middle Ages, about the first Italian teachers, about famous ballerinas from different times.
With bated breath, students listened to Ekaterina Maksimova, Maya Plisetskaya - famous ballerinas - graduates of the Moscow school. After all, dance is such an art of communication with the audience, where the body and its plastic are the only tools for transmitting information. Natalya Yurievna taught her students to understand and speak the language of dance, because for this it was necessary to know the history of the subject.
Drama lessons
In 1988, Natalya Yurievna Chernova came as a teacher at GITIS, where she herself received her profession. She begins to lecture on scripted ballet drama. A script is a literary model of any performance, where all episodes of the action are painted.
Education and experience gained in the walls of the All-Russian Research Institute of Art Criticism and as a researcher at the Museum named after A.A Bakhrushin helps her to convey to the students the basic concepts of dramaturgy. Teach them using a tool such as dance to explain to the viewer the meaning of any work.
Books, essays, reviews
She began to write works on art history back in 1960, at the same time her first essays and articles appeared. She was the author of popular among balletoman works about great artists, their talent, about the development of dance. In 1984, a book was published about the great Russian choreographer Kasyan Goleizovsky. He lived a long, fruitful life, which he devoted to ballet. Even before the revolution, he created his own studio and staged aesthetic programs with inspiration. Natalia Chernova’s book about him touched upon rather serious aspects of ballet art, because Kasyan Goleizovsky tried to look at the dance in a new way, using the plasticity of the human body in new interpretations.
This piece became interesting to ballet lovers, it was read. She wrote about the great ballerinas, about the history of their formation. Reviews of performances in which Ekaterina Maksimova, Maya Plisetskaya and other great artists participated were frequent. For regular readers who wanted to keep abreast of the events of ballet art, books were already published with a photo of Natalya Yurievna Chernova on the title page. She wrote about the masters of the scene, about the activities of the Bolshoi ballet companies and his tours, reviews of the performances.
STD and the Golden Mask
Natalya Chernova made a lot of efforts for the development of ballet art in Russia. Her seminars in the STD of the Russian Federation were popular among colleagues and students, they were one of the most popular. She attracted young people with her reviews of various performances, noting the choreographic style of each of them. She was also a member of the jury of the festival and the Golden Mask national award as an eminent ballet and theater critic. Natalia Yurievna became one of the first organizers of video festivals of modern dance in Russia.
She died in 1997 in Moscow. She was 60 years old.