Principal ballerina with the Imperial Russian Ballet, Lina Seveliova has two very different reasons to remember performing in Port Macquarie.
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On one tour, her bag containing her passport and wallet was stolen, disrupting the next leg to New Zealand. The other reason is more palatable – she loves Mike’s Seafood near the Glasshouse. “It’s my favourite fish and chips,” the sylph-like beauty says in halting English.
Most of our interview is conducted through a translator, but two things are clear – her passion for dance and her love of Australia. The company has toured to our country 10 times and Seveliova now has favourite coffee shops, and friends here. “It feels like home in Australia,” she says.
She has danced since she was 10 years old and before that was a gymnast. Her mother always wanted to be a ballet dancer but she lived in a small town where there wasn’t much opportunity to learn and progress. “[My mother] she wanted me to be able to realise that dream.”
Seveliova has been a professional ballet dancer for 18 years. The troupe practises six days a week, eight hours a day, which includes class, rehearsal, and performance. “Even on vacation I can’t wait to come back because my body craves it.”
Her first dance teacher is one of her inpsirations. “She was into the philosophy of dance and saw it as an art not just a sport. Every movement was an expression of the story.” She also greatly admires Argentine-born Marianela Nuñez, and Russian-born Natalia Osipova, both prinicpal ballerinas at The Royal Ballet, London.
The now 28-year-old graduated from dance school and at 19, started as a soloist with Russian National Ballet Theatre. Her first solo role was as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and it remains one of her favourites. She says she related to the impulsiveness and naivety of Juliet. “I love all my roles; I open all my soul and personality to each. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to be femme fatale like the black swan in Swan Lake, sometimes a princess like Sleeping Beauty.”
The Imperial Russian Ballet will perform Princess Aurora’s wedding from Sleeping Beauty in Act 1, the romantic Les Sylphides in Act 2, and the electrifying Carmen in Act III. The company was formed by former Bolshoi Ballet soloist Gediminas Taranda in 1994. Seveliova says he has the same approach as her first teacher. “He says we must tell the story with every move.”
Seveliova says the costumes are very diverse, bright and beautiful, with different styles in all three parts. Les Sylphides’ romantic costumes are styled after the original costumes from 1906. “Sleeping Beauty is amazing, and the men will enjoy the costumes in Carmen, they are very sexy.”
