The Tuvan State Ensemble “Sayany” has opened its 44th concert season in new capacity. The quire received a new status of the independent structural subdivision of the Ministry of Culture.

Uran Tulush, the ex-deputy director of the philharmonic, became a Principle of the new entity; Ayan Mandan-Khorluu was appointed as a Principal Balletmaster; Marat Tumat from Saint Petersburg was invited to take up a position of an Art Director; and Mengilen Sat from Moscow – as a Producer-Balletmaster. Today, we are introducing you Marat Tumat, an Art Director of the “Sayany” Ensemble.

-Marat Alexandrovich, how did you find your way to ballet?

-I was a year 4 student at the Samagaltay School when a Balletmaster Vyacheslav Oktyabrovich Dongak stopped by in our classroom during the lesson. He said it was enrolment at the choreographic school being held. He examined every kid for his flexibility, leaps, turnouts and an ear for music. Only four children from Tuva were selected then and were sent for studying at the State Buryat Choreographic School. I had a privilege to be one of them.

It was very tough and unclear at the very start. A day in the school used to be very busy, the classes started at 9 am finishing at 6 pm. Living away from home and my parents didn’t add optimism too. In addition, I had entire C marks in my speciality class in the beginning.

-When did you come on stage for the first time?

-I did after a year of studying in the choreographic school. The most talented students were engaged in the performances of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of Buryatia. The first time I came on stage in The Don Quixote ballet in 1986 at the age of 11. I was a year 5 student of the general education class and a year 2 student of the ballet class. We were dancing Street kids chasing Sancho Panza most of the time. It was definitely very emotional experience, we were performing on a par with adult artists, had our first stage make-ups, hairdos, and costumes, and at the same time, it was a great fun.

-What has determined your destiny?

-I got straight A’s at the state examinations in the classical, duo, and character dance classes, and I was performing the prince in The Nutcracker ballet and The Carnival in Venice pas de deux from Satanella at my finals. The president of jury, an art director of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, noticed three other graduates and me and made an offer to work with him. I received an offer from the Buryat Theatre as well, but I chose Novosibirsk. I received huge amount of experience performing at the stage there. I performed the Hungarian dance and the role of the Fool in The Swan Lake, the Prince in The Nutcracker, peasant dance and pas de deux in The Giselle, I was also engaged in Le Corsaire, The Sleeping Beauty, in Polovitzian Dances of The Prince Igor opera, and performed the ballets of Y. Grigorovich The Spartacus, The Legend of Love.

In 1995, I received an offer to work in the Saint Petersburg Academic Theatre under auspices of Boris Eifman. I was dancing Pinocchio, which is very complex ballet in two acts. For being able to perform it at the highest level, I practiced every single day from 10 am till 10 pm for three months, and when dancing it on the stage I was losing three kilos of weight after each performance.  We were performing The Pinocchio in Saint Petersburg, and then on tour in South Korea and Japan.

Later, I started working in the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory where I was performing in such ballets as The Swan Lake, The Giselle, The Nutcracker, and other shows. I have achieved everything I could possibly dream about there, but I wanted something more. There were auditions being held in the Yacobson Ballet at that moment. Around 30 artists came for trials, but only four were selected. I was among the lucky ones. I was in love with the Yacobson ballet since the time when I had heard its story. Its establisher was Leonid Veniaminovich Yacobson who was an outstanding Balletmaster of the XX century. The theatre has several streams – the Classical Repertoire, The Heritage of Yacobson, and the Contemporary Choreography. The theatre is very dynamic with beautiful creative feel, spacious halls, with rich repertoire, all the artists, balletmasters, and tutors are of extremely high professionalism. While working there I was able to perform at the biggest stages of Saint Petersburg city – Mariinsky, Mikhailovskiy, Hermitage, Aleksandrovskiy Theatres, Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater, and Oktyabrskiy Big Concert Hall.

In 2003, I was dancing in The  Bridal Cortege (Svadebniy Cortezh)  honored with the Golden Mask National Theatre Award in the Heritage category; in 2004, I was performing  The Bedbug (Clop) and five choreographic miniatures which received The Golden Sofit, the highest theatre award of St. Petersburg. I was also engaged in the Exersice-XX, the Spartacus, the Romeo and Juliet, the Shahrazad, the Don Jose, Passion to Carmen, the Cipolin.

-What qualities are needed to achieve success in the artistic field? What are your principles?

-Self discipline, responsibility, the ability to finish what you have started are very important qualities in life, job, and art. I formed these skills as early as in the dance school. I was actually the only student of four of us sent to Buryatia who finished it. My main rule is to set a goal and go for it no matter how you feel yourself, no matter what weather it is, no matter what personal troubles you may have. If you do so, then it will shape well eventually. When a man doesn’t have a goal, then it is just an existence. In addition, there is nothing to do in ballet field without principles, as it is very hard work. To succeed in ballet you need to work every day from early morning until late night. Sometimes you get injuries, of course, but as soon as you recover, the work is continued. There is no time to relax. A ballet artist has a very short professional stage career of only 20 years. If you don’t achieve anything within this time, then it will never happen.

-You are saying ballet is very hard work; you get injuries and feel bitterness of failure. Have you ever thought of changing your profession?

-I have. However, I am still working as you may see. It is not a secret that the cultural field is financed on to the leftover principle. Workers of our field get miserable salaries, to say the least, but if an artist really loves his profession and has professional attitude to his job, he will never leave it. It is pleasant knowing our federal and republican authorities are changing the approach to the cultural sphere, and that within three years of time the salaries will be doubled. I really hope our artists will finally contribute much more time to their art than nowdays when many of us have side jobs to feed our families. I believe the artists’ professional level, which is already being quite high, will rise by times.

-Anyway, why have you decided to head the “Sayany” Ensemble when having an opportunity to work in the St Petersburg theatres and be on tours around the world?

-My friends keep asking me the same question. When I say I am a Tuvan born in Tes-Khem district and I would love to share all the gained experience with young dancers so they could reach the older artists’ level, they just don’t believe me. It is a challenge to understand creative people anyway. They have down-to-earth problems like everyone else, but if they have a choice between a solo concert and a car, they will choose a concert. On the other hand, they will go for deprivation and new experience when their lives are all beautifully set. So did I having left my home, comfort zone, and good salary. Working with the “Sayany” Ensemble has been prestigious at all times. Mengilen Sat will work as a Producer-Balletmaster, and we became friends in Buryatia. He is very talented, creative and a professional with a big P. I do believe together we can achieve all the plans and reach the assigned goals.

-What are the aims?

- The main goals are to raise a performing level of the artists even to a higher standard than it is now, to create a brand of the ensemble in Russia, and to go global. One of the aims is to start participating in commercial projects, as there are plenty of them in our country and overseas. We do understand it is impossible to implement it within a short time of one or two years as we need sort of evolution which takes time. I am saying all this because it is a common practice in America, Europe and even in the leading Russian theatres to sign a one-year contract with dancers and extending it depending on the work results. Top charismatic dancers will work in the “Sayany” ensemble, who are not scared to change themselves, to grow professionally and to be very dynamic. We will reach our goals working with such people. It is very important the ensemble has a huge potential today, the artists do not shrink from difficulties despite we have a great deal of them. All the costumes and stage requisites are old-fashioned, there is no own sound recording equipment or any public address system, the transport is worn out so touring concerts are quite problematic too. However, as they say, keep putting one foot in front of the other.