Daniil Simkin

I still haven't decided whether I am going to stay in Paris or not, but then there is also no pressure to decide. Sometimes I am playing with the idea to move to Lyon or to Bordeaux. Especially on the 30th of each months the desire grows, when I see the rent for my tiny space for a bed and a shower disappearing from my bank account.

But then, when I attend an event like last weekend, I am reminded how lucky I am to live in this city. For ten years Le Theatre de Champs Elysées has been hosting the Gala des étoiles, a gala of ballet "superstars", the most talented dancers from around the world. Last year I went already and was so fascinated by a young Russian dancer, that for him alone I wanted to return this year.

Daniil Simkin is only 21 years old, and yet the most amazing ballet dancer I have ever seen in my life. Difficult to describe in words : beauty, perfection, grace, elegance, precision. Whenever he did one or several of his incredible (double, triple, etc.) leaps and pirouettes, the whole audience was screaming, especially the women (author included). It felt more like being at a Beatles' concert, rather than at a classical Ballet presentation in Paris. Get an impression of his talent watching this variation of Don Quixote I found on Youtube (and this was already a couple of years ago at age 17 or 18 I believe).

Next to me sat a writer of an American Newspaper (Newport something ?), and she said that she would write in her review, that whenever you find yourself somewhere near Daniil Simkin (which included for her living in RI, when he dances in New York) you shold make everything possible to go and see him dance. I would confirm this 100%. Since 2008 he is a soloist at the American Ballet Theatre in New York...

He has been called "Baryshnikov's reincarnation" but I don't like this type of comparisons. He is Daniil Simkin. Period. However, I am convinced he will be THE most famous and wanted ballet solo dancer in the next 10-20 years and become a lengend. I know it.

 

The other dancer that impressed me most was Polina Semionova, also from Russia, now prima ballerina at the Staatsoper Berlin.

I hadn't heard of her before, but she seems to be already famous in Germany, probably since her appearance in the Herbert Groenemeyer video clip (one of my favorite German musicians).

 

 

I was so glad I had brought my new toy....