Ask me a question #1 and insomnia again…
Dear readers, hereby I start my “Ask me a question” column ;). Just so you know it’s almost 2 am again and I have to get up in 6 hours so well… like always I’m feeding my insomnia 
What do you enjoy doing when you have free time, and do you have enough time to meet your family ?
- Well what I like is eating, sleeping, recovering, complicated and sophisticated books, simple movies, everything high-fi, technical and mechanical, computers and design, hanging out and meeting friends, going out and having some time out, but only when I can afford it myself with my body and state of mind. Beside this I enjoy writing blog entries trying to put myself in a good light for everybody reading them, haha.
Furtunately I see my parents pretty often since they are not only my parents, but also work as my coaches, artistic advisors and psychotherapists. Therefore they try to come to me as often as possible to support me.
What is your favourite dance piece ?
- Albrecht in Giselle, which I’ll be hopefully doing next year.
Professional dancers do not seem to become nervous. Do you get nervous when you dance onstage?
- From my own experience a certain degree of nervousness has to be there to have a good performance. Nervousness heightens the awareness and sharpens the senses. It gives me more control and a complete fixation on the things I am doing. Through experience and repeating a dancer finds a good level of nervousness he needs. One needs more, one needs less, but in general a certain degree has to be there. If I am not nervous, because I am too familiar with the surroundings or the piece I am perfroming, I might get sloppy, that’s why I then artificially start myself to get nervous through routines I discovered work for me best. But by now I start to bore everyone with that, so I stop here
How/what do you feel when you are dancing ?
- Billy Elliot says: “Don’t know. Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going… then I like, forget everything. And… sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I’ve got this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ ike a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity.”
Uhm…I know for everyone it’s different, but to me this quote sounds kinda kitschy and funny (sorry if I insulted somebody with that).
I don’t feel any elictricity. Nor Fire. Sorry if this sounds now very unspectacular, but I just try to completely focus on giving a good performance. I try to remember the mistakes I made before and to do the corrections I heard from my teachers. The only thing I ‘get’ from time to time is that I feel the audience. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like the audience becomes one ‘thing’, a creature which follows me and which I can control. I don’t see it, nor can I touch it. It’s one abstract whole, surveiling me.
——————-
Ok actually it’s really time I’m getting some sleep. I’m leaving for London to rehearse with my partner Roberta Marquez tomorrow, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London, for our gala performance in New York in February. I ‘ll be staying only two days, so there is not much time.
Anyway good night to everybody and hope to hear from you.
PS: Thanks to Mi-Gyeong Song for the questions. If you out there have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them.
Sue Siers says:
I have really enjoyed reading your answers and viewing your video clips. Your English is brilliant! Please will you tell us if the New York Gala is being televised and If so which channel we will be able to watch it on?
January 19th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
the writter says:
that’s what i call electricity!!^^
(about the video)
about the insomnia,
you need to organise some things in your life to combat her.
you need to do a shedule with the time that you wake up and you go to bed (an adult with 20 years needs 8 hours and 30 minutes do sleep, in a night, but that depends of your organism).
You need to eat the dinner, 4 hours before to sleep. 15 minutes before to sleep you eat a fruit, than you do some exercises of the respiration. 15 minutes after that, you go to sleep^^ (some people thinks that theese exercises are not important and they don’t do any difference in our body, but it’s not true.)
It’s important that at 23:00p.m. You must be sleeping, cause the liver start to recieve and to trasforme all of the nutrients and chemists that we ingested in that day (that process start at 23:oo p.m and ends at 02:00 a.m). if in that time you’ll not be sleeping, the process will not work well.
well, theese are a little of the things that my doctor sayd to do when i had insomnia. don’t forget the healthly food and to drink 3L of watter in a day. theese things could help you but sometimes not combat the insomnia at all. that’s because the reasons to can’t sleep are particular problems, like love, family, work, and very much stress. try to don’t be so nervous (if you are). If you want to resolve your problems, you need to be calm, and to think well. don’t think in them at the night, cause if you will do it, you’ll can’t sleep. when you’re in bed, don’t think in bad things. just think about what you’ll dream in that night, and try to imagine that. in the next day you’ll not remember when you falled asleep.
Theese was the things that i did in last summer to combat the imsonia, and it resulted. Not at all, but it helped me much. even now i continue to combat the insomnia, and i will never stop.
To combat the insomnia it’s not something about days. it’s much time.
I hope that my adives could help you.
And i’m sorry for my bad english!
Wishing you a wonderful
Weekend!
Take care =)
January 19th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Mi-Gyeong says:
Dear Daniil,
What an excellent post !
I read them all very gladly of your honestly and clear answers.
The ‘feeling’ is very different each persons so if you feels like it, and it is. Some feels can’t describe a words. You made a very nice spaces on the web and it shows how you care for about your career and enjoy doing.
“The only thing I ‘get’ from time to time is that I feel the audience. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like the audience becomes one ‘thing’, a creature which follows me and which I can control. I don’t see it, nor can I touch it. It’s one abstract whole, surveiling me.”
It’s very impressive ! As an audience, I also feels we are the one ‘thing’ when cheers and applause to onstage. And It’s very glad to know that I was the one of ‘the audience’ :D.
By the way, on the top video clip, it’s pretty much how I felt saw you on the stage
haha
Wish you have a good rehearsal with beautiful dancer Roberta Marquez !!
Many thanks
Mi-Gyeong
January 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Angelina says:
I have brother and he danceing ballet and he is 15 years old and he love it very much and trying to be like u .so if u can tell me pliz what should he do ? Pliz iam really wanna help him but i dont know how so help me to help him angelina love
January 19th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Olivia says:
my mom is my psychotherapist too
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:38 am
Amrita says:
Hey Daniil!
Hope everything’s going well with u! enjoy london! well, you might not feel electricity when you dance but you certainly make your public feel it!!! so…here comes some material to feed your insomnia.(-; 1)what would you say makes you love dance/what makes it special for you? 2)If you’ve ever felt discouraged about your career, how do you pick yourself up and keep going? 3)how did you come to chose ballet as a carrer in the first place?did it just happen naturally? 4)Didn’t know u also painted… interesting! do u see it as a way of expressing yourself in a different way?how do you feel about manual art? 5)sophisticated books hm? what are ur favourites? so…at least your insomnia might be fruitful. haha!(-: Talking of which,i know how maddening it is to be submerged by all kinds of damn advise, but it really does help to fall asleep to focus on something steady like your brething or a road you walk everyday.or the multiplication table if you know it well/most boring highschool class u’ve ever survived.lol. that will REALLY make u want to fall asleep atleast!so…take care and happy dancing!
January 26th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Nini says:
I saw your clips in Youtube just few weeks ago. They were very…hmm I cannot pick up proper word, anyway very interesting and I think elegant. So I visit here and look around your posts:)
well, you said you like complicated and sophisticated books. What kind of?
Is there something special categories or genre?
I heard that you had visited Korea, Seoul.(I am living in Seoul) Oh. God..If I were there! haha
Anyway, Hope your good rehearse. Take care:)
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:20 am
Justine says:
just wanted to say what a great site and your such great dancer. But what i found interesting was how do you keep youself so modest. I used to be a dancer before i decieded to go to university this year but i know some people in my class would gain a sense of arrogance as soon as they were chosen to dance with the company attached to our school. Thats when you can somtimes see a different side to some people and realize who they really are. I was just wondering if its what you learned when your were little or just came by naturally.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
windows debtfree says:
debtfree states for debtfree
February 16th, 2008 at 6:54 am
andismile says:
hey.. wie wars in NY?? gibts da irgendwelche Videos?
Warum hast du denn heute nicht den Invisible Man getanzt… das kannst nur du so wie es sein muss!
lg
February 18th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Susan Yeh says:
Dear Daniil,
What you feel when you dance is no surprise. It wouldn’t be possible to do what you do without intense focus and concentration on countless details and put it all together at just the right moment. And maybe what you “get” from the audience is due to the fact that they love you and your performance so much. And what you feel as control over them comes across as that magic and aparkle you exude which enables you to elicit such response from them.
As for Billy Elliott, if he were a real person, perhaps he would feel some kind of “fire and electricity” since that was all he had to keep his passion for dance going. Before he had access to dance training, he didn’t have much to think about so he only danced how he felt.
On behalf of dance fans everywhere, thank you so much for giving us something to be excited about.
Good luck trying to sleep.
Susan Yeh
San Francisco, CA, USA
February 20th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Stéphanie says:
dear Daniil,
when do you come in France?? I hope I will see you one day in the Palais Garnier or Opéra Bastille ! I really really love your dance, you’re such a genious when you’re dancing on Les BOurgeois, it’s a pleasure for eyes!!
thanks for dancing like this…
Stéphanie, from Paris, France
March 20th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Katerina says:
Dear Daniil,
What languages do you speak? Mother tongue? Language spoken in family?
Thank you
March 29th, 2008 at 12:48 am
tingyu_tasi says:
hello!my super idol daniil simkin?
my question is……
Have you ever hurt on dacing way?
And how to overcome of it?
March 30th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
tingyu_tasi says:
hello~my super idol ?daniil simkin ^ ^
my question is……
Have you ever gotten hurt and couldn’t dancing for a while?
And how to overcome of it?
March 30th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
tingyu_tsai says:
Are you excited to go to Taiwan in June?(INTERNATIONAL BALLET STAR GALA)
Audience are already excited now^^
March 31st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Ting-Yu Tsai says:
What kind of training to improving ballet ?
May 21st, 2008 at 3:29 pm
demie zhu cao says:
if your nervous, then how do you look so light and easy-going? when i get nervous, i stiffen and i look weird when i do my port a bras.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:44 am
diana says:
Hi i would really like to know what is your native language? You’re english is impecable … but since you were born in a former soviet region it’s a bit peculiar to read what you wrote and not be surprised by the way you handle english ..it is remarcable. And by the way if you will ever read this message i would like to wish you goodluck and i trully hope that you will never give up on the beautiful work you do … Bbye
August 12th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Zellynne VanTriceDiaNora says:
What is it you read, if i may ask?
August 30th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Evgenya says:
As i know,your perents are from Russia,do you know russian?
October 24th, 2008 at 9:22 pm