One month it is gone since I was in New York and only now I kinda feel like writing something about it. This tells you a lot of things happened to me since then which I am not yet willing to share, but definately will, when the times comes right.
New York
(All of the following pictures are from the courtesy of Mr. Gene Schiavone)
To sum it up, everything went pretty well and accordingly to the critics pretty successful.
“Even in distinguished company, certain artists seem to rise to the surface. This time it was Vienna Opera Ballet’s Daniil Simkin, a compact dancer of amazing agility and range. In his first solo, Moorhuhn, to messed-about Mussorgsky – parts of Pictures at an Exhibition mixed with sounds of clucking chickens, tweeting birds, etc – Simkin gave quirky choreography an impish twist and acrobatic prowess. His comedic versatility looked even better in Les Bourgeois to Jacques Brel in a solo epitomising a cheeky garçon at large in Paris.
It was not until Simkin partnered the Royal Ballet’s Roberta Marquez in the obligatory gala pas de deux from Don Quixote that his classical line, soaring elevation and attentive partnering came through. He was nicely matched with Marquez, a piquant whiz of a technician, and they gave this occasion an appropriately high-spirited finale.”
“…We saw 13 dancers in 13 pieces plus a stage-crossing finale. The occasion’s discovery was Daniil Simkin, a 20 year old currently in the Ballet of the Vienna Staatsoper and Vienna Volksoper but the product of Soviet training via his parents, Dmitrij Simkin and Olga Aleksandrova.
Looking boyish still, Simkin’s bravura stems from an airy technique and a light-boned, smooth-muscled physique. With Puckish charm he carried off two overly cute solos, his father’s “Moore Hen” which calls for him to lay an egg (supposedly to Mussorgsky music) and Ben Van Cauwenbergh’s “Les Bourgeois” in which he swaggers and smokes accompanied by a Jacques Brel song. What really put Simkin over was the “Don Quixote” pas de deux with Roberta Marquez. He had the clean classical elegance and full range of standard steps for this “Petipa” showpiece plus the ample strength to add extra turns on the ground and twists in the air. Simkin lifted Marquez high and partnered her attentively…”
“…Next year, let’s have several new talents like Simkin this year! ”
“And a “Don Quixote” pas de deux, danced by Roberta Marquez of the British Royal Ballet and Daniil Simkin of the Vienna Opera Ballet. But Mr. Simkin was oddly subdued. Only in the finale did he and Mr. Matvienko tear up the night in feats of fast, stage-crossing, bravura dancing. ”
(You cannot please all, or can you ;)?)
“Newcomer Daniil Simkin of the Vienna Opera Ballet also made three appearances Monday night. Mr. Simkin exemplifies the current vogue for very young dancers who look even younger. To some extent it’s a perennial vogue, and ballet perpetually capitalizes on the thrills of the prodigy. According to the program, Mr. Simkin was born in 1987, but he’s very childlike: small, slight, and cute in an urchin-like fashion. He performed a solo in each half of the program. One was created by his father, Dmitrij Simkin, and one was by Ben Van Cauwenbergh. Both blended acrobatic ballet stunts with actual acrobatics, and left no doubt about his hypertechnical and hyper-flexible capacities. He closed the program by partnering the Royal Ballet’s Roberta Marquez in the “Don Quixote” pas de deux, which had been the final number on last year’s program as well.”
” The irrepressible Daniil Simkin (above), who performed two humorous solos in addition to closing the evening in the Don Quixote pas de deux, was a favorite of the audience, which liked the quirky solos and applauded his high leaps and multiple turns in the pas de deux.”
“…and one of the evening’s favorites Daniil Simkin, Vienna Opera Ballet.
A winner of the several ballet competitions including Varna in 2004, D. Simkin won the audience over as much with his personality as with his craft. In the twitch and tangy “Moorhuhn” by Dmitrij Simkin, D. Simkin moved with the fluency of Tharp dancer—boneless and razor sharp and once again in “Les Bourgeois” by Ben Van Cauwenbergh, Simkin proved a beguiling guide through the music of Jacques Brel…”
” Stealing the show, undoubtedly, was Daniil Simkin, a dancer with the Vienna Opera Ballet. Daniil took the stage three times last night–twice in solos and once in a Don Quixote Pas de Deux with Roberta Marquez of the Royal Ballet. Daniil’s charismatic stage presence almost overshadowed his bounding leaps and perfectly solid turns. You never worried that Daniil might miss a beat or lose his spot. He was flawless the entire evening and each time he took the stage he was welcomed with resounding yells of “bravo!” from the audience.”
Well what else can I say…not much for the moment actually. There is a gala coming up in St. Petersburg, Russia. Actually it’s my first gala in Russia and it was funny to obtain a russian visa at the embassy (since I am a German citizen).
As you saw I added a facebook button at my networks. You can add me if you want.
In the next days and weeks I am going to try to set up the calendar/schedule on the right side of this page so you can see my following performances. and maybe recode some of my videos. Beside this I’ll have a photoshoot soon and it may be you will see some photos of that soon on this site…a lot to do.
But as I said I have some news concerning my future, but in the moment I am unable to make them official. Please be patient and understandable.
Wrote that really some time ago. Sorry to post it only now
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Hi again.
I’m sorry I did not get back to blog some days (actually more than 2 weeks :-/ ). I had a busy time back there. Well I’m sitting right now in the plane to Amsterdam (the connection flight to New York) and write this thingy here to later post it on my blog.
London Well I was in London for two days to rehearse and unsurprisingly it rained like always. Whenever I am there it somehow happens to rain, no matter what time of the year or how long I stay. It just rains buckets. The rehearsals with my partner Roberta Marquez from the Royal Ballet went well and I had a nice time over there walking around in Covent Garden and meet some old friends. I was there already before. What comes to my mind now is a clip I found back last year in YouTube. It’s funny actually. Please watch that clip here and focus on Second 00:36…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsGHSg81wbk (unfortunately the embedding is disabled)
Furthermore here are some pictures I made with my phone (I apologize for the quality).
Covent Garden:
View from the Royal Ballet area:
(By now I was interrupted by the stop in Amsterdam. Now I am writing from the flight to New York.)
Vienna Opernball Well immediately after that took place Vienna’s Opernball. I actually don’t know how popular this is apart from the German speaking countries, but here it is definitely a big thing. (Really excessively) dressed up people come together and celebrate, dance and have fun. Even the theatre itself gets dressed up for the occasion. The tickets have a hefty price tag, but luckily I got to go for free since I was dancing a small variation choreographed by Giorgio Madia. All in all it was a nice and special experience, which I will not forget.
New York Preparations
Well, my program in New York is not an easy one. I am going to dance Les Bourgeois, Moorhuhn and the Don Quixotte Pas De Deux with Roberta. First of all the worst thing is that DonQ (that is the acronym for Don Quixotte) will be in the very end and it is definitely the piece which I need the most energy for. It always has been and will be, so I just have to deal with it, I guess. The problem is the constant warming-up-dance-getting-cold cycle, which really drains on your powers, especially when you are dancing three times. In this case the normal routines you are used to do not apply fully and you really have to plan things and your energy out in between the performances and in the breaks. I will try my best as always but unfortunately you never know with what surprise life comes up for you. I like things to be pinpoint precise and planned out in advance, but you never know If you have watched, please know I tried to do my best
Well. They are giving out ice-cream inflight now (even though unfortunately it is no Ben Jerry’s or Häagen Dazs, but now any icecream will do it actually ^_^) and the flight is about to land soon, so I’ll finish that here and post it later in my hotel.
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.
Oh, and if achieved my goal and danced well that’s is pretty much how I feel afterwards:
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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.
If you have watched, please know I tried to do my best 
