Does Armenia need classical ballet art at all? - Chief ballet master on Opera House's future

With the post of the Yerevan Opera House's director remaining vacant amid developing scandals around the theatre, Tert.am has talked to the chief ballet master, merited artist of Armenia Rudolph Kharatyan, for comments on his expectations of the theatre's future and the petition which several dancers recently launched against him.

Mr Kharatyan, we hear you haven’t gone to work for several days. What is the reason or what are you waiting for?

I have to wait for two days, as we are going to have a new director. I will then give names to say who how behaved or did what. But for me, that isn’t the important thing today; what matters is whether or not we need classical ballet here in Armenia. As you saw yourselves, the Russians represented the Olympic Games with ballet, demonstrating that they are a powerful state. And the Armenians too, have that potential; so failing to use it is simply a crime. There was no folklore or balalaika. It is simply necessary to clearly tell people what work and ‘discipline’ mean.

Is it possible that petition was launched just because there is someone aspiring for the chief ballet-master’s post?

There is nobody at all. I was asked to come from there [Washington] where I had success. But I left it all, realizing that Armenia needs me. And Armenia has the potential to develop, because ballet doesn’t need either translation or anything else. What very much troubled me was that we weren’t able to demonstrate our talent and become accomplished on our soil. So that forced me to come. We have had considerable success in the past four years, but that’s in the comparison with ourselves. We haven’t yet reached international standards. And I am very strict, because we are going to lose time, and time is very precious.

Might your strictness be the reason behind the discontent, pushing certain people to launch a petition against you?

Of course, being strict is always a reason, because people are lazy in nature; they do not want to work. If you let them loose, they won’t work, of course, but if you make them … Do you know what I speak of? If a coach doesn’t go to work for ten, fifteen or even twenty days, he won’t be able to jump or lift weight. This is a competition, so we must be able to win ourselves to be able think highly of our values and demonstrate our riches on the international market.