Confessions Of A Ballet Director

Founder of the famed St Petersburg Ballet Theatre KONSTANTIN TACHKIN tells us why he thinks Red Sparrow and Black Swan are “horrible” ballet movies, and what it’s like to be married to a glamorous prima ballerina.

- Yip Jieying

WHO ARE THEY? Konstantin Tachkin, 50, the Russian founding director of the renowned St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, which he started in 1994. A former elite soldier in the Soviet special forces’ parachute regiment, he married prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikova, 37, and the couple has a three-and-a-half year-old daughter named Vasilina Tachkina. The photogenic family is based in St Petersburg and is currently in town to stage the classic ballet Swan Lake, where Irina is playing the swan princess Odette.

8 DAYS: How did you go from being an elite soldier to an impresario?

KONSTANTIN TACHKIN: I enrolled in the military for compulsory training and got an offer to continue there, but I decided to return to [civilian] life. I was trying to find a job that I like, and [organising ballet shows] was a logical choice ’cos tourists in St Petersburg love Russian ballet. When they arrive in the city, they always ask, “Where’s the ballet?” I was never interested in ballet, but I saw a niche opening in the market and started selling tickets to tourists for ballet shows. I only first watched a ballet performance in 1993, and founded my company in 1994. It doesn’t matter the kind of job you were doing before; you could be selling ice-cream or whatever. But I learnt to [excel as the boss of a ballet company]. To me, it felt like I was doing a parachute jump in the military. When you form a company, the opportunities are huge, but you are responsible for your staff.

Most folks think going to the ballet is a chi-chi affair. Are there Ps and Qs to mind at a show?