The brutal truth: too old to dance at 41

THERE was a buzz around the Royal Ballet's performance at the Opera House, Covent Garden, last 16 May. It was not just the standing- room-only status in the auditorium - the usual capacity for an Irek Mukhamedov performance. Nor was it the choice of ballet. Giselle is a perennial favourite with the punters, with its romantic tale of lost love, death and redemption, especially with Mukhamedov partnering the enchanting Miyako Yoshida in the title role.

The question on everyone's mind was not will the girl get her man, but will Mukhamedov, hailed as the new Nureyev, get a new Royal Ballet contract?

The answer to both questions turned out to be no. Giselle sank back into her grave ready to rise again, as always. Mukhamedov, after 11 years with the company, packed his bags and exited, stage left.

But as the Royal Ballet puts the finishing touches to its new Covent Garden season starting in October, sans Mukhamedov, the former Bolshoi Ballet star has announced an opening night of his own. On Sunday 30 September at the London Coliseum, the dancer will star in, choreograph and direct A Celebration of Ballet With Irek Mukhamedov, a one-off, fundraising gala in aid of children's charity Kids.

"First of all," he says, "I want to say my personal thank you to all my fans in London who have done so much for me. And," he adds, "it's a deliberate career move. I want to prove to my audience that I'm more than just a dancer and that I haven't stopped as an artist, but am moving forward in a different way."

Not only will Mukhamedov recreate during the evening some of his most famous partnerships with ballerinas such as former Royal Ballet principal Viviana Durante and the Kirov Ballet's divine Altynai Asylmuratova, but will also reveal his new-found role as a choreographer.

On the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday preceding his gala, Act III of Mukhamedov's rechoreographed Swan Lake will be performed by the Polish National Ballet, the company for which it was created, during Anastasia Volochkova's season at Sadler's Wells Theatre. And during the Coliseum performance, he will also appear in an excerpt from one of his current developing choreographic projects, Valentino, based on the life of the silent-screen heartthrob.

"The brutal fact is," he says, "I won't be dancing much longer. At 41 years of age, something has to give.

In my head I was prepared for the Royal Ballet not renewing my contract, but my heart did not like it.

Maybe they did me a favour by saying no. Suddenly my brain went into overdrive and out came Swan Lake and Valentino and many other ideas all at once. It is uncomfortable but the decision has given me an energy when I least expected it."

Considering the company's history of insulting dismissals of luminaries such Moira Shearer and Rudolf Nureyev, it is moot to ask whether Mukhamedov was honourably retired or summarily sacked.

"You know, my 11 years at the Royal Ballet were most significant to me as a dancer," he reflects after a long silence, "mostly because I met the incredible Ken MacMillan."

On Mukhamedov's arrival in Britain in 1990, the late choreographer Kenneth MacMillan introduced the macho man from the Bolshoi Ballet to the elegance and precision of the English repertoire in which Mukhamedov scored such resounding successes.

"Ken managed to keep all that I had gained at the Bolshoi and brought something new - the romanticism and classicism."

MUKHAMEDOV was never considered a classical dancer in Russia. "Sometimes they would give me a Swan Lake in a Wednesday matine in Uzbekistan," he remembers. "When we rehearsed," he goes on, "Ken didn't see me just as a body, he used my brain and left 90 per cent of the role to create myself.

This is how I try to work with dancers now. I will always be grateful to the many people who helped me at the Royal Ballet. The company gave me the opportunity to develop a major part of my career and for that I will always be grateful."

Mukhamedov talks as he rests on his wisteria-shaded patio, part of the elegant garden of his rambling 1930s family home in stockbroker- belt Hertfordshire. His wife, former Bolshoi soloist Masha, looks after children Sasha, 11, and Max, five.

"Masha was eight months pregnant when we arrived in London in 1990," he remembers. "Where the new baby was to be born was an important consideration when we left Russia. Children are very important to us so I want the gala to raise a lot of money for the Kids charity as well as celebrating the art form I love."

And even for a 41-year-old dancer, Mukhamedov's life looks very good in his patch of rural Britain. Was this affluence also part of his Russian dream?

"The word freedom really means something," he points out. "We are free to come and go when we please." The family was nationalised in 1996. "We vote, we pay VAT and community tax. Sitting here it is very obvious we made the right decision 11 years ago."

Mukhamedov once famously made the offer to drive a minicab if ever his family was financially threatened.

"You never know," he says with a shrug. "My brain may be spinning with choreography but I'm ready for cabbie work as well. As a man, I'm responsible for my family and will do anything to keep them alive, so I'll be fine as a cabbie. All I can say is I enjoy doing choreography more than driving a cab."

A Celebration of Ballet With Irek Mukhamedov in aid of Kids, Sunday 30 September, the London Coliseum. Box office: 020 7632 8300.

Copyright 2001
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