Sergei Polunin (27 years old) is today a world superstar. At the age of 19 he became the premier of the Royal Ballet in London, but left this famous scene in less than three years. Despite the fact that Polunin limited his performances to the public to a minimum, he still races over the stage with such ease that the audience grows numb with delight. He deserved a lot of nicknames: Bad guy, James Dean of the ballet, Embodiment of the jump beyond the edge. Recently, he begins to embody one more of his dreams – to become an actor. Recently, the shooting of the film “Murder in the Orient Express” was directed by Kenneth Bran, where Polunin played along with Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Penelope Cruz.

The general public noticed Polunin at the end of 2014 in a video for the song of the Irish singer Hosier Take Me To Church, shot by photographer David Lachapelle.Stunning jumps and pirouettes of the then 24-year-old dancer, covered with tattoos and scars, today scored 20 million views on YouTube. Paradoxically, Polunin was also attracted by the Air Force channel, which co-produced the biographical documentary “Dancer”. At the end of May, the film will be shown in Czech cinemas.

Polunin was born in 1989 in the Ukrainian city of Kherson on the Black Sea coast in a Russian-speaking family. At the age of 13, he was accepted into a ballet studio at the Royal Academy in London, and almost immediately began talking about him as a future star. At the age of 19 he became the premier of the Royal Ballet, the youngest in its history. But less than three years later he left this scene, and the media began to write about his unbridled lifestyle full of parties, alcohol and cocaine. He himself admits that he often reinforces the strength of various substances before the speeches: “Then I do not feel pain, I get drunk, and often I do not even remember how the speech went,” says Polunin in artlessly in a documentary film shot in 2012-2016.Two months ago in the British capital the premiere of a large-scale performance Project Polunin was held, on which Sergei Polunin worked together with his girlfriend Natalia Osipova. The dancer appeared before the Prague public on May 1 at the National Theater in the Dancer Live program.

Reflex: You are from Ukraine, lived and worked in London for a long time, and then performed in Russia. You spend a lot of time in Los Angeles and just returned from a tour of Japan. Where do you feel at home?

Sergei Polunin: I often return to London, and despite the fact that this city I like and every time amazes me, I do not consider it my home. So, if you are asking about this, Ukraine is probably the closest thing to me.

– I ripped off the Russian coat of arms shortly before what happened, as if I had a premonition of what would happen. I put the Ukrainian coat of arms later. Anyway, I think that it’s time for these two countries to get closer again.

“It will probably take some time …”

– You’re right. I would like to help to establish contacts. In Russia I am familiar with influential people. In Novosibirsk, where I lived for a while, people of art, especially ballet, have the privilege: they meet people who usually do not intersect with each other. You talk with the head of the police, the head of the mafia, the head of the largest company – in general, with all who have power … In Ukraine, I especially do not have dating, so long … So I’m going there to return.

– On the Russian expansion, Czechs, we also left quite fresh memories. It has not even been a hundred years since the troops of the Warsaw Treaty countries occupied us under the Soviet leadership. Were you horrified when the war started in the east of Ukraine?
– I’m from the Russian-speaking part of the country, and there are absolutely the same people as those who live in Russia. In addition, I think that, for example, even between Russia and America there are no special differences. I am firmly convinced that we must cancel the borders. I’m tired of showing visas everywhere, and when I’m somewhere I do not care how it’s called: Europe, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine or the USA …

– You say that you do not feel at home in London, but you live there with your girlfriend – the soloist of the Royal Ballet Natalia Osipova. What do you think about Braxit?

“It’s not what I wanted again.” In general, everyone in my environment is unhappy with this.

– Could you compare the conditions created for the art of ballet in different parts of the world? In the documentary film Air Force “Dancer” you say that dancers in London can not afford to rent an apartment, and that they live four or five together in one apartment …

– When I danced in London, none of us could afford even a normal dinner. I plowed like a horse. I was a soloist, but I could not buy a car, not to mention extravagant things. The same thing begins in Russia. Previously, it was customary to give an apartment to those who are part of the troupe. However, they renounce unlimited contracts, and the contracts are prolonged for a year, including at the Bolshoi Theater and Stanislavsky Theater. It is not easy for a person to live in Russia. In the same way as the dancer of the Royal Ballet. In my time dancers there received a thousand pounds a month, and the first year as a soloist I was paid two and a half thousand.

“Was that the main reason for leaving the Royal Ballet?”

– Yes and no. Money did not interest me so much, I was young and did not need them especially. But it seemed strange to me that dancers are rarely seen on TV. I asked myself why they do not appear, for example, in advertising? I think that this is due to the ballet policy. We were constantly told that agents are bad people, that they will only suck money out of us. Today in the world of ballet, several directors of ballet scenes decide everything. And who else should protect our interests, if not our agents? If you can not be seen in the media, you do not earn enough money, then you can easily be manipulated. I think that dancers (not only considering the time spent on training) deserve the same recognition as, for example, actors, not to mention athletes. So it seems to me a long time ago, but the idea that I should change everything, came to me only after talking with David Lashapel. He asked me: “How is it possible that you do not have your own manager? For example, opera singers have their agents in different countries, then why should not they have the stars of dance? “So recently I created my own project …

– Do you mean Project Polunin?

– Yes. I even came into conflict with my own employees. They told me: “What are you doing? Why do you want to pay more for the dancers, although they usually get paid 300 pounds a week? “Yes, that’s the standard, but that’s why none of the star dancers even can afford to buy their own apartment even at the end of their career.

– The premiere of Project Polunin was held in London two months ago. You returned to the London ballet scene after five years. When you left, they wrote about you that you behave riotously, that you can not be relied on. How did they receive you now?

– I was personally helped by the video Take Me To Church. Before that, strange rumors were circulating about me.

– It is known that people of art can behave wildly, and promoters and the public are attracted.

“But this does not apply to the ballet world.” If you behave this way, then you go against the system. People who organize ballet events, that is directors of theaters, do what is beneficial to them, and not what is good for speakers. Two hours after I spoke with the director of the Royal Ballet, he made a statement that I was an unreliable dancer, and yet I did not even realize at the time that I was leaving … In addition, after many years in the UK, they canceled my visa, that to me, a foreigner not from the European Union, has created great problems. Suddenly I was in the country without a residence permit, although I lived there for almost ten years. I thought that I would go to New York, but there were afraid of fairy tales about me, so in the end I was delighted when I received an invitation from Russia. Recently in Japan they asked me about this again, saying: “You are a real professional.” This is a strange “half light.”

– In the final part of Project Polunin, you dance with Natalia Osipova in a composition called Narcissus and Echo. Is this about you?

“That’s what London criticism thought. Honestly, it was not even my idea. The play is based on the idea that different artists fulfill their own desires. As for the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus and Echo, this desire was fulfilled by Ilan Eshkery (a London composer who collaborated with David Gilmour, Annie Lennox and Amon Tobin, for example, is the author of music for David Attenborough’s documentary films, and now he is preparing a large-scale ballet project with Polunin and Lashapel – Ed. Ed.) . Eshkery has long wanted to write music on this topic. My project was born quite difficult, because I had to work together several “ego” together. Yes, do not laugh, to unite so many personalities so that together they work very well – this is probably the most difficult thing that I had to organize.

– Does David Lachapelle have a big “ego”?

“Perhaps you will not believe me, but he did not seem to me” egomaniac “, although everyone around him was terribly afraid. Our cooperation was born thanks to the manager Gabriel Tana and David Lachapelle’s assistant Milošu Garajde, who in 2014 on the opening day of David in London, it occurred to make a video together for the song Take Me To Church.
– The moment when at the London hotel Claridge’s Lachapelle offered you cooperation, you described it as follows: “I was completely at the bottom and lost. Then there was a dark streak in my life. I hated the ballet and knew that this would be my last dance. There was no doubt about that. “ And suddenly the world famous photographer invited you to take part in the Hawaiian island of Maui …

“He’s a great person, and working with him was incredibly easy.” He could listen well to the needs of the dancer. We still keep in touch. And we value each other’s opinion.

– Did Lachapelle become the man who opened the door to you in Los Angeles for Hollywood film producers?

– Rather, I was approached by the fact that he took a video for Take Me To Church with me. This video really helped me. At parties in Hollywood, it happened that I was approached by some famous director or actor and said: “I’m incredibly glad to see you, my wife told me about your video.” It was the same way in London, where I suddenly began to be taken again. Representatives of the Air Force wanted to participate in the already created film “Dancer”. In fact, it’s incredible: one such insignificant thing, like a four-minute clip, and all of a sudden there’s so much …

– Recently you starred in the movie with Johnny Depp. What is it like to change the ballet scene to the world of movie cameras?

– Movies are a wonderful environment. When I left the Royal Ballet, I asked myself a natural question: what next? I did not want to be just a dancer. Five years ago, Gabriela, the producer of the film Dancer, offered me to study at an acting school, but then I still did not want to completely abandon the dance career. And now, about six months ago, there was such a chance, literally from nowhere … I even acted in two American films at once. It’s hard to say which one is better. In the first, in the “Red Sparrow” with Jennifer Lawrence in the title role, I played a dancer. At the same time, I was approached by Kenneth Branagh with the proposal to star in the film “Murder in the Orient Express” (a new version of the many-time filmed detective Agatha Christie, with the release of the film scheduled for the fall of this year-Ed.) Along with Johnny Depp. I was a man who really wanted to be an actor but did not have any training.On the first day I came to the playground and already in the first scene that was filmed on the train opposite Willem Dafoe, and next to Derek Jacoby, Pfeiffer, and for me –Penelope Cruz, they did not know that this was the first real movie scene for me, such legends! Kenneth simply said: “We’ve started!” And I played without preparation, as if they were thrown into the water like a four-year old child and said: Swim! “Only then did I realize the huge difference between ballet and actor’s acting in the cinema, where every slightest movement means incredibly much.

– Probably the only famous dancer who achieved success on the screen is Mikhail Baryshnikov.

“But he was still a dancer.” I want, that someday I was considered not a dancer who plays, but a real actor … I already received the following excellent proposal. Acting makes me happy and helps to develop in ballet – I hope you will not be indignant, if I say so – to the industry.

– You say that acting makes you happy. And what makes you unhappy?

– When nothing happens. It’s horrible. When one day I have nothing to do, I’m depressed. I need to be constantly busy, fighting for something …