Let me begin with a memory. It is rooted not too far back, in 2008. Mothers of over a hundred young children –– mostly girls –– are anxiously filling up a cramped first floor corner and the staircase of New Delhi’s Russian Centre for Science and Culture (RCSC). Their children, including my daughter, are inside a hall that comprises the Centre’s highly popular School of Russian Classical Ballet along with two other small changing rooms.
After a month of observation, today is the day 25 names would qualify for the school’s new session. The selector is a keen eyed director of the School, Galina Lyakhova. An exponent of Classical Ballet, Galina, associated with the School since 2000 –– and often credited for giving it a professional shape leading to its coveted status –– is keen on two criteria: the child should be flexible and able to coordinate body movements and as he/she learns, should be serious about the dance form to even take it up professionally.
Finally the door opens and the lucky 25 are lined up. The joy of seeing my daughter in the line gets diluted with the disappointment of so many young children and their parents. “She will not be able to do well in ballet, find out what she is good at,” I hear Galina telling those parents in a heavily Russian accent.
Two years later, when my daughter left the School, I thought of that day and how lucky I felt.
But come this August, come the new session of the school, it is most likely that there won’t be over a hundred parents waiting anxiously for the final selection. There will certainly be no Galina Lyakhova with her keen eyes and a serious face, telling parents, “She can’t.”
On April 30, Galina’s agreement with the Centre is expiring and its director Fedor Rozovskiy says it will not be renewed. “We are closing down the School for two months for renovation and the new session will start in August. When it does, we will not have as many children, will have a new teacher from Moscow who will also teach Russian folk dances,” he says in a telephonic chat. The director feels the Centre is “not the place for a professional school but one that teaches ballet for fun,” something he plans to do now. “This is also for security reasons,” he adds.
Galina is certainly unhappy at the turn of things, wonders about the uncertainty faced by the 150 students that the school has, even calls it “unjust and anti-arts”. She also claims she has been harassed for some time to leave the place. “It is mostly in keeping with commerce in mind. The Centre can earn more money by renting out the place for conferences, banquets and birthday parties which it is increasingly doing. I am told a couple of times that what I give it from running the school in a month can be got in a day or two by renting out the place. When I insisted that the Centre should allow me to continue the school as it is, I was asked to take it on rent.”
Rozovskiy is quick to respond, saying the Centre pays the school’s electricity bill while “she only shares half of what she gets from the fees”, hinting that the parting is not friendly. He says he would rather focus on the other things being organised by the Centre. “The ballet school is a small part of the Centre. It has been running since 1982, so we will not close it but will certainly narrow down the number of students to about 70 from the coming session. Even our language classes are so popular. Why are you not asking me about it? From just 45 students, we now have 700 learning Russian. We are working with a lot of Delhi schools on that. Propagating Russian language is our main aim.”
He is keen on “hosting youth innovation programmes, Russian mathematics, quiz competitions, etc.” in keeping with the changing times. “You know Russia has changed, we want more such events, programmes on economic forums, etc.,” he adds. Narrowing down the scope of the school, he states, “will affect only a 100 wealthy South Delhi families.”
Not everyone seems to fit this category though. Afreen, a ballet student at the school for eight years, comes from the Delhi University area. Her father is retired, mother is a college lecturer. While applying in DU after her Class XII last year, she also submitted a CD on her ballet skills. “This is a skill I have put in several years into. I want to continue it to take it up professionally. I don’t know what will happen now,” she says. Yet another example is Indirapuram-based Sasha, also a DU student who has been attending the School since age seven and now assists Galina in teaching beginners. “Galina has truly been my inspiration and motivation to take up ballet professionally. I bagged a Gati Residency because of ballet, also plan to open my own studio. Her going will be a big loss to the school,” she says.
Sometime ago, fearing closing of the School, many parents sent a memorandum even to the Russian Ambassador seeking his intervention. “I think the decision to renovate and reopen it albeit in a small way is because of our continuous request to RCSC,” says a parent who doesn’t want to be named.
This is some respite for the students certainly, may be a new beginning too, but as always, beginnings bring with it an end. In this case, a sad end.
