Natalia Matsak (, born 17 March 1982) is a Ukrainian ballet dancer, prima ballerina (since 2005) in the National Opera House of Ukraine, and an Honored Artist of Ukraine (since 2008).
Biography
Early life and education
Matsak started taking dance classes when she was 4 years old.
After dancing with the children's dance company
Dudarik she went on to study ballet. From 1992 to 2000 Matsak studied at the Kyiv State Ballet School.
Her first significant performance on the stage of the National Opera House of Ukraine took place during her senior year. Along with her groupmate Andrey Gura she made a performance of pas de deux from
Don Quixote (to the music of
Ludwig Minkus).
Getting started in the National Opera House of Ukraine
After graduating from the Kyiv State Ballet School, Matsak joined the ballet company of the National Opera House of Ukraine. At the same time the leadership of the ballet company was taken over by the
principal dancer, People's Artist of Ukraine Victor Yaremenko, who was interested in working with young artists, who were open to new ideas and plot concepts.
The 18-year-old ballerina's professional debut was a
pas de trois in the Kingdom of the Shades in
La Bayadère (to the music of Minkus) and the premiere of
Viennese Waltz on the stage of the National Opera House of Ukraine in 2001 (to the music of
Johann Strauss, musical composition of A. Baklan, ballet master Aniko Rekhviashvili).
Principal dancer of the National Opera House of Ukraine
In 2001 Matsak a received the new official title —
principal dancer of the National Opera House of Ukraine. This gave her access to the parts in the ballet of academic heritage such as
Le Corsaire (A. Adam),
Don Quixote (
Ludwig Minkus),
Swan Lake,
Sleeping Beauty (P. Tchaikovsky),
Raymonda (A. Glazunov) and others.
In 2004 Matsak took part in the Fifth Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kyiv, receiving the Diploma of Laureate (2nd place). Within the competition she performed pas de deux from the classical repertoire ( Swan Lake, Le Corsaire), and a modern dance called Dream Dance with Maksim Motkov (to the music of Kitaro-Chernenko, ballet master Aniko Rekhviashvili).
In 2005 she won 3rd place in the Tenth Moscow International Ballet Competition and Contest of Choreographers. Among many of her performances, there was a variation of Odette from Swan Lake, a variation of Kitri from the 1st act of Don Quixote, a variation of Gamzatti from La Bayadere, a modern dance Say it Quieter, If You Can (ballet master Yevgeniy Chernov) and others. Matask's performance was recognised by Olga Lepeshinskaya, Yury Grigorovich, Mikhail Lavrovskiy, Natalia Bessmertnova, Natalia Makarova and others. This recognition led to the title in her home theater of prima ballerina of the National Opera House of Ukraine.
In 2006 Matsak won first place (Gold medal in the senior group) in the Sixth Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kyiv. Of special interest to the audience and the award panel was the performance called "The Way", (to the music of J. Massenet, ballet master Dmitriy Klyavin).
National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus
From 2006 to 2008 Matsak was performing on the stage of the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus in Minsk, where she had been invited by the artistic director of the theater Valentin Elizariev. Her performances included
Swan Lake (2006), Gala concert dedicated to Elizariev's 60th anniversary (2007), and
Don Quixote (2008).
National Theater of Japan
In January 2009 "An Evening with Igor Kolb" the
principal dancer of the Mariinsky Theater took place in Tokyo. For this event Matsak performed ''Grand Pas Classique (to the music of
Daniel Auber, choreography by V. Gzovskiy) in duet with Mikhail Kaniskin, the soloist of the ballet company of the Berlin State Opera.
Mikhailovsky Theater in Saint Petersburg
In April 2009 the Ukrainian ballerina performed on the stage of Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where she played the part of Medora in the version of
Le Corsaire (A. Adam) revised by
Farukh Ruzimatov. At the same time she took part in the concert dedicated to the achievements of Yelena Scheglova, the Honored Artist of Russia and People's Artist of Tatarstan (Kazan, M. Dzhalil Tatar Academic State Opera and Ballet Theater).
Cooperation with Boris Eifman
In August 2010 the first-night of
Boris Eifman I am Don Quixote (to the music of
Ludwig Minkus) took place on the stage of Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. This was followed by 18 months of touring with the Eifman ballet across Europe and the US.
Dortmund Opera House
In 2011 in Dortmund Matsak worked with Raimondo Rebeck, a German ballet master (modern dance) and a graduate of the Berlin Ballet School. As a part of the ballet concert along with the ballet company of the Dortmund Opera House, she prepared a duet dance called
Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow (to the music of Max Richter
On the nature of the daylight) with Howard Lopez.
Tours
During 2007-2011 Matsak was a regular guest at the International Festival of Classical Ballet named after
Rudolf Nureyev in Kazan (ХХ-XXIV). The parts performed by her at the festival were Odette-Odile from
Swan Lake, Medora from
Le Corsaire, the Queen of the Dryads from
Don Quixote, Gamzatti and Nikiya from
La Bayadère, the Lilac Fairy from
Sleeping Beauty. At the same time the ballerina constantly toured with the ballet companies of the National Opera House of Ukraine and other international theaters, performing on stages in Italy, Spain,
Portugal, United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and
Korea.
Honored Artist of Ukraine
Matsak's work was closely intertwined with performances on the stage of the National Opera House of Ukraine. Since 2008 Matsak she has been awarded with the title
Honored Artist of Ukraine according to a Decree of the President of Ukraine
Victor Yushenko. In April 2010 there was
An Evening with Natalia Matsak which was dedicated to the first 10 years of her ballet career. The performances chosen to be staged were
Carmen Suite (to the music of
Georges Bizet and
Rodion Shchedrin, ballet master A. Alonso) and
Scheherazade (to the music of N. Rimsky-Korsakov, choreography by M. Fokine, revised by V. Yaremenko).
In winter 2014 Matsak took part in the project "Irina Kolesnikova invites...", held in the Palais des congrès de Paris, where she performed as Nikiya in "La Bayadere" and Odile-Odette in "
Swan Lake" with
Vadim Muntagirov,
principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.
In summer 2015 an "Irina Kolesnikova season" took place in the
London Coliseum, where she performed as Odile-Odette in "
Swan Lake" with Kimin Kim, principal dancer with the Mariinsky Theater, and as Gamzatti in "La Bayadere" with Denis Rodkin,
principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Company.
In December 2015 within the tour
Ave Maya! in memory of
Maya Plisetskaya she performed on the stages of
Dnipropetrovsk,
Kyiv,
Odesa and Chisinau (
Moldova).
2016 started with performances in "
Swan Lake" and "
The Nutcracker" in
Amsterdam (the
Netherlands) and
Belgrade (
Serbia), and also in "Don Quixote" in
Riga (
Latvia).
Cooperation with Denys Nedak
Matsak has performed in duet with Honored Artist of Ukraine, leading soloist of the National Opera House of Ukraine,
Denys Nedak. One of their first performance took place in April 2008 within the Ninth
Serge Lifar de la Danse International Festival, where they presented
adagio from the ballet
Suite in White (to the music of E. Lalo, ballet master S. Lifar). In 2012 both artists received the exclusive right to perform a choreographic passage from
Boris Eifman's "Red Giselle" ballet, describing the tragic fate of a famous Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtseva (to the music of Tchaikovsky,
Alfred Schnittke, and
Georges Bizet). The duet of Matsak and Denys took part in the Fifteenth (June 2009) and Eighteenth (June 2012) International Festivals of Classical Ballet named after Rudolf Nureyev in Ufa. Along with other leading soloists from all over the world, Nedak and Matsak participated in a tour called
World Ballet Stars which included over 20 Russian cities (Ruslan Nurtdinov's project, November 2012).
Repertoire
-
Sleeping Beauty — Princess Aurora
-
Swan Lake — Odette, Odile
-
La Bayadère — Nikiya (the version of M.Petipa and N. Makarova)
-
The Nutcracker — Masha
-
La Sylphide — Sylphide
-
Giselle — Giselle
-
Raymonda — Raymonda
-
Don Quixote — Kitri(the version of M.Petipa and B. Eifman)
-
Le Corsaire — Medora
-
Spartacus — Aegina
-
Scheherazade — Scheherazade
-
Carmen Suite — Carmen
-
Viennese Waltz — Karla
Other works
-
Legend Of Love — Mehmene Banu
-
Laurencia — Laurencia (the version of V.Chabukiani, edited by M. Messerer)
-
Red Giselle (duet) B. Eifman
-
Grand Pas Classique (Ober)
-
Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow "Heute ist das Gestern von morgen" - Choreographie: Raimondo Rebeck
Awards
-
2004 — The Diploma of Laureate in the Fifth Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kyiv, receiving (2nd place)
-
2005 — 3rd place in the Tenth Moscow International Ballet Competition and Contest of Choreographers
-
2006 — 1st place (Gold medal in the senior group) in the Sixth Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kyiv
-
2008 — Honored Artist of Ukraine
External links
