Andris Liepa: I would like to visit Baku very much

The well-known Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, theater director and producer, People's Artist of Russia Andris Liepa, in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza spoke about his future plans and the creative artists of the Caucasus he got to know during his career.

"We have good friendly relations with Nina Ananiashvili. We are preparing a premiere of 'The Firebird' in Tbilisi next season. "Opening a new theater, I hope that I will manage to make a performance of the 'Russian Seasons'. It is the most remarkable performance we have ever danced with Nina,'' he noted.

The actor admits that he visited Tbilisi in his early childhood. After that he began to dance with Nina on the stage of the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theatre. Andris Liepa expressed confidence that "despite all kinds of political problems, people loved the ballet, both in our country and in Georgia."

In addition, the dancer said that he liked Dagestan and he had friends there. "For example, Magomed Musayev is my friend, but I have no time to meet with him as I have a lot of work." "I like Dagestan very much" Liepa said.

The dancer expressed regret that he didn't manage to travel with the troupe to Azerbaijan this year. "Some financial problems appeared as national currencies began to fall. So it was very diffficult to travel there with the whole troupe, the orchestra and stage scenery. Despite this everything was ready, but the tour was cancelled at the very last moment," he explained.

According to Liepa, he would like to visit Baku, as he has heard so many good reviews about the capital of Azerbaijan. "I think that Baku is a very interesting city and I would like to travel there with some interesting projects. I was there 10 years ago, but people say that Baku has significantly changed for the better and now it competes with Astana. It has new interesting peculiarities. I was in Astana and I liked it," the dancer said.

According to Andris Liepa, the Chechen dancer Makhmud Esambaev is one of the greatest ballet dancers and popular representatives of folk dance for him. "He was my father's friend. Mahmoud always admired Maris, and Maris in his turn always admired Mahmoud. I think he is the greatest creative personality among other dancers," he said.

The dancer said that the ballet 'A Thousand and One Nights' is one of his favorites. "Andrey Borisovich Petrov staged it at the Kremlin Palace. And dancers from Baku recently visited Moscow to perform at the Festival of the Kremlin Ballet,'' he said. At the end of the conversation, the dancer said that his father was also a friend of the Azerbaijani and Russian artiste Tahir Salahov. "Unfortunately my father is gone, but I always admire the performances that I see," Andris Liepa said.