Who is the father of the child Lyudmila Semenyaki. Brilliant career and broken heart

“Liepa is deceiving you,” a high-ranking official told me, who knew the actors of the Bolshoi Theater well. - "What do you! Andris can't! - I was indignant.

For the first time in many years, I felt loved, desired, and didn't want to listen to anything. In addition, a perspicacious official sought my favor. But I didn't give in. All my thoughts were only about the young romantic Andris. Before his appearance in the theater, I was not looking for novels. After a difficult divorce from my first husband - Mikhail Lavrovsky - for many years I did not have a happy relationship.

The pain did not let go, it sat deep inside ... Ballet helped - and then, and always.

My life in ballet began in the pavilion adjoining the Zhdanov Palace of Pioneers in Leningrad. In tsarist times, court horses were kept there, and in Soviet times, circles of children's creativity were placed. The first time I was in the palace, with bated breath I looked at the luxurious room, decorated with golden stucco and mirrors. Most of all I liked the dolls sewn by children's hands on display in the windows.

What would you like to do? the director turned to me.

I want to make these dolls!

Don't listen to her, my mother intervened, she dances from morning to night.

At the age of nine, it is too late to enter the choreographic circle. But I was so small and fragile that they made an exception for me. The students were sewn sundresses exactly like the girls from the Imperial Ballet School. The same ones were worn by Vaganova and Anna Pavlova. I will never forget how one evening we were allowed to try on real ballet tutus. They smelled amazing - a mixture of powder and mothballs. This theatrical scent has always been my favorite.

We lived far from the center, but every day my mother courageously drove me to classes. One evening they ran with her across the bridge, which they had already begun to build. They rushed at full speed, in unison making a jet across the diverging span - it is not known what was more terrible: the prospect of falling into the water or staying overnight on the street.

The following year, I went on my own to enter the Vaganov School.

Mom could not accompany me, because she was inseparably with dad in the hospital - he had an accident, crashed on a scooter.

Other girls came with their parents, dressed up, with bows. And I am alone everywhere, in the same dress - blue with tassels. She herself braided neat pigtails so that her ears protruded funny. I stood at the wall, waited for my name to be called, and was terribly afraid that I would listen or they would forget about me. At the first round, when the build and physical data of future ballerinas, trembling with fear in T-shirts and panties at the barre, were assessed, the director drew attention to me.

He touched his elbow and said: "Good girl."

For the next eight years, every morning I traveled from my outskirts to Zodchego Rossi Street on the chaise longue. At first, my dad saw me off - he, fortunately, recovered, gave up the profession of a builder for his daughter and got a job as an engraver at the Pravda publishing house, located not far from the ballet school. My parents were afraid that if I traveled alone, such a baby would be crushed in a crowded bus. When they said: “Girl, give in to the elders,” I obediently got up, but no one could squeeze into my place ...

Because of the workload, I sometimes screamed at night from terrible fatigue, but until the sixth grade, despite chronic tonsillitis, I did not miss a single day at the school.

I endured colds on my legs. The biggest tragedy was if they tried to release me from classes. An incredible desire to dance conquered any illness. There was a forest near our house. On Sundays, to help build endurance, my dad put me on skis and we walked to the nearest village - eight kilometers one way, eight - back.

We had strict mentors, we were afraid of them. Alla Mikhailovna Chernova checked the diligence of the students by running her hand over their backs. If the girl sweated, then well done. And I didn’t have perspiration - such a feature of the body. "Lyudochka and Olya are trying hard," Chernova frowned.

In order not to be scolded, Olya and I decided to cheat.

“What good fellows! - Alla Mikhailovna exclaimed, stroking our backs at the next lesson. But then she rubbed her fingers, sniffed, and figured out the trick. “Yes, it’s Vaseline!”

And yet, the teachers appreciated me for liveliness, artistry, natural organicity and fearlessness. I've never been stage fright. In the second grade of the school, she danced little Masha in The Nutcracker, which was on the stage of the Kirov Theater.

At the age of ten, I fell in love for the first time. In honors student Nikita. I wrote "I love you" on an eraser and tossed it to him. He then dedicated poems to me, and I, being fickle, “cheated” on him with our classmate. But Andryusha and I were inseparable. The teachers had to guard us at the exit from the school: "Lyuda, you walk to the right, and Andrei - to the left."

They didn't even let me walk along the Nevsky Prospekt.

Such are the strict morals in Vaganovsky! Maybe they eventually contributed to the fact that our relationship ended. Or maybe we just grew up...

After graduating from college, I received an invitation to the Bolshoi from Yuri Grigorovich. But the ministry did not let him go, forcing him to work out the two years required for distribution in the Kirov Theater. I didn’t regret it at all, but my teacher Nina Viktorovna Belikova, a student of Vaganova herself, constantly reminded the leadership of the Mariinsky Theater: “This girl cannot be kept in the corps de ballet, she is capable.”

When they finally allowed me to move to Moscow, Nina Viktorovna tried to arrange not only my creative destiny, but also my personal life.

She was friends with the formerly famous ballerina Elena Georgievna Chikvaidze and married me to her son, the brilliant dancer Mikhail Lavrovsky. His father, Leonid Lavrovsky, the world-famous choreographer, seemed like a god to me. By the time we met, Mikhail was already a laureate of the Lenin Prize, an honored artist, and a leading dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre.

He was known as an inveterate heartthrob, followed by a long train of novels with famous women. Probably, the mother thought that it was time for her son to settle down. So Nina Viktorovna arrived just in time. For some reason, she and my future mother-in-law decided that I would be an ideal daughter-in-law, and began to invite me to visit. And I plunged headlong into work: dancing, competitions, rehearsals.

I didn't think of anything else. Once Elena Georgievna says: “Lyudochka, we are waiting for you to visit, why don’t you come?”

And I went. Together with Nina Viktorovna, we climbed the stairs of the old Arbat house next to the Vakhtangov Theater. Until now, passing by, I look at the windows of this apartment. Two windows on the fourth floor, fastened together with a rope so as not to break, are always open. As if they were invited to enter and again be in the house where my new life once began.

That first evening Misha came with a friend, they arrived much later than I did. They came in and sat down on either side of the table in the sitting room lined with antique furniture. The "groom" from time to time cast short, studying glances at me.

At twenty I was pretty - thin and big-eyed. Thirty-year-old Lavrovsky seemed to me very mature and beautiful. I sat with downcast eyes, terribly proud that such a person paid attention to me.

It probably sounds crazy, but before the wedding, we met with Misha only two more times. In the first - decorously walked along Serebryany Bor. And then Lavrovsky came to the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall to see how I was dancing. In the darkness of the wings, a little embarrassed, he said: "I ask you to marry me."

Misha did not even understand whether the girl agreed or not, because I could not utter a word from excitement. He was immediately surrounded by ballet dancers who treated Lavrovsky with great respect and admiration.

"He will be my husband!" I thought with bated breath. Was it possible to refuse?

What is he? Which?! my grandmother tortured me.

Here, - I held out the just published magazine, on the cover of which Lavrovsky, in the role of Romeo, danced with Bessmertnova - Juliet.

Beautiful, Grandma said.

Soon they met: Misha and his brother came to Leningrad to get acquainted with my parents. Having received the blessing, we returned to Moscow together.

I moved to the Arbat. There was no magnificent wedding, they signed at the registry office and - to the ballet barre. But since Misha was a member of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, and I was a laureate of the Komsomol Prize, this event was announced on the radio: “Today the bonds of marriage connected the ballet dancers ...”

Celebrated the event at home.

We are sitting at the festive table, suddenly at twelve o'clock in the morning - the doorbell rings. On the threshold of a man with a bunch of spikelets: "This is a congratulation from Ivan Semenovich Kozlovsky."

I took care of this gift of the great singer for a very long time and reverently, but during one of the crossings, as I thought, the spikelets were lost. Only recently it turned out that they are still kept by my mother!

Ivan Semenovich invited me to take part in his anniversary. I danced The Dying Swan. And in the room for Chopin's nocturne, Kozlovsky decided to be my partner and make support.

Pari-ra-pam... But I will raise you to this note. Pa-ah...

He took a high note and still holds me, but wrongly. I tell him:

Ivan Semenovich, ballerinas are raised not facing their partner, but with their backs.

Yes? - Kozlovsky was not at all embarrassed. - But, darling, I got a good look at you, what eyes you have!

Everything in the Lavrovskys' apartment was arranged with great taste. I almost suffocated with delight at the sight of the huge library that Mishin's father had collected. I have read many of these books. Misha first of all immersed me in the world of literature, which he himself admired.

Little fool, I melted with happiness at the thought that the outstanding Mikhail Lavrovsky chose me.

Mishina's grandmother, Elena Georgievna's mother, Olga Andreevna, still lived with us. Brought up at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, this beautiful lady treated her young daughter-in-law strictly but kindly. She tactfully made it clear what role was assigned to me in the family: I understood that the main one was the king and God - Misha. I have to listen to the advice of my elders, absorb new knowledge and the atmosphere of this amazing house.

Misha was already starting to work as a choreographer and shared his creative ideas with me, I was more than a wife for him - also a partner, an ally. He did all his first productions for me.

Walking along Serebryany Bor, he discussed with me every frame of the future film-ballet Mtsyri.

First of all, I had great respect for my husband. Love for him as a man was born gradually. He was incredibly handsome, very similar to the young Jean Marais and could not help but like him. I heard that in the theater they spoke of Lavrovsky as a person who was fond of, a great admirer of women. But due to my own naivety, I didn’t even think that his “hobby” would prevent us from living happily ever after.

As soon as I got married, I got pregnant. “Just don’t try to give birth. No child will hold Misha! Besides, you have to dance,” said the mother-in-law.

No one asked my opinion, the fate of this child was decided, and I sinned before God by agreeing to an abortion. I convinced myself that creativity is now more important for me and for my husband.

Elena Georgievna was a special mother-in-law. A powerful woman, she did not let Misha away from herself and did everything that she considered right for him. She continued to work in the theater and was completely immersed in the life of her son. In the first place for her was Mishina's career. But she did a lot for me too, taking me under her wing.

My mother-in-law loved me like a ballerina. She not only watched all my games, but analyzed them, guiding me along the right path. In the theater, I got into the class of Galina Sergeevna Ulanova, Grigorovich entrusted me with literally the entire classical repertoire and, most importantly, his ballets.

The central parties poured in as if from a cornucopia. In no other theater, except for the Bolshoi, I would not have made such a career. She danced Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Giselle, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote, Raymond, Katerina in The Stone Flower, Phrygia in Spartacus, Anastasia in Ivan the Terrible, Valentina in "Angara" - you can't list everything. I am the only ballerina who has danced in all of Yuri Nikolayevich's productions. Critics noted the authenticity of feelings and the deep drama of my heroines, they wrote that they amaze with the power of their passions, showing images full of sacrifice and sincere feelings, all that is characteristic of the female soul. Following my husband, I entered GITIS as a choreographer for the outstanding master Rostislav Zakharov.

Every day, Elena Georgievna gave me a ruble for a taxi: “Please, Lyudochka, don’t walk, take care of your legs.”

Looking out the car window at the Novoarbat prospect, I thought: “Why exactly did this happiness fall to me ?! I have everything I dreamed about - love and theater. In the future, the scene gave me much stronger emotions. But as a human being, I have never been as happy as I was then. Plunging into the daily work during the day and into the atmosphere of comfort and conversations about art in the evening, I did not think whether Mikhail Leonidovich loved me. Admiration and admiration for her husband left no room for doubt. Meanwhile, he led a normal life. Often came home late, sat up in companies. He didn’t take me with him, and I was insanely jealous. “Lyuda, don’t torture me,” he said, not wanting to answer my reproaches.

Gradually, the understanding came that he does not have the same feelings for me that I do.

Three years later, one girl in the theater, taking pity on me, said: “Don’t you know?”

His chosen one turned out to be my friend, the only girl with whom I was close in the theater, a student of my own teacher at the Moscow school. Elena Georgievna said: “Never take your friends to the house, they will take your husband away from you.” And I brought ... And it turned out that Misha did not love me, he only respected me. "How so? I thought shocked. “If he married me, and I married him, it should be for life!” But everything collapsed - I was betrayed. Lavrovsky's friends, who received me so warmly, were now arranging dates for Misha with his passion behind my back.

“I thought you knew what you were doing,” Misha said.

He probably meant that I, like him, got married with a cold head, by calculation. But he saw that for the child that I was, what had happened was a tragedy, and he felt uneasy.

Elena Georgievna was also worried about the health of her fragile daughter-in-law, who had such experiences. But no matter how well my mother-in-law treated me, she loved her son first of all.

When everything opened up, I had no doubts about what to do, although no one kicked me out of the house. Another, far-sighted and cold, would close her eyes to her husband's passion: she would take a walk and go wild. The integrity of my character did not allow me to compromise.

I couldn't share Misha with anyone. We divorced after living together for four years. At parting, not a single rude word was said. Everything was experienced in silence.

My dad was eager to sort things out, but I didn’t let him in: “If at least one hair falls from Misha’s head, I won’t forgive you.”

Lavrovsky was and remains a celestial being for me. Sometimes people break up, losing all respect for each other. I haven't lost my feelings for him. Respect and reverence for the first husband remained with me for life. And this corresponds to my nature - I never stood on the ground with my feet, I always hovered between heaven and earth, somewhere in the heights ...

Shortly before these events, the theater gave my husband and me a good hundred-meter apartment.

After the divorce, Elena Georgievna gave me a one-room apartment that belonged to the Lavrovsky family. My parents helped me get settled. And I began to live in complete solitude, trembling at night with fear in an empty room.

I seemed to have died. More than once she looked down from the balcony of her sixteen-story building, thinking about death without a shudder. As a believer, she could not contemplate suicide, but she wanted to leave for a monastery. She danced with a bloody heart, forced to go on stage with her ex-husband. Outwardly, everything looked decent. We talked, were not afraid to look into each other's eyes, but never once said a word about what and why happened between us. Nothing was ever discussed with him, much less with my ex-girlfriend.

I stopped noticing her, I just didn’t see anything through the veil of my misfortune. I understood that pain either kills a person or leaves. So I lived waiting for it to subside - after all, I stayed to live. I began to see only black and white dreams, and earlier I had beautiful, colored dreams. Meeting with me, classmates were amazed: “Lyuda, we didn’t think that you would change like that. She was so bright, cheerful, sonorous ... "

And now, bones appeared under the skin, which had never been seen before, despite my slimness. I was melting before our eyes, and one day a team member approached me: “Lyuda, we ask you to get better. We are afraid for your health."

Galina Sergeevna Ulanova said nothing. But seeing how I was staggering from hopeless grief, she could not stand it either, she stopped in the corridor: “You have a job, your art.

And nothing else will save you."

It was like I was slapped in the face. It was so embarrassing. Because Galina Sergeevna might think that something was distracting me from ballet.

This story went through me like a tank, but I continued to dance. At twenty-four she became a leading ballerina. She was awarded the State Prize of the USSR, performed successfully all over the world: in London, Stockholm, New York, Prague, Budapest. At the I International Ballet Competition in Tokyo, I received the first prize, and Serge Lifar, who was on the jury, presented me with the Anna Pavlova Prize of the Paris Academy of Dance.

But no awards could alleviate the pain in the heart. For a long time I was left alone with my misfortune. And they are together and happy. But life suddenly swung in an incomprehensible way. A year later, this girl, whom I considered a rival, a homemaker, was gone, she died. Having learned about this, I could not sleep, I imagined an ex-girlfriend who suddenly lost not only love and happiness, but also life.

After Lavrovsky, I shied away from men like the plague, but the remnants of Misha's unclaimed feelings, apparently, were warm inside. Sometimes it's love at first sight, sometimes it's love from the first cigarette. I will not hide, I sometimes dabbled, smoked. Late one evening, standing on the balcony of my room at the dacha of the Bolshoi Theater in Serebryany Bor, I made out a man on the bench below. I puff on a cigarette, flaring up in the night with a spark, and he, too, as if answering me.

At first I thought that it seemed. Took two short puffs, he answered. Nothing was said, but that same spark flashed between us, although for many months after these “duets” of smoked cigarettes, we were connected only by friendship.

The novel was short and dramatic. I can't do it without drama. Bolshoi soloist Alexander Godunov was married and loved his wife Lyudmila Vlasova. Close relationships arose involuntarily, as is often the case with people of the same profession, when there is so much in common: interests, problems, dreams.

The divorce from Misha took place in front of the entire theater. Many silently sympathized with me, but there were also spiteful critics. One day I came to class. Eyes already in a wet place, and one colleague still joked unsuccessfully, threw something caustic.

I could not stand it and, so as not to burst into tears in front of everyone, jumped out. Sasha straightened the joker: "Aren't you ashamed?" I was told about it. I considered Godunov aloof, impregnable. But his heart responded with warmth to his sympathy. Both with my eyes and intonation, I tried to convey my gratitude to him at least in the simple word “Hello”. Yes, and the memories of that silent flirting in Serebryany Bor did not leave me. Mutual sympathy and tenderness intensified every day. On trips, we talked for a long time, carried a tape recorder with us everywhere - we loved listening to Vysotsky. We were tuned in to the same wave, we talked, we thought about the same thing, we looked at the problems of the theater in the same way. It was a friendship that we could not do without at that moment.

I tried my best not to let anything happen between us.

But fate, whether you like it or not, overtakes. Although Sasha was married, we could not overcome the mutual attraction. And yet it was not the bed, but the kinship of souls that attracted us. Sasha supported me, saved me from loneliness and feelings of uselessness. He was a wonderful, knightly handsome and powerful man, with a heightened sense of justice and a moral core, restless like Prometheus. I remember when I lived in Serebryany Bor, he sent telegrams in which he addressed me as “you”: “How are you feeling? Take care of yourself. You are so young". Very dramatic.

Sasha was ironic about government concerts, but there was nowhere to go - he had to work. I remember that Igor Moiseev staged the number “At the skating rink”, his dancers danced beautifully, but the commission ordered Sasha and me to perform at the Kremlin Palace, and even obliged Godunov to wear a hat with a pompom.

He resisted until I said: “Sash, what are you worth? Let's laugh together."

I still have this hat, signed by Sasha: "Luda ​​for memory."

Nobody knew about our romance. Godunov never visited my house, because he is someone else's husband. True, once he almost decided to speak about our love in public, he was by nature a very honest person. I know what stopped him. He did not love me deeply enough to take such a step. The real feeling connected him only with his wife.

I think even then he was thinking about staying in the West, and he understood what consequences this could lead to, how it would affect everyone who was close to him.

I didn't even know about his plans. Someone suggested:

Sasha, I'm making a film in which I want to see all my favorite partners. I ask you to dance with me the pas de deux from Swan Lake.

I'm sorry I can not.

How so?! It can't be that you don't have time. What's stopping you? This is how you feel about me!

Then you will understand how I feel about you.

For me, these words were a complete mystery. I found out the answer a couple of years later. With Sasha at that time we were already only friends.

I was then going to marry the outstanding composer Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov.

He courted very beautifully: filled up with flowers and strawberries. He brought down on me a sea of ​​​​love, attention, care. I admired his talent. Slava played the piano, and I danced. He proposed to me and I said yes. The wedding dress was already ready, the guests were invited. The marriage was postponed due to the tour of the Bolshoi Theater in America. It was 1979 outside. The performances were an incredible success. But one morning a friend called me in the room:

What are you going to do?

I have an interview for The New York Times.

Wait with that... No one knows where Godunov is.

It turned out that Sasha turned to the American authorities with a request for political asylum. Upon learning of this, they tried to send his wife Lyuda Vlasova, the only one from the troupe, to Moscow. But the Americans delayed the plane right before takeoff, demanding proof that she was leaving of her own free will. Three days later, Luda nevertheless flew home. And Sasha then unsuccessfully tried to return it for another year. Everyone in the theater, knowing this story, treated Luda with great respect and sincere sympathy. In the Western press, Godunov and Vlasova were dubbed "Romeo and Juliet of the Cold War."

Godunov's escape was a great shock to me. Something seemed to turn over in my soul.

I cried for a long time. And on her return to Moscow, on the very first evening, she said to Slava: “I can’t marry you.”

Ovchinnikov is a great composer, a good person, and he loved me... But I was suddenly afraid of responsibility, I decided that I could not match the scale of his personality. Sdreyfila and because I did not have time to love him. And in some incomprehensible way, my decision was connected with the fact that Godunov remained in America. Maybe, against the backdrop of the drama of Sasha and Lyudmila, my feeling seemed small to me?

I offended Slava very much. Naturally, after such a turn, we broke up forever and never met again.

And my film was soon shown on television. If Godunov had starred there, a completely different fate would have awaited the picture.

All tapes with his participation were banned. Both Anna Karenina and Carmen Suite, in which Sasha danced with Maya Plisetskaya.

In those days, the artists who remained in the West were considered traitors and criminals. I will never forget how I, the leading ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, was not allowed to the Grand Opera for a costumed reception in honor of the ballet Cinderella staged by Nureyev.

Why? - I asked the workers of our embassy in Paris. - These are my colleagues.

It is forbidden! Nuriev is a traitor.

The great French ballerina Elisabeth Platel and Rudolf wanted me to be the center of attention with them that evening. They prepared a crazy outfit for me - a fur coat-mantle from Dior.

I still ended up on Cinderella, but not at all in the way they intended. Quietly and imperceptibly I was led into the box. I had to forget about the mantle.

They did not allow me to see Misha Baryshnikov, with whom we studied together at school, he graduated three years earlier. Why couldn't we meet, chat, dance at last?!

I traveled the world, even performed in Australia. She worked with the Bolshoi Theater and as a guest soloist. She appeared on the stage of the London Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Grand Opera in Paris, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Argentine Colon Theatre, the Scottish National Ballet and other troupes. Most of all, for some reason, I was loved in Argentina, England and Japan.

I was known and in demand, many men sought to communicate with me, but after the sad story with Ovchinnikov, I did not reciprocate anyone.

Until the younger Liepa came to the theater. Andris dreamed of me since childhood. Admired as a ballerina. I danced with his father Maris, was friendly with his mother and often visited their hospitable house, where I was treated very warmly. Andris and Ilze grew up before my eyes. From a pretty boy, a doll, he turned into a handsome young man and timidly tried to express sympathy for me: he rode a boat in Serebryany Bor, left flowers under my door.

Arriving at the theater, Liepa began to court more insistently. We went to Serebryany Bor. Andris led me to my favorite linden tree and said: "Under its branches, I dreamed of kissing you."

And kissed. A very touching boy.

I taught him to drive. One morning we woke up, we had to go to class, and all the wheels were punctured. This happened once, and twice, and a third time. God knows who did it. May that person be happy!

Sometimes I called for him, parked under the windows and pressed the horn. “Go, your Semenyaka has arrived,” his mother said.

She did not approve of her son's choice; an affair with a woman ten years older seemed to her a terrible misalliance. On the one hand, it can be understood - what kind of mother would like it? But being an actress, she did not have spiritual sensitivity at all. After all, another view of this story is also possible: if the son fell in love with a woman, a ballerina, who can give him spiritual growth, help him become a great dancer, what's wrong with that?

In any case, I was no longer interested in her opinion. I let myself go. How long can you be a recluse? Since my divorce from Misha, insomnia has become my faithful companion. Responsible tours, performances, but I do not sleep. Andris and I went to the Akter sanatorium in Sochi, he pulled me to the sea, and I stayed in the room, because only during the day I could forget myself with a short sleep. Here's what you've been through! Tablets and medicines did not help. Andris' care helped. He carried me in his arms, literally. When we rested in the Crimea, every morning he climbed onto my balcony with peaches bought at the market in Simeiz. We were not married then, but everything was so obvious to everyone that, in order not to make people laugh, I had to go to the authorities of the rest home and ask them to let us live together: they say, Andris and I will soon become husband and wife.

She said and thought: why is this necessary? She suggested: "Andris, let's not get married." But he really wanted to, and I gave in.

Andris moved in with me. I then received from the theater a wonderful two-room apartment on Gorky Street. It started out great, but it didn't last long. I made a mistake again, choosing one person for life and for the stage. Very often, the relationship between ballet dancers is cracking at the seams due to the fact that personal and professional interests intersect.

Before me, Liepa vegetated in the corps de ballet, stood with a spear in Giselle. And I dragged Andris, helping to dance faster.

His father Maris, although he was an outstanding dancer, did not get along with the management of the theater and could not bother for his son, who was not distinguished by diligence. Andris loved to show off: he mowed “like a dad”, walking around the theater in a luxurious bathrobe with a tape recorder. Like, he is a great artist who works hard and has just finished a rehearsal or, on the contrary, is just heading to class.

For a long time and persistently I tried to get him to be given his debut role in The Nutcracker. We danced together, but it did not bring us happiness. I wanted Andris to become an Artist with a capital letter next to me, and he cared about what bouquets he was presented with after the premiere. Having received the flowers, Liepa put them on stage in front of his partner, but then took them for himself. His father was completely different. When I first went to America in the troupe of Raisa Stepanovna Struchkova and danced Giselle with Maris, after the performance they brought me a huge bouquet of roses.

I was happy, but who, where? It's my first time across the ocean, I don't have fans here yet. After the second performance, a huge bouquet of carnations was presented. Marinochka Leonova, a colleague and neighbor in the dressing room, at first chuckled, but kept quiet, and then said: “Well, so be it, I’ll give you a secret. This is Maris. He gives his partners roses for the first performance, carnations for the second. He also gave me flowers.

When we were rehearsing "The Legend of Love", Maris began to pay special attention to me. Sent as a gift a very beautiful chiffon dress. I took the bundle, went to the men's side and said: - Maris Eduardovich, please take it.

What are you, Luda!

I'm from the heart!

But I understood that by accepting the dress, I would thereby give consent to something more.

No, give flowers, but no more.

I think Maris (by that time he was already divorced) was consciously looking for a wife and at the same time a partner. Then he succeeded, he finally found her in the face of Nina Semizorova.

Despite this incident, we continued to communicate warmly and respectfully. Maris approved of our marriage with Andris, realizing that I would help his son to rise. Andris counted on the same. But as soon as the career took off and Liepa stopped needing me, he changed.

Andris was so good and bright in appearance, like a prince from a fairy tale.

I was drawn to him, he to me. We were great lovers. There was complete harmony in our bedroom. But beyond its borders ... Andris became cruel to me, behaved arrogantly and unceremoniously. Abroad, during the tour, he lived with me, and then, without warning, he disappeared and did not appear for several days, without saying a word - where he is, with whom. I cried, worried, but forgave when Andris returned as if nothing had happened.

At home, he talked to me very nicely, we were loving husband and wife, and in the theater he could pass by without noticing that I was a wall. Imagine: you just had breakfast together, talked, laughed, and suddenly your husband does not recognize you!

"Andryushenka, what happened?"

I asked when it first happened. He swam past without answering. So Liepa asserted himself: as I want, I behave myself. I did not understand such an inhuman attitude, I cried, kicked him out. He went to his mother, and then he came with flowers, apologized, and I forgave. Vicious circle.

We divorced a year later. They left the registry office, looked at each other, went to my house and started the novel again. Damn what they did! They got together, then parted for six whole years. If he needed something: to find out information, to dance with me - he would come, get his own and disappear for several days.

Sometimes Andris, apparently to torment me, did strange things.

To perform in concerts that brought popularity to artists, I, a faithful person, chose Liepa as my partner. And he found a reason to quarrel, went to live with his mother, and then I found out that in the concert he would dance with Ninochka Ananiashvili.

Andris generally lied to me, said that he was in one place, but in fact he was going to another. In our family, no one has ever deceived anyone, and I had no idea how to resist it. The difference in our views on the family originated in early childhood. My parents cannot live without each other for a day. Andris grew up in a difficult family, and as I knew, with not the most prosperous atmosphere.

Once, an invitation was brought to the theater for me to a reception on the occasion of Margaret Thatcher's arrival in Moscow.

So Andris "forgot" to hand it over. Maybe because they invited me, and not Liepa? I was sitting at home with a cold, suddenly a call:

Lyudmila Ivanovna, they are waiting for you.

Where are they waiting? What invitation? - I was surprised.

Don't worry, they will come for you.

And so it happened all the time.

We decided that the child will help smooth out the bumps in the relationship. I became pregnant and suffered terribly from toxicosis. Time after time, Andris brought amaryllis flowers into the house, the smell of which made me sick. “Andris, please, you know how hard it is for me!” I said. But he still brought amaryllis, just because he liked them.

Andris's mother, when she found out about the pregnancy, had a tantrum: “Make me a grandmother?!

It's too early for Andris to have children!! He needs to dance!!! Something incredible happened to an intelligent woman. I left and never went back to their house.

Apparently, fate itself was against this child. I lost him. And the next pregnancy also ended tragically. I didn’t understand what was happening, because I always considered myself a healthy person. Probably, someone from above decided that Andris and I do not need to be together ...

I was very attached to him, I forgave everything for a long time. But in vain. I deceived myself, turned a blind eye to the fact that he married me in order to increase his status.

And then he himself was jealous of me for the stage and success.

The presidential couple, Mikhail Sergeevich and Raisa Maksimovna, came to my performances. Gorbachev was very gallant, after the performance he gave orange roses or gladioli. This couple has done a lot for young ballet dancers. We began to be invited to various celebrations, the opportunity arose to tour more. But I didn’t go anywhere to earn money, I chose only what I was interested in, following the French proverb: “If you have skills worth a thousand francs, don’t refuse to buy a few more sous.” The newspapers called me the ballet symbol of Perestroika: in 1987, on the stage of the Washington Kennedy Center, I performed in a gala concert that preceded the historic meeting of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee with US President Ronald Reagan.

Andris would be happy for me, but he was angry. Envy, right?

It got to the point that Liepa allowed himself to utter a rude word addressed to me. At that moment I was washing a cup and dropped it in amazement. The fragments scattered in different directions, and I suddenly realized that despite all my efforts, further life together is meaningless. That I, an adult woman, waste my life energy and feelings on a cruel, spoiled child.

You are so independent, - Andris said in the end. “Nothing depends on people like you.

If so, go and prove yourself what you are capable of, - I answered.

Liepa left and became a famous dancer.

Is not it? And God bless him. I most of all regret the lost time, because I could marry a good person, create a normal family. As a woman, I lost.

In the end, God rewarded me too. I met a wonderful man, from whom, at the age of thirty-six, I gave birth to a son, Vanechka. I found out that I was expecting a baby in Greece, where the Bolshoi Theater toured. I remember forever how I walked along the alley and the sun splashed me through the leaves with dazzling sprays. The soul froze in anticipation of happiness: I will have a baby! With the father of my child, we could not live together, but it did not mean anything. My grandmother was thirty-six when my grandfather went to war and died, leaving her with four children. Can't I handle one?

I am often told that my son looks like me, and I smile in response. Because when little Vanechka laughed for the first time, my mother and I were dumbfounded by surprise: he exactly repeated the intonations and manner of his dad, whom, in fact, he had not seen. Of course, Vanya knows who his father is. He always helps us. He just lives far away.

Once Vanechka and I met Andris and his wife Katya in a shopping center. Their child was away with grandparents. They sadly chose gifts for him. Andris' eyes warmed up when he saw Vanechka. After all, he knows my son from the first days of his life, came to visit when he was just born, and was sincerely happy for me. He brought toys, cartoons. Andris, for all his shortcomings, is very homely and always dreamed of a child ... And we, in spite of everything, maintained a warm relationship.

I can't hold a grudge against those I love.

I believe that the child is my best performance. I even came up with a ten-year-old son, who studied at a choreographic school, a small role in the composition: I leave the stage, and he, personifying a young beginning, comes. She dreamed that Vanya would make an artistic career. At first, he did not mind, although as a child he was not fond of anything: rock climbing, and archery ... After the choreographic school, he became a student at the Academy of Natalia Nesterova, studied at the acting and directing course of Elena Tsyplakova. The son had the opportunity to enter the theater "School of the modern play" by Joseph Reichelgauz. All was well until a sharp turn recently took place. Vanya said: directing, acting - not his, he wants ...

fly. And he entered the school of flight attendants. I tried to object:

Why? For what? It's so dangerous!

Mom, the highest meaning of this profession is the responsibility that a flight attendant has for the safety of people. And I can take it over. If you want, this is my civic position.

After these words, I did not ask any more questions. And it is not surprising that Vanya is drawn to the sky - he is my son. I am ready to help him in all endeavors.

Having finished dancing, I did not part with my favorite art. I work as a teacher with Bolshoi soloists Svetlana Zakharova, Elena Andrienko, Anastasia Goryacheva, Anastasia Meskova, Victoria Osipova, Galina Stepanenko.

I go on tour with the theater, participate in the jury of international competitions.

With the advent of my son, my life has become more joyful and bright. I opened the doors of the house so that friends would come to Vanya. To this day, I lead a rather secluded life. There are two or three people whom I can invite to my place. Among them is Mikhail Leonidovich Lavrovsky, who became Vanya's godfather.

Someone will ask the question: “How could you make a godfather a person who broke your fate?” But Misha has always been a shrine to me. In the movie "Gladiator" Russell Crowe's character places small figures on which he prays. If a person does not have such figures, then he has not gained anything in life. If I were an ordinary woman, not hovering between heaven and earth, I would condemn Misha, discard and forget.

But I took our relationship to another dimension. And the decision to ask Misha to become Vanya's godfather was dictated by the desire to connect the past and the present, which are inseparable in my heart. It was important for my godfather to choose someone who feels and knows me well. Doesn't the person who rejected you feel you? Between people who were close, an invisible connection remains. I believe that Misha was also worried.

Shortly before my former mother-in-law Elena Georgievna left this world, Misha and I ran into each other on the street. My mother and I walked along Nezhdanova, I call it “the street of ex-husbands” - both Misha and Andris live there, and even Slava Ovchinnikov lived there for a while. “Mom is really bad,” Misha said. - Go to her.

And we went. Elena Georgievna could not see very well, but she immediately understood who had come. She told my mother: “Only now I understand what kind of people I lost after parting with Lyudochka, what support would I have in my life ...”

Yes, my dad and mom are amazing, their trust and respect for each other is limitless. They recently got married. Largely thanks to the great parental love, from an early age I have a lofty attitude towards the world. The sense of beauty helps me to get great pleasure from creativity and at the same time makes me feel a keen sense of longing for unfulfilled family happiness.

“Life has flown by ...” - sometimes I think, succumbing to an attack of melancholy. But sadness passes quickly. After all, I have my son and ballet. Isn't that enough for happiness?

The editors would like to thank the State Academic Bolshoi Theater for their help in organizing the shooting.

“Liepa is deceiving you,” a high-ranking official told me, who knew the actors of the Bolshoi Theater well. - "What do you! Andris can't! - I was indignant.

For the first time in many years, I felt loved, desired, and didn't want to listen to anything. In addition, a perspicacious official sought my favor. But I didn't give in. All my thoughts were only about the young romantic Andris. Before his appearance in the theater, I was not looking for novels. After a difficult divorce from my first husband - Mikhail Lavrovsky - for many years I did not have a happy relationship.

Photo: From the archive of L. Semenyaka

The pain did not let go, it sat deep inside ... Ballet helped - and then, and always.

My life in ballet began in the pavilion adjoining the Zhdanov Palace of Pioneers in Leningrad. In tsarist times, court horses were kept there, and in Soviet times, circles of children's creativity were placed. The first time I was in the palace, with bated breath I looked at the luxurious room, decorated with golden stucco and mirrors. Most of all I liked the dolls sewn by children's hands on display in the windows.

What would you like to do? the director turned to me.

I want to make these dolls!

Don't listen to her, my mother intervened, she dances from morning to night.

At the age of nine, it is too late to enter the choreographic circle. But I was so small and fragile that they made an exception for me. The students were sewn sundresses exactly like the girls from the Imperial Ballet School. The same ones were worn by Vaganova and Anna Pavlova. I will never forget how one evening we were allowed to try on real ballet tutus. They smelled amazing - a mixture of powder and mothballs. This theatrical scent has always been my favorite.

We lived far from the center, but every day my mother courageously drove me to classes. One evening they ran with her across the bridge, which they had already begun to build. They rushed at full speed, in unison making a jet across the diverging span - it is not known what was more terrible: the prospect of falling into the water or staying overnight on the street.

The following year, I went on my own to enter the Vaganov School.

Photo: From the archive of L. Semenyaka

Russian ballerina, choreographer and choreographer Ludmila Semenyaka, People's Artist of the USSR, People's Artist of the RSFSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Biography of Lyudmila Semenyaka

Lyudmila was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1952 in the family of a builder and chemical laboratory apparatchik. She received her first ballet lessons at the Zhdanov Palace of Pioneers, where her parents took the girl. At that time, Lyudmila was already nine years old, but an exception was made for her due to her fragile physique.

“My life in ballet began with a pavilion adjoining the Zhdanov Palace of Pioneers in Leningrad. In tsarist times, court horses were kept there, and in Soviet times, circles of children's creativity were placed. For the first time, when I was in the palace, I looked with bated breath at the luxurious room, decorated with golden stucco and mirrors.

Already at the age of ten, Lyudmila entered the Leningrad Academic Choreographic School. Vaganova, and at twelve she began performing on the stage of the Opera and Ballet Theatre. Kirov. In 1970, she was officially accepted into the theater troupe and worked there for two years by distribution, after which she left for the Bolshoi Theater, where she was invited immediately upon graduation from the school.

Lyudmila worked at the Bolshoi until 1998. During this time, Semenyaka performed all the leading ballet roles of the most famous ballet productions. Later, she performed on stages around the world, including working in the troupe of the English National Ballet.

Lyudmila is the owner of a large number of various prizes and awards, including the Evening Standard Prize (London), the Elena Smirnova Prize (Buenos Aires), the USSR State Prize, etc.

In 1999, Lyudmila first tried herself as a choreographer.

In the period from 2000 to 2004 she was an actress of the Moscow Theater "School of the Modern Play".

Since 2002, Lyudmila has become a teacher at the Bolshoi Theater. She often performs in various competitions as a member of the jury.

Personal life of Lyudmila Semenyaka

Lyudmila Semenyaka was married twice, but both marriages (with ballet dancers Mikhail Lavrovsky and Andris Liepa) ended in divorce. His only son Ivana Lyudmila gave birth at the age of 36, not being married.