Celebrating in Russian style

Russians are known for their food, music and dance — this is exactly what the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Russian Federation and the Bangalore School of Music, decided to celebrate.

They organised a performance by Barynya, a Russian folk dance troupe, exclusively flown down from Russia to perform in the City recently.
 
Even the sudden downpour didn’t stop people — especially Russians living in the City — from coming in large numbers to witness the performance.

The dancers and those accompanying them couldn’t speak a word of English but they seemed delighted to be here. Dressed in colourful red, white and black costumes, the dancers staged some daring manoeuvres, showcased a few temperamental gypsy dances and performed the slow Russian round dance as well.

Talking about their initiative to perform in the City, the director of the troupe
Eugeniy T says, “This initiative is an effort to showcase the Russian dance and melodious music of Russia. Barynya, literally means beautiful lady. It is a Russian folk dance accompanied by music. The word Barynya is used as a form of addressing a woman of a higher class.”

The troupe performed a couple of pieces such as the Kazak, in which the dancers used swords to depict the courage and valour of the community. In another piece, Kalinka, the dancers performed some lively steps which portrayed life in a Russian village and its rich culture.

There were a handful of Russians in the audience, who dragged along their Indian friends. Although the Indians didn’t understand the language, they had their Russian friends to translate the songs and their meaning. Alexander, a Russian living in the City, says, “We never get to see anything that is Russian being performed in the City. We’re excited to see some original work.”

Divya S, who came with a bunch of her Russian friends, adds, “I don’t understand Russian but my friends translated what was happening. It’s the originality that I liked the most. I may never get to go to Russia, so I was excited to see something new.”