Soloist of the Ballet...
It was a dream come true. Along with the joy that Reina always felt from dancing, a sense of responsibility was added.
In the theater, she immediately immersed herself in its creative atmosphere. She was entrusted with the role of Cholpon in the eponymous Kyrgyz ballet. She was to dance alongside the renowned Kyrgyz ballerina Bibisara Beishenaliev. This came with a lot of expectations. She threw herself into her work, and by the following year, 1957, the debut of the new soloist took place.
The difficulties of performing in a national ballet also affected Reina Chokoeva. However, she quickly grasped the specifics of the national color and managed to create an impressive image of Cholpon at a high professional level.
About Reina Chokoeva's performing mastery during the decade in Moscow, newspapers wrote: "She attracts with the warmth and sincerity of her emotional expression, the softness and tenderness of her movements" ("Pravda," October 18, 1958), "Her dances evoke poetic images of 'Manas,' as if reflected in her performance" ("Izvestia," October 17, 1958), "Every breath, pose, gesture of the artists R. Chokoeva (Cholpon), U. Sarbagisheva (Nurdin) is truly alive and sincerely felt" ("Soviet Culture," October 18, 1958).
Before the decade in Moscow ended, Reina was awaited by a new and exciting role as Giselle in the eponymous ballet by A. Adam.
Who hasn't played Giselle on the stages of theaters around the world! It seemed that the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova had surpassed all possibilities in this role. But the theater cannot live by merely copying the known, even if it is perfection itself. Anna Pavlova portrayed in Giselle the boundlessness of feelings of love and faith, while another remarkable Russian ballerina, Olga Spesivtseva, showed a deep fracture in the heroine's feelings, characterized from beginning to end by a lack of faith.
Reina Chokoeva—the first Kyrgyz Giselle—was to reveal her own relationship to the inner world of the heroine.
The role of Giselle corresponds to the lyrical nature of Chokoeva's character. But first and foremost, it is essential to emphasize the actress's inherent optimistic worldview. That is why, when speaking of Giselle, it is necessary to note that Chokoeva brought a range of bright feelings to the Kyrgyz stage. Even in the heroine's misfortune, she sought to find life-affirming, sunny notes, to depict the triumph of joy over sorrow.
As is known, A. Adam's ballet sharply divides the action into two acts. The first depicts earthly life, while the second portrays the ghostly world of the deceased, who, according to legend, live in the forms of wilis. Even in the first act, an insurmountable boundary is marked between joy and sorrow, love and hate, life and death. But it turns out that everything is much more complicated. Where there should be hatred, as a result of violated love, a bright feeling continues to live, and it cannot be extinguished by anything. This sensation of light and warmth arises as soon as Giselle-Chokoeva appears on stage. She is remarkably light, and every movement of hers is infused with the joy of life.
When watching Reina Chokoeva's dance, it seems that her swiftness is born not only from the character of the heroine but also from the very nature of her native Kyrgyz expanses, where the actress was born. She inherently possesses that breadth of feelings, in which the lushness of green jailoos, the tumultuous flow of rivers, and the grandeur of mountain ridges seem to be reflected.
In all this lies a peculiar harmony of lines, colors, and sounds, forming the soul of a person and marking the creativity of an artist.
Perhaps it was this feature that the French journalist J. Morange captured when he wrote about Reina Chokoeva that she created "a romantic and touching image of the first Kyrgyz Giselle," which stirred "the minds and hearts of Kyrgyz people living in the Tian Shan mountains of distant Central Asia."
The worldview of Giselle, raised in the midst of nature, is unpretentious, her nature is direct. She is alien to secrecy and falseness. Her soul is pure and bright, like a summer day. She is used to accepting the world as it is—in all its pristine purity, without thinking of evil and treachery. And when misfortune strikes her (the betrayal of her beloved), at first she cannot understand or comprehend what has happened. By inertia, she still continues to hope for something, and when there is no room left for hope, a tragic fracture occurs.
Reina Chokoeva conducts the scene of madness with remarkable tact and a sense of measure. Usually, actresses "push" this scene, appearing with disheveled hair and a mad, wandering gaze. Reina Chokoeva avoids effects. Her heroine somehow freezes in her misfortune, becoming quieter. Only one strand of hair falls over her eyes. The movements slow down, as if their soul has flown away. The audience clearly feels that Giselle cannot cope with the collapse of faith in her beloved—she seems no longer to live and does everything mechanically. Her gaze becomes vacant. Only occasionally, glancing at Albert or his fiancée, does she flinch, as if recalling something, but again she droops, like a cut stem.
Once, in the throes of love, playing with Albert, she used to predict on the petals of a flower: "Loves... does not love..." And now, crouching down, Giselle seems to hold that cherished flower in her hands and, as before, plucks the petals—"Loves... does not love." Then, jumping up, she rushes aside, as if from a deceptive vision.
But Giselle's love does not turn into hatred. This is especially revealed in the second act. Here, Giselle in Chokoeva's portrayal appears deeply suffering yet still far from revenge. Her duet with Albert seems to bring her back to the best moments of those days when happiness shone upon her in full force. That is why she implores the queen of the wilis to spare Albert, to grant him life. And in this, the life-affirming power of love is revealed. In such an interpretation of the Giselle image, the bright optimism of not only the heroine but also Chokoeva herself is manifested, striving to fill the romantic character with realistic, earthly (in the best sense of the word) traits.
Reina Chokoeva has never seen French ballerinas dancing Giselle. But Reina remains true to the realistic school. Her Giselle is filled with blood and flesh. It contains earth and sky, depth of feelings and strength of character, resonating with the soul of the Kyrgyz ballerina.
Soloist of the Kyrgyz Ballet Reina Chokoeva