Alexei Mishin: Now our condition and philosophy of life can be compared with an anthill
Alexei Mishin about continuous work during self-isolation, horticultural successes, ants, grasshoppers and snails, as well as what awaits figure skating after the virus.
by Sergei Bury for sportsdaily.ru dd. 3d April, 2020
Alexei Nikolaevich, how do you spend time in self-isolation mode?
– I moved to the country house with my family. I am a big fan of all kinds of gardening things. I do domestic work, maintain my physical condition. Choreographer Tatiana Prokofieva gives online classes for our main group. I am the head of the Department of Speed Skating and Figure Skating in the Lesgaft University. Today, we had a video meeting of department heads — we discussed the problems of providing the educational process in remote mode.
Even during self-isolation you are a busy person.
– Now our condition and philosophy of life can be compared with an anthill. You look at this big pile of brushwood in the forest and it seems that everything is dead there. But in fact, there is an active life. Sports ants do their job, each drags its own little straw. So I imagine the current state of figure skating and sports in general.
You said you love gardening. It is interesting.
– My favorite hobby in gardening is to plant and transplant from place to place. Speaking of me as a summer resident, I am not so much a builder as a gardener. I like to grow plants – apple trees, pears and everything else. For me, it’s very exciting.
Do you keep track of what your students are doing now? Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, for example, creates the program in online mode with her followers.
– Sure. Yuri Smekalov will do the choreography. This is a choreographer whom I involved in figure skating many years ago. Once I talked to people from the ballet world. Asked whom they can suggest. They immediately told me about Smekalov. When I asked him, it turned out that he was a very talented person, a wonderful dancer who went through school of Boris Eifman. Now he is a brilliant choreographer – his talent extends beyond the pointes and ballet scene. He puts on dramatic performances. And so I invited him to put a program for Liza Tuktamysheva. He had a very interesting idea, I supported. I hope this will be a strong phenomenon in figure skating.
You and your students obviously have something to do. And what can you advise to people who go crazy from inaction, sitting at home?
– I would not advise anything. People were born either grasshoppers or snails. Grasshoppers are jumping, snails are crawling. I advise snails to start moving faster, and grasshoppers to jump more calmly, balance their lives. A balanced style is always more creative.
What do you think will happen to figure skating after the situation with coronavirus calms down? Will World Championships be held?
– This year’s World championships, I think, will not take place, but figure skating will live. No need for false panic, everything will be alright. I think that new times will give us new heroes and we will continue to enjoy life and figure skating.
Related topics: Alexei Mishin
Can you please also translate Elena Vaytsekhovskaya’s recent interview of Valentyn Nikolayev?