MEET THE DANCER AND ENTREPRENEUR 

5 MINUTES INTERVIEW 

We met Daniil in New York - the day after a private screening of his short “one” at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center Plaza.
His contagious energy and passion are truly inspiring. Dive into our interview to catch a glimpse of that spirit.

'one' as a title is asking more questions than it's giving answers. It can be understood in many ways and will be hopefully read by each audience member differently. On the one hand it was the first production that we created under the umbrella of Studio Simkin, on the other hand it also represents the "wholeness" of different elements that come together to create a (w)holistic piece of art. The kind of art that we want to create. Also, 'one' is an anagram to 'Neo' from the character in the Matrix and since Matrix was an inspiration for this movie it seemed fitting. Besides, I had only this one chance in my life to pull off this project while I'm in my prime as a classical ballet dancer. In a few years I won't be able to get into the same shape that I was in. 

The idea of a collaboration with the choreographer, David Dawson, started in the pandemic, with our first conversation being in April 2020. We filmed it in April 2021, a year later.

The choreography all starts off in a sense of confinement and limitation only for the dancer to break free and to find a sense of transcendence in face of adversity. Basically, to evolve through struggle. The choreography became deeply meaningful to me as I was telling my own story in a very particular moment in time for myself as an artist.

Difficult to say as it varies widely. It depends on my level of preparation for the show that I am performing as well as the circumstances, the stage and the environment. I am trying to calibrate my inner state of being ever so slightly nervous for each show. 

The final result always ends up differently than what you imagined it. That's the beauty of ambitious projects with a lot of collaborators and elements. Being a control-freak myself, I find it hard to delegate tasks, but in the end, of course you have to. I'm trying to let go at some point when a project takes on a life on its own. That's equally the most scary moment, but also the most rewarding. When all the pieces of the puzzle finally create the whole picture. One thing I will do differently next time though. The whole process took us almost three years with the film, for various reasons I will not go into, but at this point I have a hard time seeing myself in the film anymore. To a degree I'm burned-out with it because I was also involved in each element of the production. The drawn out process takes a toll on my sanity, especially since all of it is personal and centered about my self-image. It's definitely not healthy.

I truly believe that dance has not been fully explored on the medium of film to its full potential. I would love to create a feature-length film with just dance. There have been explorations of this concept, for example in "Le Bal" from 1983 from Ettore Scola, but I think that dance as a language to be used in tandem with the language of film-making can create very powerful and not-yet seen experiences.

A way of giving

Interview by Francesca Valente / 102 NYC