This was one of the first drills Bran designed from me. I would be in the skin of a prima donna. A very sophisticated one, in fact - something between an opera singer and a ballerina. To be accurate: a Maria Callas and a Maya Plisetskaya, all in one.
It was obvious that Maria Callas had had a dark side: to begin with, she had been a dramatic opera singer, and she had performed many tragic female roles throughout her career: Madame Butterfly, Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna Bolena, Norma, Aida... She had been in love with Aristotle Onassis but the feeling wasn't fully reciprocated. His biographers say she had to have at least an abortion while involved with the Greek magnate.
Callas had been cursed and blessed by a gift that made her incredibly unhappy, bringing her worldwide and lasting fame, and granting her glory. When she was at the top of a career that any human being would desire, her vocal decline started. Apparently, her rapid and progressive weight loss (she lost 80 pounds altogether) made Callas lose both strength in her singing and stamina. She died of a heart attack after a long vocal decline which undermined her self-confidence and her courage.
As regards Maya Plisetskaya, her dark side wasn't so obvious. She had been a gifted ballet dancer, and critics say her ability "changed the world of ballet, setting a higher standard for ballerinas both in terms of technical brilliance and dramatic presence". But Maya's background wasn't much in the public eye, as Callas's life used to be. Why was that? Not only because Maya was Russian in the times of the USSR but also because she belonged to an unprivileged minority. In fact, she was born into a Jewish family that used to be prominent, but in the end, suffered the consequences of revolutions and illnesses brought about by communism. Maya's father was executed during the Stalinist purges. His crime? He hired a friend who had been Trotsky's secretary. Maya's mother, who was a a silent-film actress, was arrested and sent to a Gulag -a labour camp-, together with her seven-month old child. So Maya was adopted by her maternal aunt, who was a ballerina, until her mother was released.
When Maya became a talented ballet dancer herself, she was not treated well by the Bolshoi management. She was Jewish in a climate that was clearly anti-Semitic, and her personality was seen as defiant; that's why after joining the Bolshoi, she was not allowed to tour outside the country for six years, until president Nikita Kruschev gave her permission to travel abroad.
The drill was really interesting and challenging; it kept me motivated for a whole hour. Bran could be really inspiring! His drills have left an indelible mark on my psyche, changing the world I saw myself, my body and my spirit, as well as nature - the environment, all living creatures, the true nature of man itself. This is something I will definitely never ever regret.
If we talked about regrets - well, I'd say it's been so hard to lose Bran in such a violent, unexpected and terrible way. But Morgana Lizbel is the only one to be blamed for that.
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