Imagination the Starting Point
Monika Rostomian has a number of talents: dancer, actress, figure skater, puppeteer and illusionist. But she truly excels as a teacher and at The Academy of Nevada Ballet Theatre, Monika's five and six-year-olds have the door of imagination flung wide open for them. They are invited to step into a world where rabbits talk and violins laugh. It's a world where impressionable children learn to imagine, a valuable skill that will one day add life to technique.
It is for this reason that Monika, early on, seeks an individual connection to her students so she can maximize each one's potential in the arts. "Usually when I saw children first time, I just want to know what kind of person this five year old is, because five years old is already a person. What she has, how she talk. I ask them lots of question, how they answer. I ask 'Can rabbit cry?' Somebody say no; somebody say yes. This is mean they can imagine. This is natural. This is not only toy or picture. They have life. 'Can rabbit talk? 'No.' Say, 'But they have their own language.' Some children say, 'Yes, they can.' This mean this girl have imagination."
And gradually, she extends the exercise to music. "Music, this is not only count. Music, this is imagination. Every music has rhythm. Stravinsky has rhythm but not everybody can open imagination and go inside Stravinsky's music. Why composer use violin, trombone, trumpet, percussion, cello? Because every instrument has their soul. Now sometimes violin can laugh, sometimes violin can cry. They talk. There's a dialogue with full orchestra."
Not something children can hear right away. "They can hear just one instrument. Why we use lots of only piano? Because they can hear only piano. You start to give them with violin, they can't hear it. They will start to listen. If piano go one-two and violin go 'and,' they can't hear." So Monika wisely begins her first-year students with piano music, nothing more. Slowly, slowly, she opens their minds to possibility.
Perhaps Monika is acutely aware of the difference imagination can make because, she admits, her own needed some prodding to get going. She said, "I was eight years old when my public school, came in many teachers and say, 'Oh, this girl can come up for audition.' I didn't want to dance. I want to be more drama actress. I knew lots of poetry. I want to read Russian, Armenian."
"I was very, very skinny and just they like and want, so they say, 'Ok, we just take. She doesn't have too much ability for dance but she's very sweet." It wasn't until they put her on a stage that she blossomed. "I came on the stage and just smell what I couldn't see - this wings smell, this makeup, this costume. This is like celebration for me. And when I come on this stage, I just think, 'This is what I really want.'"
From her native Armenia, she was eventually sent to St. Petersburg on scholarship, where Natalya Dudinskaya handpicked her for class. She danced with the Moscow Festival Ballet and Ballet of Russia before quitting at 25 years old to major in Art Choreography at the State Theatrical Art University in Moscow.
"My teacher at university, she say, 'You think you are a good teacher? Go and teach and show. Don't say what you are teacher. Show me you are good teacher. You say you are good dancer, good principal dancer? Ok, so show me. Don't tell me. Don't just show me your resume. Just dance."
Most of all, she learned to encourage every student, regardless of capability. "Teacher have to be psychologist. Teacher is same like doctor. Every word you have to control. You can't say, 'No, it's not time for you. Just forget, you can't do, you never will do.' No, you can't say that. You can't cut children's hopes. I say, 'Thank you for trying to do your best.' They were trying but they cannot do. Now we try one more time."
But it's not a matter of simple psychology for Monika. She treasures each child. "I like everybody. This is children. How you can say, 'I don't like her?' This is children. This is like flowers, puppies. You love them."
And, she said, "If somebody quit, I criticize myself. I analyze myself. If somebody quit, I did something wrong. It's always painful for me if somebody quit."
"I always say is not important to say, 'I cannot do.' Is important to say, 'I want.' Of course you cannot. Of course. Why you come to me? You want to learn? I will teach you." And she'll teach far more than steps. She'll teach each student to open the mind to possibility, interpretation, to the nuance and soul of dance.