The broken heart of a ballerina: Why Lyudmila Semenyaka considers herself a loser

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At the age of 17, she was invited to the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater by Yuri Grigorovich, and very soon Lyudmila Semenyaka began to dance the leading roles. Her mentor was Galina Ulanova herself, and the theater became for the young ballerina the focus of her whole life. It was here that she met her first love, here she first met betrayal. She was married to Mikhail Lavrovsky and Andris Liepa. And yet Lyudmila Semenyaka confesses with regret: as a woman she lost.

Sudden marriage

Her acquaintance with ballet began at the Zhdanov Palace of Pioneers, and a year later, 10-year-old Lyudmila Semenyaka was enrolled in the Vaganov School. She was only 17 years old when, after the International Competition of Ballet Dancers in Moscow, where Lyudmila won a bronze medal, she was invited to the troupe by the chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater, Yuri Grigorovich.

True, she was not released from the Kirov theater right away, Lyudmila had to work for two years according to distribution after graduating from the Vaganovsky school. At the same time, the ballerina's teacher Nina Viktorovna Belikova not only reminded the Mariinsky leadership that the girl should be released, but also personally decided to arrange the personal life of her student.

She introduced Lyudmila to the son of her friend Elena Chikvaidze, Mikhail Lavrovsky. As the ballerina admits, it was simply impossible not to fall in love with him: a handsome, stately, incredibly charismatic man charmed her at first sight. They saw each other only twice until the moment when Mikhail, already a famous dancer, right in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, invited Lyudmila to become his wife. And she agreed without even thinking.

Two months later, Lyudmila became the wife of Mikhail Lavrovsky. They danced together, and Lyudmila very often asked herself the question: why did she get such happiness. She was incredibly happy. She loved Michael with all the strength and passion of which she was only capable.

But the first alarm bell sounded after she became pregnant. The mother-in-law persuaded the young daughter-in-law to get rid of pregnancy, recalling her own career and the career of Mikhail. The truth was that Elena Chikvidze knew for sure: her son did not feel the same feelings as his wife. No, he loved her, only much more restrainedly. He admired her beauty and talent, but he was not ready to refuse the attention of other women either.

When Lyudmila Semenyaka found out about her husband's romance with her best friend, her world seemed to collapse. She packed her things and left, but in the theater she continued to dance with him for several more years … Galina Ulanova, seeing how the student was suffering, literally forced her to pull herself together, quite harshly explaining that she had a profession and that, in any case, not too little. And only art can save her.

A failed wedding

Over the next few years, Lyudmila Semenyaka allowed herself to suffer only on stage. And then she made friends with the famous dancer Alexander Godunov, who at a difficult moment, when one of his colleagues unsuccessfully made fun of Lyudmila, stood up for her.

They danced in pairs and gradually a non-business relationship arose between Alexander and Lyudmila. Alexander sincerely loved his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, but his closeness with Lyudmila Semenyaka grew from an excess of feelings experienced on stage and in the rehearsal room. This support and participation was then very necessary for Lyudmila, and therefore romantic feelings were far from the most important in their relationship. They were connected much more seriously and reliably by a kind of kinship of souls. Their romance was very short-lived, and deep friendship and mutual respect remained for many years.

When Lyudmila Semenyaka learned that Alexander Godunov decided to stay abroad, she experienced an incredible shock. So strong that she even canceled her own wedding. She has already agreed to the composer Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov to become his wife.

Experiencing Godunov's flight, she realized that she did not love her future husband enough to associate her whole life with him. Lyudmila Semenyaka was scared that she would not be able to match the scale of the personality and talent of the person who loved her.

Repeated loss

Lyudmila Semenyaka was talented and in demand, she toured the whole world, she was invited as a soloist to the most famous theaters. Naturally, the ballerina did not suffer from the lack of male attention. But after breaking up with Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, she did not reciprocate with anyone. Until Andris Liepa appeared in her life.

She knew him from childhood, danced with his father Maris Liepa, and often visited his house. Andris was 10 years younger than her and admired the ballerina's talent since childhood. After he began dancing at the Bolshoi Theater, he began to court Lyudmila. He left flowers at her door, invited her for walks, rode a boat.

And at some point, Lyudmila Semenyaka decided to surrender to the will of the senses. She was tired of her own seclusion and loneliness, Andris was so touching and so in love. She was happy again. Lyudmila taught him to drive and supported him in the profession; during a tour in Crimea, he brought her peaches every morning and carried them in his arms, without embarrassment.

Lyudmila Semenyaka was not going to get married, but yielded to Andris's persuasion and became his wife. She persuaded the management of the theater to give the young dancer an opportunity to prove herself, she herself danced with him in The Nutcracker. And she soon realized that she again made a mistake in her choice. Andris was in love with her, but did not love her, he used her as a springboard for his own takeoff and somehow very quickly lost interest in his wife.

At home he was very nice to her, but in society he behaved unceremoniously and even rudely. Several times the couple parted, after Andris asked for forgiveness, and Lyudmila forgave him. They divorced a year after the wedding, but lived together for several more years.

Andris Liepa and Lyudmila Semenyaka still hoped to somehow smooth out the irregularities in the relationship and even decided to have a joint child. True, the ballerina's two pregnancies ended in failure, she lost the babies even before birth. She later admitted that she lost as a woman. She could have met a real man and started a normal family, but she spent time and energy raising an adult who just used her.

Main man

And yet fate made Lyudmila the most important gift in her life: she became a mother. Lyudmila Semenyaka still hides the name of the man who became the father of her only son Ivan. But the godfather of Ivan was the first husband of Lyudmila Semenyaka, Mikhail Lavrovsky.

At the same time, Ivan and the ballerina herself call him a great man. The son of Lyudmila Ivanovna always knew who his father was. This man took part in raising the boy, but he simply could not marry his mother. He was already not free.

Nevertheless, Lyudmila Semenyaka and her son Ivan always speak of this unknown man with deep respect and gratitude. And the ballerina admits: in spite of everything, she is a very happy person. She made many mistakes, but fate has always been favorable to her. Now she believes that her son will be able to fulfill her dream of a big friendly family. She expects that Ivan will soon meet his fate, marry and give her grandchildren.

Ballet is called an integral part of the art of our country. Russian ballet is considered the most authoritative and standard in the world. We invite you to remember success stories of five great Russian ballerinas, which are still equal.