March 1935
The artists of the Alexandrov Ensemble were thrilled. They heard people from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy were coming to CSKA to watch their concert. Initially, no one knew exactly who would be attending. Alexandrov had kept it a secret, instructing the group only to rehearse a few military songs and several opera pieces. However, realising that the chosen opera songs were typically used for ballet performances, some members speculated that the audience would include ballerinas... or maybe also ballerinos. Sure enough, on the day of the performance, Alexandrov were accompanied by a middle-aged man and woman; he introduced the man as the director of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and the woman as one of the ballet instructors. The director introduced himself as Viktor Semyonov and expressed a keen interest in watching the ensemble.
Later, in the ground-floor performance hall, the members of the Alexandrov Ensemble looked out at the audience. Almost all of them are female ballerinas and only handful of ballerinos. The ballerinas whispered among themselves, and quite often giggling softly.
The chatter ceased when Alexandrov entered and raised his conductor's baton. A larger number of orchestra members participated this time, given the program's focus on opera, while the choir members sang only sparingly, joining in at specific musical intervals. The performance concluded with the "Red Cavalry" dance. The ballerinas watched in awe at the agility of the ensemble's dancers, impressed by their skill despite the fact that most had not undergone the formal choreographic training typical of the Bolshoi dancers.
After performing the opera pieces which usually associated with ballet, the artists returned backstage to rest. Some discussed rumors about the ballet academy, while others talked about their crushes on one or two of the particularly attractive ballerinas. The conversation was cut short when Anatoli and Oleg summoned everyone to the rehearsal hall. The entire artists obeyed and headed together toward the second floor.
Vadim, however, did not follow them. He walked straight to the far right corner of the floor, heading for the restroom; he needed to answer the call of nature he had been suppressing during the concert. Once at the urinal, he relieved himself with satisfaction.
"Alright, time to head back to the hall," Vadim said to himself. He smoothed down the small tuft of hair atop his head and left the restroom.
Just as he stepped out, he spotted a ballerina walking toward the restroom. She was stunning—with sparkling gray eyes and lips that seemed perpetually curved into a smile. Her dark brown hair was swept up in a bun secured with a floral clip, giving her a sweet appearance. Her outfit was simple; a light blue wool top paired with a cream-colored ruffled skirt—yet her look clearly bespoke a wealthy background. Vadim was so captivated that he didn't notice himself tripping over his own feet as he exited. Disastrously, he fell right in front of the ballerina in an embarrassing heap; his gymnastyorka tunic rode up, exposing his back.
"Ouch! You okay there?!" she spoke as she try to pull Vadim to stand by himself.
"Don't worry, I keep forgetting there is broken tile that could trip anyone..." Vadim's face ashamed when he get up and spruce his gymnastyorka.
"Ah, then... glad that you are doing okay. I guess I can rest assured," that woman immediately entering the women's restroom without telling Vadim any goodbye word.
Vadim stared at the now-closed restroom door. "Good grief... I made things more awkward..." Vadim marveled, especially to remembered a female ballerina can easily pull a tall man like him. But then he tried to refocuse and head back to the rehearsal hall.
When Vadim returned, the superiors hadn't arrived yet. He went back to his spot in domra section and listened to the chatter beside him.
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June 1935
This time, it was the turn of the Alexandrov Ensemble artists to visit the Bolshoi Theatre. The dance performed by the ballerinas itself was relatively simple, yet their agile and graceful movements captivated the ensemble artists, drawing their attention more to the dancers' poise and beauty than to the choreography. Unaware of the backstory, Alexandrov simply smiled, admiring the flawless execution of the choreography and the musical arrangement, which appeared straightforward to master. An hour later, the performance concluded, and the entire Alexandrov Ensemble moved from the auditorium to the Bolshoi Theatre’s main hall to meet Viktor Semyonov.
As there was a brief interval before Viktor Semyonov’s arrival, Vadim took the opportunity to go to toilet for washing his face. He had been holding back the exhaustion and sleepiness during the performance, not to mention the vile father's whispers still nagging him. After asking a janitor for directions, he walked down the first-floor corridor in search of the restroom. There, he saw a young woman; still in her ballerina attire, and stepping out of the ladies' room. She then accidentally slipped on water pooling outside the restroom.
But Vadim instinctively caught and grabbed her hand before she fell backward. To his surprise, the ballerina turned out to be the same woman who had once met at him three months ago. She lowered her head in embarrassment, unwilling to show her face to him.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Vadim asked gently.
The woman nodded repeatedly, her gaze still lowered, "Why are you willing to help?" she said, looking embarrassed.
Vadim smiled broadly despite confused as hell, "I guess it's normal thing?"
"Well, you know well if I fell backward and hit my coccyx, I will retire from my career too early," Tatyana admitted.
"Huh? Coccyx?" Vadim's question surprised her, but she then pulled a small smile.
"It's a small bone above your butt, controlling your legs' balance. Once it broken, your entire legs limped and you will be wheelchaired forever," explained that young woman patiently.
"Ah... okay, thank you for telling me. It will be a warning for myself to not falling carelessly, too..."
They both finally chuckled over the awkwardness of their meeting. They decided to walked inside the hallway, as there is still several hour before the ensemble has to leave the academy.
"Tatiana Nikitina. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Vadim," said the ballerina, after Vadim introduced his name.
"Hey, could I get your address? Who knows, maybe one day I could take you out... and get to know you better?" Vadim asked in hopeful.
Tatiana shook her head and lamented, "I’m staying at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy dormitory for the time being. Only can get out after I graduated... and I doubt I can just come and go as I please."
Vadim almost feel disappointed, though later his eyes glistened when Tatiana suddenly added in playful voice, "But actually during summer breaks like this, I’m totally free. How about we hangout tomorrow? Saturday?"
"Sounds good. Want me to pick you up from here?"
"No, let's meet at Sukharev park. Or that annoying Semyonov will caught us, and lecture about mere conduct law of ballerinas," Tatiana rolled her eyes, and Vadim can only pull a wry smile.
And so, they shook hands to seal the agreement and say their goodbyes, then Vadim returned to the hall to rejoin the others. Just then, Alexandrov and entire superiors from Bolshoi Theatre Academy are arrived in the hall to announce an important news to all artists.
Surely the news of adding the ballerina as female dancers in the ensemble excites them, include Vadim.