Viewers were divided in their assessments of her performance
A heated discussion over the past weekend was caused by the number shown on November 26 in the TV show “Ice Age” by the wife of the press secretary Tatyana Navka and her partner Andrei Burkovsky. In the performance, its participants embodied the images of concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust.
The public’s reception of Navka and Burkovsky’s speech was diametrically opposed: some accused them of “mockery” over the memory of the victims, while others pointed out that the topic of the Holocaust deserves similar reflection. At the same time, a number of viewers judged only by photographs in which Navka and Burkovsky were captured in “camp robes.”
Foreign publications, in particular the Daily Mail, also drew attention to the situation.
The author of the issue, Ilya Averbukh, explained to Komsomolskaya Pravda the reasons for the “joy” of the performers: according to him, the next episode of the show was dedicated to the theme of world cinema, and therefore the plot of Roberto Benigni’s film “Life is Beautiful” was embodied on ice. His characters - a Jewish family who ended up in a concentration camp - imitate the atmosphere of the game for their son so that he hides and does not get noticed by the guards. At the end of the film, the concentration camp is liberated by American troops, but the head of the family dies from a Nazi bullet.
According to Averbukh, such a plot and its embodiment on ice make one feel the tragedy of the Holocaust even more strongly.
It should be noted that the President of the Holocaust Foundation, Alla Gerber, also, unlike the Internet audience, refrained from criticizing the plot. She stated that although there should be no irony when covering the Holocaust, a smile is acceptable, since even in concentration camps people continued to live and love.
And here is a comment on the story on the Internet from one of the viewers: “You have gone crazy! Smiles in robes with yellow stars! The hall exploding with applause... No taste, no tact, no understanding.”
Navka herself, according to her, put absolutely certain meaning. “Our children must know and remember that terrible time, which I hope, God willing, they will never know!” - she wrote on her Instagram.
Navka and Burkovsky's dance about the Holocaust caused criticism in Western media.
The dance, which was performed by Tatyana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky in the Ice Age program, caused a lot of criticism and misunderstanding. After the release of the next program, in which Navka and Burkovsky performed a number on the theme of the Holocaust, unflattering reviews appeared on the Internet and in the Western press about the theme and nature of the performance.
The main reason that some users and journalists began to write negative and sometimes even offensive reviews to the participants " Ice Age”, became banal ignorance and inattention. What is striking about this dance is that the dancers, dressed in the uniforms of concentration camp prisoners with the Star of David on their chests, smile, have fun and seem to be fooling around. This may seem like a mockery of the Holocaust theme only to those who did not know that Navka and Burkovsky took as the basis for their speech famous film, a tragicomedy by Roberto Benigni " Life is beautiful", which received three Oscars at once. According to the plot of the film, father and son end up in a Nazi concentration camp, where children and old people are killed in gas chambers. To save his son and protect him from all the horrors that are happening around him, the father convinces the child that everything around him is just a funny game. To become the winner of this game, you need to follow certain rules - don’t cry, don’t complain, don’t ask for food, don’t show yourself to the soldiers.
However, despite the fact that the film was identified in the speech as the main story, some foreign media, including CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, published unflattering comments about the speech, without failing to say that Tatyana Navka is the wife of the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
Tatiana Navka and Andrey Burkovsky dance “Life is Beautiful” video
Heated discussions in social networks about the performance on the ice of Tatyana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky do not subside, and last days crossed the borders of Russia. Posts about this collected thousands (!) of comments (as, for example, on the Facebook page of the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova).
World media, including CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, published materials and reports about the dance to the music from the film “Life is Beautiful” (La vita è bella).
And this already looks like some kind of artificially whipped up hysteria, and about an issue that clearly does not involve such large-scale online debates, RIA Novosti believes.
Last Saturday, Tatyana and Andrey performed a number in the “Ice Age” program (Channel One) in the image of concentration camp prisoners - in striped robes with a Star of David on the chest.
The theme of the competition that day was famous movies. The couple, together with coach Ilya Averbukh, chose the song “Beautiful That Way” from Roberto Benigni’s tragicomedy “Life is Beautiful” for their performance. In the dance number, the parents-prisoners pretend to play " wonderful life"for your child, in order to protect him from the horrors of the concentration camp and not let him realize what a terrible reality they are all in.
But can you imagine what the viewer thinks if he doesn’t know that the performance is based on “Life is Beautiful” (the film, by the way, won three Oscars, the Cannes Grand Prize and many other awards)?
Tatyana and Andrey cheerfully dance, play, almost fool around on the ice - they show the child a “wonderful life.”
And at the same time, there are bars all around, a blinding spotlight, a camp metal mesh; Security shepherd dogs bark, machine gun fire is heard. Main character is dying. The hall at the end of the room froze - ringing silence.
Channel One video
But excerpts from videos of actors dancing merrily in uniforms with yellow stars and screenshots of smiling skaters against the backdrop of six-point ratings have spread across the Internet. How will social network users react to this when scrolling through their news feed? If you don’t delve into it for a long time, focus on catchy headlines without seeing the whole dance, then yes, a carefree dance in a concentration camp is strange.
And the headlines in recent days have been something like this:
The Guardian: "Holocaust on Ice" performed by the wife of a Putin official causes outrage."
The New York Times: “Russian controversy over Holocaust ice program:
Tatyana Navka, the wife of the press secretary of the Russian president, and her partner Andrei Burkovsky appeared in Ice Age dressed in striped robes with yellow stars.
Daily Mai: "Skating on thin ice. The wife of Vladimir Putin's press secretary is causing outrage at a Holocaust-themed program on a Russian dance show."
BBC: The wife of Putin's press secretary is being scolded for a number about the Holocaust.
Everywhere, in addition to the topic of the Holocaust, there is a mention of the wife of the press secretary of the Russian president. This, in fact, is the main topic for inciting a scandal. The words “outrage... Holocaust... scandal... wife of the press secretary... Vladimir Putin” stand expressively next to each other - a clickable combination, the reader/viewer will definitely react.
Dance director, coach and producer Ilya Averbukh was outraged by the negative reaction and criticism of the Western media:
“It’s crazy that this can be discussed at all. It’s wild in everything - in the presentation, in the hysteria, in the lack of professionalism that can be seen in articles from foreign media,” says Averbukh.
By the way, Ilya Averbukh also staged “Funeral Prayer” - the Olympic program of Yulia Lipnitskaya to music from “Schindler’s List”. The 15-year-old figure skater then became the champion in team competitions, and the director of the film, Steven Spielberg, then sent Julia a letter of praise.
Tatyana Navka also danced a number based on the same film in 2013.
The presenter of “Ice Age” Marat Basharov then cheerfully, like a circus entertainer, announced: “Tatiana Navka and Vadim Kolganov are on Schindler’s list!” And - nothing, there were no loud headlines or hype on the topic on social networks.
It’s just that at that time the Olympic champion was not the wife of the press secretary of the Russian president - that is, and an information source for international scandal it seems like it wasn't.
The theme of the Holocaust is now reflected in new genres, forms and subjects, they are beginning to talk about it in a different way - not only in the language of documentary chronicles and showing terrible footage from concentration camps.
The plot of “Life is Beautiful” echoes, for example, the plot of the film “Toyland” (2009, Oscar for best short film): a German Frau tells her child that his friend David is not going to a concentration camp, but to a certain “country” toys." Only now Heinrich decided to go to " fabulous trip"following David.
Among the notable films that have been awarded various prizes, one way or another related to the theme of the Holocaust are “Gold-Rimmed Glasses”, “Sophie’s Choice”, “Süskind”, “In the Labyrinth of Silence”, as well as the Russian film “Shoes” directed by Konstantin Fama.
The film “Shoes” received more than 10 international prizes, including at the Jewish Festival in San Diego, and was nominated by Russia for the Oscar in 2012.
It's not even a filmed dance. In the novella, the main “heroine” is shoes, women’s shoes. There are no faces visible in the frame, no dialogue, only music.
This year, the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater presented the opera “The Passenger” by Moses Weinberg based on the autobiographical play by Zofia Posmysz - about the fate of prisoners of Auschwitz.
And in St. Petersburg in 2015 Academic theater ballet named after Jacobson staged the one-act play “Stone Coast”:
Surely there would be no stylistic and ideological complaints about the performances “Stone Coast” and “Passenger” such as “everything is for sale”, “how did it go” and “TV shows in camp robes is a shame” (and similar comments about the dance from “ There are a lot of Ice Ages now). In these and other works, dedicated to the topic war and suffering - most often the usual presentation.
The number for “Ice Age” really stands out from the traditional style of staging such stories.
Much of the dance is about the feelings of a man and woman loving and protecting each other and their child.
All around is beauty unusual for the Holocaust theme: bright lighting, glitter, flowers. Of course, the style is completely different from Benigni’s film, but this is at least a different reality - television, and different technical capabilities, a different time (the tragicomedy “Life is Beautiful” was filmed almost 20 years ago).
Of course, using latest features television, it was possible to make a tragic, mournful number - as usual. But the plot of the film “Life is Beautiful” is just unusual: illusory beauty, a great deception for salvation, an attempt to create a beautiful world in the darkness of the concentration camp.
Tatiana and Andrey often smiled while dancing for an imaginary child, their cheerful movements sometimes seemed unnatural - and this is a game quite adequate to the plot: is it possible to easily portray joy when there is horror all around? If it were just a number about a happy family, then, of course, the emotions would probably be different, not so deliberate.
And that's all - to the sweet composition Beautiful That Way by Israeli singer Noa. Her video is subtle, gentle, seemingly carefree: the singer runs and plays with a little boy, all this alternates with footage from the film, including in a concentration camp - which, however, does not outrage anyone, does not offend anyone’s feelings.
It’s still surprising that a work created not for aesthetes, but for the mass audience of a popular TV show, caused so much controversy both in Russia and abroad. But this is also a search for new artistic forms- that’s how it turns out.
And it’s completely normal that someone doesn’t like it, someone finds it unacceptable, and we can discuss “Holocaust on Ice” for a long time from the standpoint of style and art. But why such hysterics?
On November 26 in Russia, Channel One, as part of the “Ice Age” program, showed a performance by Tatyana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky “Beautiful That Way” based on the Italian film “Life is Beautiful.” Navka and Burkovsky took to the ice in the uniforms of concentration camp prisoners and with yellow stars.
The number caused, to put it mildly, mixed reactions.
There are also more loyal opinions, for example, the opinion of the editor-in-chief of the N+1 website Andrei Konyaev.
About the fuss that arose around the speech of the wife of Putin’s press secretary, for example, The Huffington Post. One of the Russian commentators wrote that Navka and Burkovsky should be “sent to where such pajamas are issued.” In particular, blogger @Lndcalling said that Channel One has gone crazy. The Daily Mail says the Russian president should force the show's creators to apologize for making a mockery of the Holocaust. A note about the disgraced program and The New York Times.
A photo posted by Tatiana Navka (@tatiana_navka) on Nov 26, 2016 at 11:22am PST
Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov also responded to criticism from his wife. In a conversation with Life, he said: “I don’t think this is an issue that concerns the Kremlin. And due to my work, I am limited to comment in any way,” Peskov noted. “I’m proud of my wife, that’s all I can say.”
“Life is Beautiful” is an Italian tragicomedy, released in 1997, directed by Roberto Benigni. The film tells the story of how, during World War II, a father tries to save his son from the Nazis by convincing him that the horrors taking place are just a game.
Tatiana Navka artistically reimagined the Holocaust. She received the highest score from the jury, a compliment from her husband, criticism from Internet users, and gratitude from the Jews.
frame from the official video of Channel One
Over the weekend, the Channel One show “Ice Age” became the second most discussed after the death of Fidel Castro. The wife of the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation and figure skater Tatyana Navka danced in a camp uniform with a Star of David on her chest. The interpretation of the Oscar-winning film “Life is Beautiful” turned out to be controversial. The athlete was booed even by the audience of Channel One, but was positively noted by representatives of the Jewish community.
The ninth day of the Ice Age show on Channel One was dedicated to world cinema. The couples chose recognizable bestsellers “Leon”, “Kill Bill”, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. The performance was completed by the Olympic champion figure skating and the wife of the presidential press secretary, Tatyana Navka, with her partner Andrei Burkovsky, an actor and member of KVN.
In the lead-up to the performance, presenters Alexey Yagudin and Alla Mikheeva reasoned that the title of Navka’s act could become the motto of the entire “Ice Age.”
"Apocalypse Now?" – Alla asked with her trademark coquetry. “Life is wonderful,” Yagudin replied.
Before the show, Tatyana Navka was also given the floor. “We are, of course, looking forward to it. Our movie is Hollywood. We took the music from the movie "Life is Beautiful." It’s about a concentration camp,” said the figure skater, wringing her hands.
And the number began. Heroes in prison uniforms with yellow Stars of David presented a cheerful pantomime. At the end of the performance, the hero was shot, the heroine’s face showed pain.
All judges gave the highest scores for artistry and technique. Navka and Burkovsky rejoiced and hugged. After the show aired, they wrote on their Instagram accounts: “Be sure to watch! One of my favorite numbers! Based on one of my favorite movies, Life is Beautiful! Show this film to your children, definitely. P.S. Our children must know and remember that terrible time, which I hope they will never know!” – wrote Tatyana Navka.
Burkovsky refrained from explaining: “6.0. 6.0)))".
The film “Life is Beautiful” was filmed in 1997. It tells about the concentration days of a Jew, his Italian wife (who voluntarily followed her husband) and their five-year-old son. The Jew convinced the child that the horrors of the Auschwitz (Auschwitz) camp were a game and one had to follow the rules. The child accepts the conditions and is saved. The father is shot. The film received three Oscars, including for music. At the 1999 awards ceremony, director Roberto Benigni jumped on chairs, jumped onto the stage and enthusiastically hugged Sophia Loren.
There was a reaction after the TV show. User Durevestnik wrote: “Navka showed everyone how much fun the prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps had. And whoever disagrees with this is a falsifier of history.”
The information surge has reached the Kremlin. Dmitry Peskov found an opportunity to praise his wife. AP Moscow correspondent Natalya Vasilyeva tweeted: “I asked Peskov about Tatyana Navka’s dance. He replied: “I’m proud of my wife - that’s all I can say.”
Navka in a robe was actively discussed abroad. The most popular adjectives applied to dance are “offensive”, “disgusting”, “inappropriate”, “incompetent”.
American comedian Michael Ian Black also took part in the controversy. He made a subtle joke about the number: “It might have seemed offensive if the ice dancing from the Auschwitz era had not been recreated with all the care.”
When Twitter users wrote to him that the Russians actually liberated Auschwitz and lost 22 million people in World War II, Black responded: “No one questions Russia's incredible sacrifice in the war. Maybe it’s just inappropriate to show this in ice dancing.”
The Israeli publication Haaretz also noted the ambiguity of the use of the Holocaust theme in entertainment programs: “Holocaust on ice: the wife of Putin’s assistant caused controversy by skating in the uniform of a concentration camp prisoner.”
The German Spiegel limited itself to describing Navka’s number, her social status(the wife of a Kremlin representative) and a message that the speech “caused criticism from the United States.”
“When you visit there, it won’t occur to you to do such numbers,” says Navka’s subscriber bahtinov.design.
“Elite” doesn’t know how to be sophisticated,” Igor.mironov.9615 couldn’t pass by.
“Drawing caricatures of a tragedy, for example, like in Charlie Hebdo magazine, is normal, but doing an act on ice that does not imply a desire to laugh or offend someone is blasphemy?” – anna_karelina1990 defended the couple.
A fan of Svetlanaleg53 wanted to please Tatyana Navka, but it turned out ambiguous: “You fit incredibly well with the image. Bravo".
Following her, many also noted that striped clothes suit Tatyana Navka.
IN official group"Ice Age" on the social network "VKontakte" historical allusions went unnoticed. The Holocaust was not discussed at all, the British press was criticized a little, and that was all. Only 48.8% of voters (235 people) said good things about the number.
“But it seemed to me that this was an exploitation of the theme,” expressed the opinion of a fan of the show, Yulia Kalashnikova.
“Navka’s dancing is not experienced from the inside,” Irina Borzik does not believe the press secretary’s wife.
Under the video on Youtube, Navka and director Ilya Averbukh also got it.
“A blasphemous mockery of the memory of millions of those who were tortured...” – Jewgenia Komarova is sure.
User Maya Paz decided to answer for others too: “You spat in the face of every Jew. This number looks as ridiculous as a disco on the grave of your parents.”
Victoria Razhkovetsky discussed with them: “An excellent reading (of the film. – Ed.) talented authors and performers of this three-minute production. People are deeply touched."
On the Channel One website, the release of “Ice Age” caused negative reviews.
“A completely inappropriate topic for an entertainment show. You leave the movie with a lump in your throat. And here - smiles, applause and praise for technique and artistry. I was only perplexed at how some could come up with such a thing, while others could cheerfully applaud,” writes viewer Pavel Riazanov.
Michael Ratinsky pointed out that the show consists not only of a number in which artistic reinterpretation is permissible, but also of an audience. And her reaction is very controversial: “You've gone crazy! Smiles in robes with yellow stars! The hall exploding with applause... No taste, no tact, no understanding... Incompetent direction.”
The chairman of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg, Mark Grubarg, said in: “The choice of topic is not forbidden. But work of art is assessed by whether it carries a quality message, whether it wakes people up. How big significant work I can't rate this number. The skating did not cause any special aesthetic impressions. Did the characters manage to evoke a sense of tragedy in the audience? That's the question. But now many are looking for points of disagreement that are not conceptual.”
1998 Olympic champion in figure skating Oksana Kazakova supported Navka: “The program brought tears to many people. The guys did not teach the topic (the Holocaust) in a comical way. Figure skating is an art. Through dance we can convey emotions, problems and fear.”
Director Karen Shakhnazarov participates in the jury. He also gave it 6.0. Here is his assessment: “I remember and love this film very well, it is outstanding. There has never been a time when the horrors of the Nazi camps were spoken about in art in such a way that there was lyricism, humor, and the unshakable strength of the human spirit. The guys managed to convey the spirit of this picture, its essence.”
Head of Northwestern public organization disabled Jews, former prisoners of fascist concentration camps and ghettos Pavel Rubinchik, who was in the Minsk ghetto, admitted to Fontanka that he had not seen the film, and therefore could only say about the number: “Skating, pirouettes, lyrics are good, but they are not are consistent with what actually happened. We just wanted to drink and eat and sometimes wished for death. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the tragedy in the performance.”
The head of the public relations department of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Borukh Gorin, left a post on Facebook: “Am I shocked? I'm terrified! I'm horrified by the reaction to this number. Do you want to talk about aesthetic dilemmas, about Adorno's maxim? This is after kilometers of film of kitsch “about the Holocaust”? After Schindler's List and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? “Life is beautiful” also outraged you to the point of nausea? Never mind - Navka has gotten you down the drain. And it is you who use the memory of the victims of the Holocaust for your own selfish purposes. And bow to her. Like anyone who is ready to wear a yellow star in memory of them."
Blogger Anton Nosik wrote in LiveJournal: “For today’s civilization, the Holocaust is nothing more than a historical plot that provides inspiration for books, films, scientific research and, as it now turns out, ice dancing. Dance number Based on the film, I’m not ready to judge whether it’s good or bad, I just don’t know anything about choreography. But there is definitely no insult to either the Jewish people or the victims of the Holocaust. This is just an artistic treatment of a topic that has become global over the past 70 years.”
