The early years, childhood and the family of Alla Dukhovaya
Alla Dukhova was born on November 29, 1966 in the small village of Kosa, located in the Komi-Permyak District of Russia. However, the future dancer practically did not live in this place. Already a year after the birth of their daughter, her parents moved to Riga, where, in fact, the childhood of our today's heroine passed.It was in Latvia that the future celebrity began to show an extraordinary craving for dancing. Starting from the age of eleven, Alla studied in a variety of dance studios and choreographic ensembles. She was praised by teachers and recognized figures of dance art. Her success increased, and therefore, rather soon, the young dancer began to perform with groups of older ages.
When Alla was in the tenth grade, a circus came to Riga on tour. The dancer came to the first performances as a spectator, however, by a happy coincidence, she subsequently managed to get backstage. The decisive role in this case was played by the acquaintance with the daughter of the chief trainer.
After a short conversation, Alla Dukhova managed to attract the head of the circus, and therefore quite unexpectedly managed to get a job on one of the circus attractions. Alla Dukhova gladly accepted the offer of cooperation with the circus troupe, and therefore very soon went on a new tour with the team.
Subsequently, the circus settled in Moldova. A huge crowd of people always came to the performances of the team in Chisinau. Alla Dukhova participated in almost all performances, and therefore very soon managed to become a real star of the local circus troupe. Her career was moving up, but one day all previous successes were crossed out by a serious ankle injury. The verdict of the doctors was disappointing - it was necessary to end a career in the circus.
Anniversary of Alla Dukhovaya
At this moment, a black streak came in the life of a young dancer. Our today's heroine began to work as a janitor, and subsequently found herself a job as a freight forwarder at a moped factory. At that time, the girl was in a depressed state, and therefore rarely got out of a state of depression. However, at one fine moment, all the same dances helped to escape from heavy thoughts.
Even before she came of age, the girl began to teach in the children's dance group of one of the Soviet pioneer camps. Working in a new capacity gave her great pleasure, and therefore, in the classroom, Alla Dukhova always laid out one hundred percent.
The diligence and work of the young teacher was appreciated by the figures of Soviet art, who once invited the girl to work in one of the Houses of Culture. Here, our today's heroine created her first dance ensemble "Experiment", in which she began performing with her sister Dina. The main direction for the dance group was only breakdance that had just appeared in the Soviet Union.
Impressing the audience with their unusual dances, Alla and her sister often won prestigious Grand Prix at various festivals and competitions. The first successes began to bring the girl a considerable profit. The Experiment group performed in various parts of the Baltic states and other regions of the USSR, and therefore, at one fine moment, Alla's favorite hobby became a stable source of income.
The formation of the ballet "Todes" and the subsequent success of Alla Dukhovaya
A new chapter in the bright biography of the dancer began after our today's heroine met the participants of the St. Petersburg ballet "Todos" in Palanga. The guys also danced break dance, but there were no serious successes in that period in their career.Despite this, the choreographic skills of the guys from St. Petersburg made a great impression on Alla Dukhova and her sister Dina, and therefore very soon the dance groups began to perform together.
Alla Dukhovaya's ballet "Todes" - Super DIM defile
On March 8, 1987, the Experiment group and street breakers from St. Petersburg performed on the same stage for the first time. On the same day, a new name for the group, "Todes", formed as a result of the merger of the names of two groups, first appeared on signboards and posters. From the first days of the existence of the new team, Alla Dukhova became its leader and ideological inspirer. After the team went on its first tour, our today's heroine also took on managerial duties for the first time.
As the permanent leader of the cult team, Alla remains today. In the twenty-five years of its existence, "Todes" has reached unprecedented heights and has become a special phenomenon on the Russian and Latvian stage. In different periods of time, the Dukhovoi dance ensemble performed with many Russian and world pop stars.
So, in particular, the choreographic group appeared on stage together with Philip Kirkorov, Tatyana Bulanova, Sofia Rotaru, as well as Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin and many other music stars. Currently, the groups of many pop artists are fully formed exclusively from the former pupils of Alla Dukhovaya.
Some members of the Todes group today perform themselves as musical performers. Singer Angina, Vlad Sokolovsky - all this is still far from a complete list of names.
Alla Dukhova today
Remaining a living embodiment of the dance industry, the ballet "Todes" today continues to perform at major concerts, festivals, as well as show programs. Very often, Alla Dukhovaya's team also appears on stage with solo numbers. Tours of the group continue almost continuously.Currently, our today's heroine continues to lead the ensemble, as well as several dance schools in Russia and other countries of the world. In addition, a talented woman launches her own clothing line.
Personal life of Alla Dukhovaya
Alla Dukhova tells little about her personal life. It is known that now the artist is married for the third time. Her husband's name is Anton. He collaborates with the ballet "Todes" as a director of lighting. From different marriages, Alla Dukhovaya has two sons - Volodya and Kostya. Today, the founder of the Todes ballet lives in Latvia with her family. She has a big house in her native Riga.Alla Dukhova is a choreographer and founder of the famous dance ballet "Todes". Today she is 51 years old and married. According to the sign of the zodiac, Allah is Sagittarius. She is energetic, positive and always fair. Her greatest achievement in life is her family.
Brief biography of Alla Dukhovaya
Our heroine was born in the autumn of 1966 in a small village called Kosa (Russia, Komi-Permyatsky District). A few years after the birth of their daughter, the parents decide to move to Riga for permanent residence. It was in this city that the girl's childhood and early years passed, and it was there that the creative line in her biography began. Alla Dukhova was interested in dancing from an early age. Already in kindergarten, she often built children and showed them dance moves. The teachers especially liked such moments, because they understood that this girl had a talent from God. Before their eyes, the dancing career of Alla Dukhovaya began, whose biography in the future will be of interest to many fans.
The further fate of Alla
During school years, parents also noticed that their child was interested in dancing. After lessons, she often lingered at the entrance to the choreographic class and watched the dancing girls for a long time. When she got home, she could repeat exactly what she saw. Having learned about this, the parents decide to enroll Alla in the Riga Music School in order to develop an ear for music.
Then the daughter said that she dreams of connecting her life with dancing. And then another graph appeared in the biography of Alla Dukhova: a member of the Ivushka folk dance group. The girl was taken there by her mother, who in every possible way wanted to help her daughter in the realization of her dream. Our heroine studied dancing with such famous teachers as Laizane, Shurkin and Dubovitsky. These people became the first dance teachers for Alla, as well as close people who helped her in the future.
First dance group
In the girls' dreams, there were not just dances, but also the production of entire choreographic numbers, where she could play the main role, or just be the leader. In the senior class of the school, Alla, active and possessing excellent organizational skills, decided to create a team like her. It was difficult for her to find a common language with the boys, so only the female sex was surrounded. So, the first dance group was created under the leadership of Dukhova, which she called "Experiment". Alla Dukhova, whose biography is presented in this article, put her personal life in last place at that time. Since she dreamed of a successful career as a dancer.
She came up with this name for a reason. After all, Alla had plans to combine her choreographic numbers and dance performances of European and American schools. This style of dancing at that time was secretly banned, because it had a lot of frank elements. The girl borrowed video cassettes with American films from friends, from where she took ideas, carefully peered at street dancers, and memorized something for herself. So, little by little, the first works of the future choreographer Alla Dukhova were created.
Fateful meeting
Once, at a dance competition in Palanga, where the team of our heroine took part, an important meeting took place that changed the fate of the girls. It was then that they crossed paths with a dance group of guys who performed a cool break dance. The guys called themselves "Todes". Alla immediately appreciated their abilities and zeal for victory. Then she was visited by the idea of reuniting these two talented teams. The guys also appreciated the work of the girls, they liked the idea of creating a common ballet. They took a boyish name - "Todes".
Alla's work from that moment became individual and different from many other ballets. It combined a stylish break and feminine choreography. From that moment, serious changes began to occur in the life of Dukhovaya Alla Vladimirovna. In the biography of the choreographer, these events can be noted as the beginning of a new creative stage.
Since 1987, our heroine has been chosen as the official director of the newly minted ballet. Every day it was more and more difficult to create numbers, the organization of productions was also not an easy job. Young guys and girls did not plan to stop surprising the viewer, so they gave their best. We slept for 5 hours a day and intensively rehearsed numbers before each performance.
First performances on the big stage
The debut performances, which took place in the North Caucasus, were a huge success, and the guys did not want to let go of the stage for a long time. Then the ballet was advised to give concerts in Moscow, which they were initially skeptical about. However, after consulting, they decide to try to conquer the capital. Children and personal life of Alla Dukhova, whose biography by that time had already begun to interest the fans of the team, was still relegated to the background. She dedicated herself to her work.
While in Moscow, the dancers lived in a cramped hostel, looking for suitable places for performances and rehearsals. On their way there were many difficulties, including organizational issues. But fate was kind to these guys, and one day they met Alexander Birman, who at that time was an employee of the Philharmonic in Riga.
Thanks to Alexander, "Todes" went to Chelyabinsk, where famous performers were touring at that time: Igor Talkov, Sofia Rotaru and several musical groups. The ballet was set to perform between celebrity performances. They plucked a sea of applause and after that gained their first popularity with the viewer.
The first serious proposals for cooperation
Immediately after the concert, Todes received a tempting offer from Sofia Rotaru to perform with her. The guys agreed, they accompanied the singer for five years at each of her concerts. Then the team decided to go into free swimming. They had already gained sufficient popularity and were confident in their abilities. That period, all members of the team considered a turning point in their lives. But work with Rotaru remained only one of the graphs of their creative biography. Photos of Alla Dukhova with ballet from that moment were often found on the covers of well-known publications, which gave the participants strength and even more pushed them to work.
Anniversary concert of the group
Todes celebrated its fifth anniversary with its first solo concert. Igor Popov helped the young ballet in organization and financing. After that, the guys were flooded with offers of cooperation from such famous Russian stars as Kristina Orbakaite, Valery Leontiev and Leonid Agutin. "Todes" could already afford to choose, but being wise people, they understood that they needed to take on any job. So, on their account there were performances with Kirkorov, Dolina, Meladze and Bulanova.
Also, "Todes" became the star of many music festivals, where he was received with thunderous applause and shouts of "Bravo". They performed on the "New Wave" and "Slavianski Bazaar".
The ballet considers the dance numbers on the same stage with the legendary Michael Jackson in Munich and Seoul to be the first and most memorable foreign concert in its career. They also performed with Ricky Martin and Mariah Carey in Monte Carlo.
Dance school
Since 1992, dance ballet has been gaining momentum in the development of a career and more and more often appears in the minds and ears of people. After 5 years, the choreographic group has about 150 participants and loudly celebrates its tenth anniversary.
Over the years, more than one generation of dance talents has been lucky to work in Todes. The history of the development of ballet is very closely connected with the biography of Alla Dukhova.
Photos and personal life of the girl has always interested her fans. However, she was only busy with work.
Also in 1997, Dukhova rented a huge hall in Lefortovo for the first time. It was there that Alla's first dance school, "Todes", was organized. Over time, the ballet director began to open educational institutions for choreography in other cities: St. Petersburg and Riga were the first of them. After 10 years, "Todes" schools were in every major city and small town in Russia and many CIS countries. Alla wanted everyone who wants to dance professionally to give such an opportunity.
Today, people who studied at the Spiritual School perform with world stars and are very popular. The ballet "Todes" passed through its "hands" more than one generation and remained the best of the best. One thing has remained unchanged - even today they gather huge halls and delight their fans around the world.
Personal life and children in the biography of Alla Dukhovaya. Photo
In Alla's personal life, many interesting events took place, about which she tells the public with little desire. Today she is married. This is her third marriage. The previous two, according to the dancer, did not stand the test of work and distance, since Alla was constantly on tour.
The current spouse Anton is sympathetic to the profession of his wife. In addition, they are rarely separated. After all, her husband works in Alla's team as a director of light. Fans are always interested in the details of Alla's personal life and biography. Children and spouse are sympathetic to this.
The eldest son (Vladimir) is married and lives in the USA. The younger one (Konstantin) is fond of dancing and performs in the Todes group.
Alla Dukhova today
The choreographer rarely becomes the heroine of gossip and rumors, she devotes a lot of time to work and she has no time to weave intrigues. In addition to her main activity, she tries herself in the fashion world - she launched a fashion line. In her native Riga, she built a large house.
Russian choreographer Alla Dukhova, known as the founder and artisticdirector of the international ballet TODES.
Biography of Alla Dukhovaya
Alla Dukhova was born in the village of Kosa, Komi-Permyatsk Autonomous Okrug. A year later, the family moved to Riga.
From childhood, Alla showed a great ability to dance. At the age of 11, she joined the folk dance ensemble " Ivushka”, where, despite her young age, she was in many ways superior to other, older participants. Alla's mentors were choreographers Laizane, Shurkin and Dubovitsky. According to Dukhovaya, they laid the foundations that built her entire future career.
When Alla was in the 10th grade, a circus came to Riga. She befriended the daughter of the chief trainer, and she, admiring her abilities, offered her to work for them in the attraction. Alla agreed and followed the circus to Chisinau. Her career was going uphill, she participated in performances, but just a month after her arrival, Alla was seriously injured - a compound ankle fracture. This is where the circus ended.
Creative career of Alla Dukhovaya
At the age of 16, Alla already worked at two jobs - as a janitor and a freight forwarder at a moped factory. Six months later, she received a position as a dance teacher in a pioneer camp. After that, Alla was invited to work as a choreographer in the house of culture. Despite her young age, she gathered a large team called " Experiment”, consisting of relatives and friends who were inspired by the passion of the girl. Break became the main dance direction. Several times the team performed at local festivals and took first place. Soon, Alla Dukhova began to earn enough money to refuse to work at the factory.
“When we started, our country had classical ballet and folk dance. They heard about modern choreography, but there was no opportunity to learn. When we got some Western cassettes, literature, we greedily grabbed all the information. They included clips of their artists and learned to dance on them. Now it may seem ridiculous, but then breakdancing was considered propaganda. For this, they were taken to the police. It never occurred to anyone that this was a sport, complex tricks, beauty, dexterity and fortitude.
Together with the team, she traveled and performed in different places, until finally in Palanga she met a male team of street breakers from St. Petersburg, who called themselves " Todos».
On March 8, 1987, two teams united into one and performed at a break festival in St. Petersburg in the Oktyabrsky concert hall. They called themselves Todes, combining the names. It was on this day that the team Alla Spirit (Dina Dukhova, Ivona Konchevska, Marina Litsova, Lena Shlyk) teamed up with street break dancers, among whom were Vyacheslav Ignatiev, Roman Maslyukov, Sergey Voronokov, Andrey Gavrilenko, Gennady Ilyin. Together they organized their own tour and traveled through the cities, building on the success. At first, Alla combined the duties of a dancer and an organizer, but later she completely took over the leadership.
"Todes" began to perform together with pop singers, the first of which was Sergey Krylov. The popularity of ballet grew every day. After leaving North Ossetia, the team went on tour to Chelyabinsk, where they performed with such stars as Sofia Rotaru and the Bravo group. Sofia Rotaru invited Todes to join her, and for five years they worked together.
A concert was arranged to celebrate the fifth anniversary of "Todes", in which Philip Kirkorov, Alexander Buinov, Tatyana Bulanova participated. Later they worked together with such celebrities as Valery Meladze, Kristina Orbakaite, Larisa Dolina, Vladimir Presnyakov, Alla Pugacheva. "Todes" participated in such events as the "Golden Gramophone" awards, " Jurmala", "New wave ".
The composition of the ballet expanded during this time.
The first school-studio "Todes" was opened in Lefortovo. Now in many cities there are such studios, and most of the 150 people of the main staff of "Todes" are their graduates.
Many of the students of "Todes" became famous performers, for example, Vlad Sokolovsky, singer Angina, VIA " Cream”, and the professional ballets of the stars are almost entirely composed of dancers “Todes”.
In 2015, Channel One launched the show “Dance! ”, whose jury members were Alla Dukhova along with famous choreographer Radu Poklitaru, TV presenter Dmitry Khrustalev and Russian choreographer, director and dancer Vyacheslav Kulaev.
In 2017 "Todes" Alla Spirit celebrated its 30th anniversary. T Also, Todes opened its own beauty salon and produces a special line of clothing.
Alla Dukhova: "Todes" is not just a dance group, it is an excellent well-coordinated team, it is a family, which means that I am not alone, and therefore I cope with all the difficulties. Everything is based on mutual trust, help and support.”
Personal life of Alla Dukhovaya
Alla was married three times. She has sons Vladimir and Konstantin. Alla does not advertise the names of the former spouses, as well as her entire private life. According to her, marriages broke up due to the fact that the owner of Todes had almost no time left for her family. Even childbirth did not become a reason for her to refuse work.
“I just gave birth - Valery Leontiev calls: “Lusya, I urgently need to put the number!” The child was only three days old, and we agreed that dancers would come to me - I would put on a dance for them. A couple of days before the concert, I came to the rehearsal and corrected all the nuances.
During that period of her life, Alla very often had to travel from Moscow to Riga and back, a busy work schedule did not allow her to devote much time to her first child.
Alla's current husband is only known that his name is Anton. He collaborates with the ballet "Todes" as a director of lighting. It was Anton who became the father of Alla's second child.
“My husband Anton and I often have to part, he is constantly on tour with Todes as a director of lighting. Or I'm going somewhere. There is nothing wrong with "love at a distance" - that's for sure. There are only pluses. We have no chance to get bored with each other, ”Alla Dukhova said in an interview.
Alla's eldest son, Vladimir, is already married and lives in the United States with his wife. He has a daughter Sofia. Vladimir himself followed in the footsteps of his mother and chose a creative profession - he became a theater director and musician.
The youngest, Konstantin, who has an 8-year difference with his brother, is also passionate about dancing and performs as part of Todes.
“The younger one is a complete fan, he constantly goes to the gym, tries hard, knows the whole program by heart. He definitely does not have any jealousy for Todes, because when he was born, many household problems were completely resolved and his mother was always there.
In contact with
Classmates
Alla Dukhova, founder and artistic director of the world-famous ballet TODES, celebrates the 30th anniversary of the company this year. A close-knit family consisting of sister Dina (head of the Riga branch and mother of five children), sons Vladimir (future director) and Konstantin (14 years old), daughter-in-law Anna and granddaughter Sophia recalls the beginning of the journey, parents and talks about their achievements.
Alla Dukhova is without a doubt one of the brightest people in the world of Latvian and Russian choreography. The ballet "Todes" headed by her has been a standard of plasticity, grace and dance skills for many years now. That is why the personality of his permanent leader always remains so interesting and curious for dozens of Internet users. Today we decided to talk a little about this bright and extraordinary woman. Indeed, in the life of our today's heroine there were many interesting episodes.
Alla Vladimirovna Dukhova was born in the village of Kosa, Komi-Permyatsk Autonomous Okrug, in November 1966. But a year later, the Dukhov family moved to a permanent place of residence in Riga. Alla's childhood and youth passed there. The first meeting with the world of choreography took place in Riga.
While still a little Alla, studying at a music school, she could not calmly pass by classes where her peers were dancing. The girl desperately watched all the movements of the school teacher, and then she tried to repeat them at home, standing in front of the mirror in her room.
One day her mother noticed it. And then mom asked Alla if the girl would like to dance, and she enthusiastically answered “yes”. Since then, Alla's life began to move like a locomotive.
When Alla was in the tenth grade, a circus came to Riga on tour. The dancer came to the first performances as a spectator, however, by a happy coincidence, she subsequently managed to get backstage. The decisive role in this case was played by the acquaintance with the daughter of the chief trainer. After a short conversation, Alla Dukhova managed to attract the head of the circus, and therefore quite unexpectedly managed to get a job on one of the circus attractions.
Alla Dukhova gladly accepted the offer of cooperation with the circus troupe, and therefore very soon went on a new tour with the team.
Alla Dukhova dreamed not only of learning how to dance well, but also of inventing choreographic numbers and entire performances herself. At the age of 16, she gathered a team of like-minded people. Then it consisted only of girls and was called "Experiment". This experiment turned out to be quite successful and gained considerable popularity. Which is not strange, because Alla Dukhova took as a basis for her dance performances the choreography of the Western European and American schools, which was under an unspoken ban at the beginning of the Soviet 80s, as too frank. Alla collected experience little by little from cassettes with performances by Western dance groups, watched street breakers.
A new chapter in the bright biography of the dancer began after our today's heroine met the participants of the St. Petersburg ballet "Todos" in Palanga. The guys also danced break dance, but there were no serious successes in that period in their career. Despite this, the choreographic skills of the guys from St. Petersburg made a great impression on Alla Dukhova and her sister Dina, and therefore very soon the dance groups began to perform together.
During the tour of the North Caucasus, the performances of "Todes" were held with an unprecedented full house. The guys were advised to try to perform in the capital. They thought that they were already quite ripe for its conquest and went to Moscow. At first it was very difficult for them. The guys lived in the Lyubertsy hostel, they themselves were looking for venues for performances and faced many complex organizational issues. But on their way and on the way of Alla Dukhova, Alexander Birman, who worked at the Riga Philharmonic, met.
He helped the ballet get to Chelyabinsk, where popular singers Igor Talkov, Sofia Rotaru, the Bravo group and other "illuminated" pop stars toured at that time. The dancers performed between the numbers of the singers and immediately received a lot of applause.
As the permanent leader of the cult team, Alla remains today. In the twenty-five years of its existence, "Todes" has reached unprecedented heights and has become a special phenomenon on the Russian and Latvian stage. In different periods of time, the Dukhovoi dance ensemble performed with many Russian and world pop stars.
Despite the fact that Dukhova’s personal life is very full of all kinds of events, Alla Dukhova herself is extremely reluctant to talk about her. It is known that today the famous artist is married for the third time. Her last husband's name is Anton.
Anton collaborates with the ballet Todes as a director of lighting. From several marriages, Alla had two sons: Vladimir and Konstantin. Now Alla Dukhova lives in Latvia with her family. In the capital of Latvia, her native Riga, the famous choreographer built herself a huge house.
I have been repeatedly declared in love, and thank God, I still listen to confessions. But there was one extraordinary thing that stood out to me. A man confessed his love to me in a huge cinema. He just suddenly got up and in complete silence began to talk about love. The effect was crazy. Everyone applauded. And I was terribly embarrassed. Unfortunately, I do not remember verbatim what he said, but it was very beautiful. He chose such tender words...
Officially, Alla Dukhova was married once. But her marriage went to pieces immediately after her husband Sergei left for the States. And Alla herself did not want to go there with him. Alla's husband was a good programmer, and therefore dreamed of working in the States, but Alla herself did not want such a life.
My husband Anton and I often have to part, he is constantly on tour with Todes as a director of lighting. Or I'm going somewhere. There is nothing wrong with "love at a distance" - that's for sure. There are only pluses. We have no chance to annoy each other. And it turns out that every time we get to know each other, as if anew, therefore we value our meetings very much. So our relationship is like a long romance. I'm afraid that if we lived side by side, like many ordinary people, the romance would have ended long ago. Why? Yes, because a calm, everyday family life would begin. And we would like to keep feelings, passion as long as possible.
It is worth noting that the whole life of Alla Dukhovaya can be divided between two directions: the upbringing of her sons Vladimir and Konstantin, as well as her other offspring - of course, the Todes dance group. Alla has been the permanent leader of Todes for many years, and to be precise, she has been directing the ballet for twenty-five years. But despite his crazy work schedule, the choreographer surrounds his sons with love, and always finds time for them.
I gave birth to my first son Volodya not too early and not too late. At a normal age. The youngest, Kostya, gave birth deep after 30, but also on time. Because I am sure that a woman needs to give birth after 30. Definitely! Well, what kind of mothers at 18-19 years old, who still need to be educated themselves? Anecdotal. No experience, nothing. They don't even really know how to love. You need to give birth consciously and with pleasure. I am very glad that I did not give birth at the age of 19. My motherhood brings me happiness, joy and crazy delight.
Alla Dukhova, choreographer, founder of the Todes show ballet, was born on November 29, 1966.
Private bussiness
Alla Vladimirovna Dukhova (49 years old) was born in the village of Kosa, which is now part of the Perm Territory. Her father was a physical education teacher, her mother taught Russian at school.
A year later, the family moved to Riga, where Alla's grandparents lived. In Latvia, the father of the future choreographer worked at a moped factory, and his mother took care of the household.
Alla studied at a music school, at the age of 11 she joined the Ivushka folk dance ensemble. In the tenth grade, she tried to work in the circus, but she soon got injured and did not enter the arena anymore. She said: “When I was in the tenth grade, the circus program “Elephants and Dancers” came to Riga to work. I became friends with the director's daughter and was invited to the ballet of this attraction. But the circus career did not work out. For a month I was introduced to the program, I went to the play, and the next day I broke my leg. The fracture was difficult, and all this had to be abandoned. A year after the injury, she worked as a freight forwarder at a moped factory and as a janitor.
In the early 1980s, she created the Experimental women's dance group at the Palace of Culture, and danced in a group with her younger sister Dina. Participants of the "Experiment" were among the first in the USSR to perform break dance.
At one of the festivals in Lithuania, the girls met with the Leningrad breakers "Todes".
In March 1987, the teams merged into one team called "Todes". Dukhova was chosen as the creative director of the ballet, in addition, she continued to dance at Todes for the next three years. She recalled: “One producer noticed us and offered to work professionally, connecting two teams: our girlish jazz-modern and boyish break. I was collegially chosen as the artistic director, because I put on programs and looked more mature than everyone else, although I was not even twenty.
In 1987-88 the band members moved to Moscow. Until 1992, "Todes" performed at Sofia Rotaru's concerts. Then the team worked with Valery Leontiev for five years. “And when the team turned 10 years old,” says Dukhova, “thanks to the president of the Artes Cultural Foundation, Alexander Dostman, we made a solo program in the Rossiya concert hall. This was shown on television, and we were invited to work on our own. Since then, we have been touring the country and the world with sold-out crowds.” In parallel, the dancers began to participate in the performances of many pop singers - Kristina Orbakaite, Alexander Buinov, Valery Meladze, Larisa Dolina and others.
By 1997, the second (not the main) composition of Todes had grown to 150 people. In 1998, Dukhova opened the first Todes dance school in Moscow. The next schools appeared in Riga and St. Petersburg, and then in other Russian cities. By the spring of 2014, 98 branches of the dance school were opened, in which 35 thousand students were engaged (but already in August 2014, Dukhova spoke of only 89 schools).
In March 2014, the Dance Theater of Alla Dukhova "Todes" was opened in Moscow. By November 2015, the theater's repertoire consisted of four performances.
Alla Dukhova was officially married only once - to a programmer named Sergey. The couple broke up after her husband left for the United States. From him, Dukhovaya has an eldest son, Vladimir. The second child, Konstantin, was born from Dukhovaya's common-law husband Anton Kis, a lighting designer, then technical director in the Todes ballet.
The eldest son Dukhovoy is studying in the USA as a director.
What is famous
Alla Dukhova
Co-founder and leader of the country's most famous pop dance group "Todes". A successful manager who, on the wave of interest in Todes, created an extensive network of about a hundred dance schools in Russia and neighboring countries. Founder of the theater "Todes" in Moscow.
The ballet "Todes" participated in the largest Russian productions, including the closing ceremony of the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow in 1997, Alla Pugacheva's "Christmas Meetings", television "New Year's Lights".
What you need to know
Alla Dukhovaya's ballet is a successful business; the group's tours are scheduled for several years ahead. At the same time, the troupe does not participate in world dance competitions, and spends only a month on each new production.
In one of Dukhov's interviews, to the question "what are the festivals dedicated to modern choreography called?" and completely answered: “I, to my shame and disgrace, I don’t even know.”
Direct speech:
About raising a child without a husband ("Arguments and Facts June 2004):“Was it difficult for me to raise one first child? No. And I urge everyone not to be afraid of this. If you have male friends, relatives, you need to involve them in educational moments, that's all. I was lucky, my sister's husband Arkady replaced Vovka's father, because we all lived in the same house in Riga. And we are still living. I cruise between Riga and Moscow. Then, I have many friends. They came, played with him on the computer, talked. A single mother is a relic of the scoop. It's ridiculous to call a woman that. If she has a child, she is no longer alone.”
About business and dancing ("New news April 2014):“I don't think we're in business. We're just dancing, doing a good job. And then, what kind of businessmen are we? And our prices for classes are not exorbitant, and there are always free groups in each branch. And how many guys we literally dragged out of the street… We teach children to dance not to make them professionals, we just want them to move beautifully, to feel the music. By the way, adults are also engaged in us.”
About the attitude towards dancers (Forbes Woman , June 2014):“Well, when I was young, I was a beast. Can you imagine what street breaks are? How to convince them to master classical ballet at the barre in order to become universal dancers? I said that they have a choice - to remain in the underground or work professionally and be in demand in our country. They believed me, but it was all very difficult. I had a rigid system: a step to the right, a step to the left - a fine. You won't be spoiled. Now I have become wiser, softer, I don’t pay attention to something. But in general I am a strict leader. True, in reality, I rarely take tough measures. ”
7 facts about Alla Dukhovaya
- Has no higher choreographic education.
- The name of the team Dukhovy comes from the element todes (from it. Todesspirale - “spiral of death”) - this is the name of the exercise in figure skating, in which a girl reclining describes a spiral around a partner. Dukhova said: “It was the name of the St. Petersburg people. They didn't know what it meant, just a sonorous word. In fact, this is an element of figure skating. But we wanted a new name. It was already necessary to print posters, and the director of the Philharmonic got angry: “You can’t make a decision for a month! It’s the same for me - the Beatles and Queen groups converge, they won’t agree in any way! There will be Todes, and that’s it.” So, with his light hand, the name remained. ”
- The choreographer's younger sister Dina was at the origins of the creation of the ballet "Todes". “Now she, the mother of five children, runs the Riga studio of our ballet, took responsibility for one of the dance schools,” Dukhova said.
- Both children of Alla Dukhovaya were born in the same maternity hospital. Nurses who worked in the same maternity hospital became nannies for them.
- "Todes" twice performed with Michael Jackson. “We were invited to take part in the charity concerts “Michael Jackson and Friends” (Michael And Friends Concert), in which a huge number of world stars participated, Dukhova noted. - We performed in Seoul and Munich and danced with Michael Jackson on the same stage. And then we flew with him on the same plane, got acquainted with his ballet and are still friends with them and correspond with each other.
- Alla Dukhova is engaged in Nordic walking with sticks.
- The participants of the first "Todes" are still working in the team. Dukhova: “They all work for us. Why else would we open a school? Only those who do not want to work, but want to get big money, leave us.”
