A glimpse into the thoughts of the highly sought-after Blackpool Finalists.
To put it simply, Pavel Zvychaynyy and Polina Teleshova are a force to be reckoned with. This year, they join the ranks of world class artistes performing at Brillante, gifting us the extraordinary opportunity to witness their style, grace and prowess on the dance floor.
Representing Hong Kong, this formidable pair of Latin Blackpool Finalists continues to thrill spectators and fellow dancers around the world, never failing to bring out their unique essence and undeniable spark as they command the dance floor.
Before they returned to Singapore for yet another series of awe-inspiring show dances, we had the lucky opportunity to interview the talented duo, covering topics such as learning from dance, uncovering superpowers, harnessing comparison, and more!
Thank you so much for sitting down with us! The last time we saw you was during one of our online master classes during the pandemic, so it's nice to have a chat with you both now. First of all, we are thrilled to be welcoming you back to Singapore! What do you love most about performing here?
Pavel: First of all, big thanks to Mel and Sharon for inviting us and organising what we’re sure is going to be a great event. We’ve heard a lot of good things about it and about the place, so we're looking forward very much to performing there.
Polina: I think what we like the most is the public there. Their warmth and you know, how much feedback we get from them; so we're really excited to perform in Singapore again.
Pavel: Singaporean people can be fanatic! They love dancing, and this of course gives us a lot of energy, excitement, and will to perform our hearts out.
Yes, everyone here is indeed looking forward to your upcoming performance with much excitement! If you were to give us a sneak peek of the show in three words, how would you describe it?
Pavel: I would say it’s… style, energy and drama.
Interesting! Something new we are organising this year is our themed night event. This year’s theme is Fire and Ice. When you dance, do you feel more often like fire or ice?
Polina: For myself, I always feel more fire, but here’s the thing - in the same show dance, for example, we could be different. Pasha could be ice and I could be fire, or we could change. It could be a combination. We could both be fire, or we could both be ice. It depends on the idea that we have of the dance.
Pavel: The secret is in finding the perfect match, you know, like in life. Within each moment, you need to find the right measure of both fire and ice.
We will look forward to seeing both fire and ice on the 13th then! Now we are going to talk a little bit about inspirations. Who would you say is an inspiration to you both on and off the dance floor?
Pavel: I feel that music is the biggest inspiration. Music is what gives me the energy. It lets me imagine and dream. It gets me looking forward to and thinking about what to create with… your motions, your body, your partner and the public, altogether. A lot of inspiration also comes from dancers of different genres, like ballet, hip hop, contemporary dancing, flamenco dancing, all of that. I take inspiration from all of them, piece by piece, but overall, the music is what makes the movement makes sense.
Polina: I absolutely agree with Pasha that music tells us - I think - everything. It could change the mood of the dance and the character of our movements. I would not say that I have one person who has inspired me completely. I take my inspiration from different places, like from actresses in the cinemas, and watching ice skaters dancing on ice. When I look back throughout my career, usually the biggest inspiration is the person I see in the mirror every day, so it's myself.
Thank you, it’s wonderful to hear the many sources of inspiration you both have! Now it's time for something fun that you have to answer about the other person. What would you say is your partner's superpower? Something that they are really good at.
Polina: I think Pasha’s superpower is the confidence he has, both in himself, and in us, as a couple.
Pavel: Polina’s superpower…very often I feel like she can see into the future. (Polina laughs) She knows how something is gonna work, and she can predict it - will this work out well, or not really? Every time it happens, I’m quite amazed that she can say something, and then in a week or two, or even months or a year later, it actually works or doesn't work, just like she said. It’s quite cool!
Polina: But actually, he doesn’t always like it when I tell him something like that! (laughs)
That is a really cool superpower though! Moving on, is there a motto or a quote that you keep coming back to?
Polina: It’s nothing special for me. I always tell myself, before I step onto the dance floor, “Just go. Just do it. Just perform. Just enjoy, and just dance with your heart.” That is it! That helps me a lot. They are simple words actually, that I just tell myself, but they always work.
For me personally, it is more important to be calm before I go on the floor to perform, than it is to tell myself something motivating, because I know I have enough motivation already. What is more important to me is just to stay calm, to be ready in my mind.
Pavel: For me, when I was 13 years old, I came across the saying, “when there is a will, there is a way.” That saying has stayed with me all my life. You know, when I think about it, it makes sense to me. It gives me strength.
Amazing! Speaking of being younger, if you could go back to in time to meet your younger self who had just started dancing, what would you tell them?
Pavel: You know, my teacher used to say, and still says, “Never lose faith, and your love for dancing”. Do not go into things like politics and be affected by who said what, and the opinions of others.
You need to actually, truly, feel the love for the dance. Yeah, this I would say again and again and again, to not just my younger self, but to my older self, to anybody who needs support.
Polina: I would say to young Polina, “Just follow your heart all the way, and be strong, because you will not just have positive moments always. You could also have some downs, but always believe in yourself and follow your heart. Do whatever you will do, but with love. So do everything with your heart.”
That's wonderful, thank you so much! Even now, as professional dancers, I'm sure that dance continues to teach you new things about yourself. What would you say is something that you learnt about yourself through dance?
Pavel: I think every day we learn something about ourselves, not only in dancing, but through the things that happen in life as well. Of course, in dance, there are a lot of things to learn. Something personal to me has always been patience. As a young boy, I was like, “I want something, and I want it now.” There was no way to wait and to, you know, be patient or have time. Dancing helped me a lot to recognise and change that, and take it into control.
Polina: I continue to be impressed by how strong our body and mind can be. Especially in these past two years, I was just wowed. The other important thing I learnt is to never limit development. You could dance for 30 years and still have improving to do. Even if it is something mechanical or something to do with technical fundamental skills, we could still improve. It doesn’t matter at which level you are, and this is actually great because you can see the way, and follow it.
As an artist or a sportsperson or a professional, it is important to keep that inspiration, to not lose motivation and say, “Okay, we achieve this, and then we will stop.” No, we still have something at the end of that achievement that we could follow and continue developing. That’s how I feel.
Thank you for sharing! In such a competitive space like DanceSport, it can be very easy to get demoralised when you compare yourself with others, be they your seniors or even people your own age. In your dance career, have you ever been affected by that kind of comparison? Or do you have any advice for how to come out of that place?
Pavel: Good question. I think especially in our dancing industry, a huge part of it is comparison. It is. When the judge is watching, they’re choosing between you and someone else, all the time. I don't think there's a need to fight against it.
You need to take it, to understand it, but not perceive it negatively, like, “Oh no, he’s comparing me.” No, he will compare you. It will never be different, so take the comparison positively and say, “Okay, what can I do better? What am I better at? What do I need to develop?”
And then develop it to a scale where others can be compared to you as a benchmark, where people would want to be compared to you. That is how it works. If you take the negative route of thinking instead, you’ll block yourself, and that’s not good.
Polina: Yes, but have you ever compared yourself with other participants?
Pavel: I’ve been educated to watch others, but not with a bad attitude. To say, okay, if this couple is in front, they must be doing something well.
To actually see the good points. And then compare it to yourself and ask - are you that sleek, or that musical, or that strong?
There are so many things that you can be good or better at, so I'm always taking comparison as a positive thing that I can use to keep developing. It can be something that drives you, instead of something that stops you.
Polina: From my side, I have always tried not to compare my dancing with others’, because when you start thinking in this kind of way, you start to lose your energy in this direction, when you could be using it for your own development. The only person I always compare myself with is me, from yesterday.
But like Pasha said, we're absolutely respectful of other competitors, when we are watching each other. We can watch something and say, “wow, that was great!” but that doesn’t mean that I would like to do the same, you know, because the originals are always gonna do it better than the copy.
You have to create something special from your side, not just copy and analyse others to try and be the same. No, because, like Pasha said, we are artists.
Art is something special, something individual and unique. So we need to be unique, all of us. That uniqueness can be found by creating something special, from your heart.
Wonderful! Our last question is for all of our competitors who are going to be there on 13th April. Do you have any words of encouragement and support for them?
Pavel: Well, you know, as for every performance and for every competition, as it’s approaching, there should be a good, structured way of getting ready for that date. And when it's closer, just let it go and actually… see your partner, see the people - not just watch them - but actually see it, actually hear it, actually feel it. This makes a huge impact on the performance, both for the dancers and for the people watching. So be as real and as close as possible.
Polina: And also listen to the music!
Awesome, thank you so much! We’re looking forward to hosting you soon!
Pavel: We're looking forward to the date too. Really excited to see all of you, the people and the energy, for sure. We're sure it’s going to be very special and memorable, and we're very happy for Mel, Sharon and the whole team working on it. We can imagine how much effort they're putting into it to make it a reality. So yeah, we love to support it!
Thank you! Yes, we are all working hard on it! Once again, we appreciate your time today, and we’ll see you soon!
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