“Being a dancer is a full time job that’s not easy,” Elena Shcherbakova, director of the Moiseyev Dance Company, told GO Brooklyn in an e-mail this week. “Every artist, if he is dedicated to his craft, should aim for perfection.”
And with her group’s Saturday, Jan. 12 stop in Midwood for the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts’s “World of Dance” series, Shcherbakova plans to do just that. The troupe’s 85 dancers and 32 musicians will perform Russian dances (including the traditional “Summer” and “Polyanka” pieces, as well as a suite of Greek dances) that will showcase what has made the Moiseyev Dance Company one of the world’s most respected for over 70 years.
Named for its founder, Igor Moiseyev, a renowned choreographer who passed away in November at the age of 101, the group is known for the preservation of traditional folk dances. And while that sounds quaint, Shcherbakova, through her translator, said each work can take a month to perfect — which is especially important for the group’s stop in Brooklyn, where it returns on almost every tour.
“The audience should be familiar with what they are about to see,” said Shcherbakova. And if they’re familiar with perfection, it sounds like they’re in for a treat.
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts presents The Moiseyev Dance Company at 8 pm on Jan. 12 at Brooklyn College’s Walt Whitman Theatre (2900 Campus Rd. at Hillel Place in Midwood). Tickets are $30-$45. For information, call (718) 951-4500 or visit www.brooklyncenteronline.com.
