It was a bit of Russian deja vu.
The first time Igor Moiseyev came to the United States was more than 30 years ago. Now he`s sitting in Ed Debevic`s `50s rock `n` roll diner after the opening night of his dance company`s one-week run in Chicago.
”I remember coming here for the first time in 1958,” the artistic director and choreographer says through a translator. ”And at that time there was no chance to come to such a place because our company was considered very official and we only went to formal functions. I enjoy this because it is very casual.”
Moiseyev and his wife, Irinia, are sitting in a booth, surrounded by about 100 Soviet dancers who are all sipping chocolate milk shakes and eating cheeseburgers and fries after the peformance at the Auditorium Theatre of the Moiseyev Dance Company, the State Academic Ensemble of Popular Dance of the USSR.
This is Moiseyev`s eighth visit to Chicago, so he`s well aware of some of the differences between Chicago and Moscow: ”We don`t have a Lake Michigan or such high skyscrapers.”
Visiting the tallest skyscraper and the Art Institute are top on Moiseyev`s agenda.
But the dancers themselves, or at least two who could speak some English, have other plans.
Boris, who spent some time in India, wants to hook up with some yoga people, and Vital is interested in finding some jazz musicians and a tai chi class.
While twist and hula-hoop demonstrations are being conducted in the background and a 3-foot-high shake is hauled out, Boris and Vital explain that American fast food will be coming to Moscow soon because McDonald`s is negotiating to open a 300-seat restaurant there.
But the garbage pail-sized shake is left unconsumed as the dancers board the bus back to their hotel. As they file out, at least one waitress is excited about her tips.
”Look,” she says, pulling two coins out of her blouse. ”I made two rubles.”