Between the 80s and early 90s there were two male myths of classical dance: Vladimir Vasiliev and Vladimir Derevianko. The first younger than 2 years of the great Nureyev had taken the place of these who, tired and sick, had stopped dancing, devoting himself more to choreography. Derevianko, much younger than his friend Vasiliev, was in his infancy and was immediately loved by his way of dancing the absolutely innovative and different classical from his predecessors, which had immediately made him noticed in the world of international ballet. Mercutio's interpretation of him is legendary, in Grigorovitch's “Romeo and Juliet” which still remains unparalleled to this day. Of course I was an avid fan of him and when four years ago I was invited to an event where he was an award-winning guest, I was very excited at the idea of meeting him. Unfortunately the day before I had had a serious death in the family so I arrived slightly late at the meeting place and when I ran into the hotel that hosted the various artists, he was already there with the others, sitting on a sofa with legs crossed. I was immediately captivated by his discreet and elegant personality and after we were introduced I waited for the best opportunity to get to know him better. The opportunity was not lacking because before the evening event everyone gathered around a round table for dinner. Destiny wanted Derevianko and I to be seated quite close together, only our mutual friend Marco Pierin, another dance etoile, among us. Marco and Vladimir had known each other for 30 years and happy to find each other, they began to bring out memories of the past that they saw them together at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, when boys ran away at night from the boarding school that hosted them to go and have fun away from the watchful eyes of their teachers. . The two dancers spoke mostly in French and I barely followed their speeches. Derevianko immediately noticed my discomfort and instead to put me at ease he turned towards me with courtesy bringing the talk about the good wine that had been served to us. Evidently he hadn't lost sight of the fact that I greatly appreciated that white that had been poured to us because he must have noticed that I was already on the second glass only after the appetizer.
