People's Artist of Russia Nikolay Tsiskaridze was one of the gala show hosts at the Sky Grace Cup International Tournament and Beijing Top Open 2025.
After the concert, he shared his impressions of the performance featuring three-time all-around champion of our tournament, Lala Kramarenko, and Bolshoi Ballet soloist Mark Orlov.
"I have known Lalochka for a long time; she is a brilliant person in sports, arts, very creative. And she has already danced with more than one of my students. I am always very happy for her success; I have followed her closely. I really wanted her to perform with Mark to my favorite music, in the role I have played for so many years. What I saw was very beautiful, very harmonious. And you are once again convinced that ballet cannot exist without rhythmic gymnastics thus far. And rhythmic gymnastics would not exist without ballet. And it is so nice when we do such experiments; Alina always includes something related to ballet in her galas. And it is always majestic, unusual, because, gymnastics based on classical dance has gone so far that we are now always catching up. And every time I see the achievements, the successes of our gymnasts on the mat, I always borrow something; as a teacher, I borrow a lot. And I think that for Mark, for a person who goes on stage, today was a very important performance because he felt a completely different horizon."
The specialist also discussed the importance of uniting sport and art.
"Without Russian ballet, there would be no such rhythmic gymnastics. No one will ever catch up with us; no one will ever defeat us in this sport because we have such ballet, because it is completely based on our traditions."