ARTS . Dance

The Last Dance


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Published: Oct 11, 2006

"My heart is not retiring," sighs Alexei Borovik, the 45-year-old dancer who gives his final performance with the Pennsylvania Ballet on Friday at the Academy of Music. "It is my body that is retiring. I have been thinking about this for a long time, but my body says now!"

Borovik arrived here in 1991, touring with the Donetsk Ballet, a group of Russian dancers who came intending to find ways of staying. In Russia he was a premier dancer who'd won several international competitions and been performing since he was 10. "Going back to Russia meant doing the same classical repertory all the time," he explains. "Here there was the opportunity to do much more."

Initially Pennsylvania Ballet hired Borovik as a guest artist, but in 1992 he became a company principal dancer. Next he began the long process to bring his wife, Elena, a pediatrician, and their two children out of Russia to join him. It took a year for the family to be reunited.

Neither child has any interest in following dad's footsteps. His 23-year-old son always preferred soccer and studied environmental science. His daughter took ballet — even appearing onstage with dad in A Midsummer Night's Dream — but lost interest and at age 16 is "a typical American teenager," Borovik says, shrugging his shoulders.

During his 14 years with Pennsylvania Ballet, there were few leading roles Borovik didn't perform. Even at age 45, his skill level remains high. "That is because I know what I cannot do," he explains. "When you are older you experience dance more as being the harmony of music and movement. I know how to hide a problem in the performance."

Along the way Borovik's broken a foot — which "happened during rehearsal, the most difficult part of our work" — and been sidelined for much of a season with torn knee muscles. "Everything I have done is still with me," he grimaces.

Artistic director Roy Kaiser suggested Borovik dance the lead role in excerpts from Apollo at the one-night-only "Audience Favorites" sendoff. "At first I was afraid I would not be able to dance it at the right level. But I love to dance Balanchine. So I will bring what I have."

The rumors of retiring to his garden can be ignored. "My heart is with ballet. I stay with something I know. So I will give to someone else what I know."

Pennsylvania Ballet, "Evening of Audience Favorites," Fri., Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m., $17-$84, Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts., 215-893-1999, www.paballet.org.