Djembe
Intercultural Magazine of Concordia College
My Days on the Stage
Tatyana Tyobova
I was only nine
when I began to perform.
I sang songs and did dance,
read poems at the school stage.
I stood at the end
of the school line at gym class
but had the best score
in the rest of the subjects.
I had to be courageous.
My songs had no music,
just my own voice.
But I was successful.
I liked to dance also,
enjoying the music and wearing the costumes as well.
I'm so sad we have no photos of this.
I only have photos of my sons dancing.
When I was eleven and
could use the tramway,
I went to the Palace
for children; we had one.
The Kids' Palace had many clubs.
"You go for sewing,"
But I chose another.
I wanted to be an actress.
You do not believe me?
My choice was
the puppet theatre.
I wanted to perform as another creature.
Sometimes it was a very unusual person.
I want you to know
the difficulty of performance.
Sometimes it took eight months.
We had to rehearse every day.
The team of the actors,
no matter their ages,
worked as a unit
for the main idea
of the spectacle.
We must have
the perfect performance
at the finish.
And we must be ready to show
the applauding audience.
The children were happy,
twice as happy as actors.
They actually were not adults.
The impression from the stage
captures young souls forever.
Once you have the feeling of being an actor
you cannot forget it your whole life.
You cannot explain it.
It's power of the art,
and people will cry, be angry, and laugh.