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We’ve  made  our  way  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  back  again,  pillaging  and  plundering  and  conquering  all  to  bring  you  a  treasure  chest  bursting  with  sparkling  talent:  from  the  boldly  androgynous  to  the  colorfully  whimsical  …  with  just  a  sprinkling  of  royalty.  Our  eleventh  issue  has  been  devoted  to  all  that  sparkles—and  we  aren’t  just  talking  about  jewels.    Her  Majesty  Queen  Elizabeth  II  will  be  celebrating  her  Diamond  Jubilee  next  year,  and  we  are  delighted  to  present  an  exclusive  preview  of  the  National  Portrait  Gallery’s  touring  exhibition  of  her  portraits  planned  to  commemorate  it.    We  are  honoured  to  publish  Chris  Levine’s  image  of  the  most  photographed  woman  in  the  world  on  the  cover  of  Schön!  11.    Our  fashion  alternative  to  The  Queen  is  the  rising  star  of  the  modelling  world  Skye  Stracke,  previously  featured  on  the  front  pages  of  international  publications,  including  campaigns  for  H&M  and  Lanvin.    Skye  dazzles  alongside  the  very  suave  Miguel  Iglesias  in  the  fashion  spread  “Paris  is  Burning,”  shot  by  regular  contributor  Jannis  Tsipoulanis.  We  are  also  proud  to  present  an  elite  league  of  up  and  coming,  not  to  mention  extremely  successful,  male  models  in  Issue  11:  the  gorgeous  Willy  Cartier  and  Stephen  Thompson,  who  have  campaigned  for  Givenchy,  and  Sebastian  Sauvé,  who  was  featured  in  the  latest  Zara  campaign  and  shot  by  Dimitris  Theocharis  for  Schön!  11,  have  enough  talent  to  impress  even  The  Queen.              Continuing  in  our  royal  theme,  Saskia  Reis  interviews  a  queen  of  the  stage:  prima  ballerina  of  the  Staatsballett  in  Berlin,  Polina  Semionova.    And  Thanassis  Krikis  presents  “Home  Alone,”  an  enchanting  editorial  spread  with  an  air  of  melancholy  nobility  about  it.  Back  to  art,  we’ve  discovered  some  hidden  gems  for  you  in  Elena  Bombardelli  and  Stephan  Balleux:  two  painters  from  two  different  countries,  both  with  an  extraordinary  gift.      I  won’t  spoil  the  fun  by  telling  you  all  the  secrets  of  what  talent  we  have  enfolded  within  our  pages  …  but  I  will  say  you  don’t  want  to  miss  Stefan  Milev’s  Little  Red  Riding  Hood-­inspired  shoot,  just  in  time  for  the  upcoming  film,  Rocio  Frausto’s  interview  with  Oscar  and  Golden  Globe  nominated  Visual  Effects  frontrunner  Alex  Frisch,  nor  actress  Lisa  Edelstein’s  candid  conversation  with  Andre  Da  Silva  about  winning  her  first  award  and  the  price  of  fame.    Like  the  rarest  diamond,  Issue  11  of  Schön!  Magazine  has  been  perfectly  formed  to  bring  you  the  best  and  brightest  talent  the  world  has  to  offer.    We’ve  filled  our  pages  with  the  crown  jewels  of  the  creative  world  just  for  you,  our  loyal  readers—only  the  best  for  the  best.    

SCHÖN! 11 SPARKLE!

Raoul  Keil,Editor-­in-­Chief

in  print  @  schonmagazine.com

POLINA SEMIONOVA

on the phone with

She is prima ballerina of the Staatsballett in Berlin, but the road to this top position was tough and stony: her childhood in Moscow was shaped by discipline, competition and an enormous amount of pressure to succeed. No wonder the 26-year-old does not consider herself a child prodigy: hard work was the only way to the peak of ballet.

Interview / Saskia ReisPhotography / Maria-Helena Buckley

When you ask her Why?, she mentions love. When you then try to hit the core of this love, she says: “I guess it is something you are born with,” and it sounds as if she is leaning back. Talking to Polina on the phone has its own magic. We do not know each other but there is something that makes her feel close. It is not common that an interviewee is picking up the interview questions as a stimulation of the mind. Polina just lets it happen. More than anyone else she really seems to be in accord with herself. You can feel that the words shaped by this woman come from her inner-self. Surrounded by a sagacious self-confidence, she is never likely to appear arrogant because she is way too down to earth. Just returning to Berlin after four weeks of touring through Asia, Polina does not sound exhausted at all. A few days of relaxation in order to return to the place you might want to call her comfort zone: the stage. Behind the boards that mean the world, of course, we know, is a whole lifetime of endeavour and physical pain in the training rooms.

It was rather practical reasons that made Polina change from figure skating to ballet when she was six-years-old: “The ice skating teacher recommended my brother to change to ballet. It was just that the two schools were at two different ends of Moscow, so my parents decided to take me to ballet as well.” Aged eight she went on for education in the legendary Bolshoi Ballet Academy. “It was definitely the hardest time,” she says. “I spent my whole days there. The competition was so strong and every day you had to prove that you have the right to study at this school.” Some teachers liked her and others didn’t. Some

believed in her and others didn’t. “That was hard for me as a kid,” she admits. Some parents would bring presents to the teachers which could quite influence their kindness. “My parents never did that and I never wanted that kind of support. I found that unfair.” No special treatment, no encouragement from the school. Polina really was that girl determined to be middle-quality, never grow-up to become a principal dancer. “I can’t say that I was so sure of myself when I was in school, but somehow I wanted it very much, I felt it. I believed that I could, because I loved it so much.” And still today she thinks if you love you can achieve. Love was and is her motivation. She received support as well and, of course, endorsement can have many faces. Yes, her parents were not rich, but they bought her the clothes and the pointe shoes she needed. And no, that was not all they did - they gave her what Polina calls mental support: “Every day when I came home from school my mom asked me what the teachers complimented, what they criticized and sometimes it took me two hours to explain everything to her. My mom was so into it, she was basically living this life with me.” Polina considers this constant communication as an important part of her development and it gave her more strength to follow her love for ballet.

Media loves drama and superlatives. They created an image of the prima ballerina Polina, who is now known for her extraordinary diligence and discipline. All media coverage about her includes those “supposed-to-be-most-outstanding” characteristics of her to describe this woman who made it from Moscow’s suburbia Strogino

to the international elite of ballet. The relaxed Polina I talk to on the phone in her leisure time senses what is behind her “super sedulity.” She presumes it is part of her character at first, adds “I hope so,” and giggles. But she takes the question seriously and makes a little pause to think about it before she continues: “When I was in school I always thought that the time to work is now. If I do not work now, later it will be too late. That was and is something that pushes me.” And even though she charmingly giggles again, you can imagine that this attitude really is another important parameter within the approach to access the traits of Polina Semionova. And she still digs deeper. It must be a strong power from within. “You cannot stop. When you go on stage you have to prove something. People are expecting something from you and you have to show it to them.” She remembers her grandmother always told her that the discipline is in her character and young Polina understood: “If I do not do it, nobody else will do it for me. It was good that it was all in my hands.”

Polina’s fairytale continued. When she was just 17-years-old, Vladimir Malakhov, intendant at the Staatsballet in Berlin made her a legendary offer in Hotel Astoria´s lobby in St. Petersburg: to become principal dancer in Berlin. At first Malakhov had offered her a corps de ballet contract, meaning to dance within an ensemble. As she had two offers for solo contracts he was forced to come up with something more to gain young Polina for Berlin. Malakhov is known as her discoverer and her mentor and to Polina he is even more:

“If I do not work now, later it will be too late.”

“I guess it is something you are born with.”

“If I do not do it, nobody else will do it for me.”

Photography  /  ©  Maria-­Helena  Buckley@  buckley-­photo.com

“He is my director, my choreographer, my teacher and also my [dance] partner. At the same time he has become a friend and in all aspects he is very good,” she says, and continues, “but I am still looking up. I understand who he is. He is a legend.”

She is still amazed by his love for the ballet. He is not just loving it, she says: “He is fanatic.” In public perception it is always reflected that ballet dancers are ethereal and pain resistant creatures who basically never leave the training room. And here Polina wants to emphasize that “we are really just normal people. When I am outside the ballet I also have to deal with insurances and clean my apartment.” If normality exists at all, isn’t it still outstanding, going through all the physical pain which is supposed to be part of a ballet dancer’s life? And while I ask her I do not believe that I dare to do so, whether there is some sort of artistic masochism involved in what she does. She laughs and I love her for not dooming me for this question. For a short moment she pauses though, until she replies with determination: “No, I wouldn’t say it is masochism. I do not feel pleasure through the physical pain that is involved in what I do. I just learned to live with it.”

After all, what is the nature of ballet? What is its purpose? She breathes deeply. “The nature of dance is to express yourself. What makes it amazing is, when it comes naturally, when you don’t play it. When you are on stage and you really feel it.” Both the personality and the emotion of the dancer finds its expression through the ballet. It is an art form, but surely it is not just beautiful poses and pure feeling. And the perfect body is worthless if you have nothing inside. For Polina, the art of ballet is everything. It is music, theatre and sport. “You need the body and the emotion and you need the ballet gift. It is not possible to have all

of it on a very high level, so you have a bit of everything and then you work hard to bring it to top quality.” This interview feels like a conversation in a confessional trying to approach the core of creative legislating as a whole. And Polina is not afraid to go beyond that. It is an avowal when Polina admits: “Sometimes you leave the theatre and you feel empty but it is still moving your soul and that is the most important.”

It is hard to imagine that Polina was a shy child. So shy that she hardly spoke. She just loved to express her joy and her anger physically through dancing. She could become a teacher in the future. Or move over to film. But to be honest, I wouldn’t rely on that. Polina seems to be that type of person who comes up with surprises when you least expect it. “Maybe it sounds funny,” she says, as she appears not to be sure if it is right to tell me, “but I could imagine to be a waitress. It is something I would like to try: to accommodate other people’s needs.” She manages to be refreshing whilst maintaining a deep seriousness. And other than expected she allows you to get closer and closer. After having her biography published in 2010, she lately inspired a perfumer from Berlin to create a fragrance with her. “I come into his studio and he lets me test different scents, it is a total new experience for me,” she says and you just imagine whether this perfume will smell like the characteristics of Polina Semionova: discipline, devotion and passion.

“The nature of dance is to express yourself. What makes it amazing is, when it comes naturally, when you don’t play it. “

Words  /  Saskia  ReisPhotography  /  ©  Maria-­Helena  Buckley

@  buckley-­photo.comPhotography  /  ©  Maria-­Helena  Buckley@  buckley-­photo.com

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace,

the slaves of the ordinary.” – Sir Cecil Beaton -