By Russell Working
Captain Anatoly Kalekin sits in his office sipping tea beneath a model sailing ship, and
in his Pacific Fleet uniform, he could be any officer in the Russian navy.
But as he discusses a trip he once made to San Diego, he can't resist bursting into a song
he performed there.
"God bless America!" Kalekin sings. "Land that I love!"
If it seems an unusual gush of enthusiasm for an officer in what was once the Soviet navy,
well, consider the source. Kalekin is the director of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the
Pacific Fleet. That's the group you can see dancing like Cossacks, or singing Korean
national songs during a visit to that country, or forming an engine out of their bodies
while one of their member tightens their heads, like bolts, with a giant wrench.
In short, be ready: The ensemble is likely to perform a little bit of everything in its
celebration of the fleet's 65th anniversary April 18.
Kalekin, 43, is a mustachioed conductor and songwriter who works out of a rehearsal hall
on Svetlanskaya (a French reporter once described it as a little hut in the heart of
Vladivostok). When a journalist drops in, he shows off rehearsal rooms, a dance studio,
and walls full of photos and memorabilia from his 11 years as the head of the ensemble.
Kalekin gives the air of one who is constantly, and unsuccessfully, restraining himself
from bursting into a Rogers and Hammerstein musical. He is the sort of man who seems to
end half his sentences in exclamation points.
"It's not only entertainment!" he says. "There is a transformation of a
person: A person starts thriving at a concert!"
Kalekin is fond of breaking
down barriers with his music. He began his performing for the troops in Afghanistan. Even
when performing in the West during the Soviet era, he found that music was able to reach
people in deep ways.
"The ensemble never actually had any Cold War experience, because music opened all
the doors!" he says.
In February, the ensemble performed in Korea. Several dignitaries sat up front, scowling
and crossing their arms. But when he began singing a Korean national ballad, ail reserve
broke down, and the bigwigs cried.
On their way to Korea, the ensemble traveled on a Russian ship that held a ceremony for
the those who died in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. As they passed the spot where the
Russian fleet was destroyed, the ensemble sang an old song recalling the battle.
"In Tsushima Strait, very far from home,
Deep down on the bottom of the ocean,
There are forgotten ships. Officers and sailors
Are sleeping there with their arms widespread,
And coral grows between their fingers."
The song says the sailors won't rest until they're buried under Russian soil. So an
Orthodox priest sprinkled Russian dirt on the water. All the antics were gone. Stirred by
the song and the ceremony, Kalekin, his performers and their priest all wept.
Pacific Fleet anniversary events
April 18: Fleet ensemble performance after a ceremony at the Pacific Fleet Officers'
House, 48 Svetlanskaya, 5 p.m.
April 19: Stone laying at Egersheld viewpoint, 11 a.m. Fleet's drama theater performance
at the Officers' House, 5-7 p.m.
April 20: 3-4 p.m., the Fleet's brass band will perform at the main square, 3-4 p.m.
Discotheque show at Sportivnaya Gavan, 8 p.m.
April 21: Wreath-laying at the eternal flame by the submarine, 8:40-9:05 a.m. Drama
theater performance at the Officers' House, 4 p.m.
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