Trafika Europe 13 - Russian Ballet

Igor Sakhnovsky

what it is exactly that one ought to fear.

When one of the vociferous noshers of the ready-to- eat Isabella containers (the events were taking place in Crimea, where Schneiderman was born and spent most of his life,) the sixth or seventh of which was now being emptied, announced with heroic pathos: “Mountaineering, Gena! Mountaineering is all the rage right now!” Schneiderman straightened out his stooped back and asked: “When are we off – today or tomorrow?” At the first ascent, executed without the least bit of preparation for the route of the highest level of difficulty, Gena slipped and fell from a height of 8 meters and broke the little toe of his left foot. This event – wholly banal in the annals of the Scheniderman opus – speaks once again not to any sort of insane bravery, but more likely to the characteristic for Schneiderman paralysis of will, that is, even for its complete and utter absence, which, quite possibly, was for him the essence of true freedom. He pursued no goals and did not in any way allow his horizons to be limited by the element of choice. It was not he that commonly made choices, but his enamored lady friends (from among the visitors) and the eternally unsated gourmands (from among the locals). Moreover, they chose with the most

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