Tina Afiyan Breiova: ‘The Armenian Spirit Is Made for Art’

As the founder of Axis of Action and an educator at London Contemporary Dance School, what principles do you consider most essential for training the next generation of performers and movement directors?

This is exactly what we were asking ourselves when we were creating the MA in performance course. And I’m lucky, because my practice. Axis of Action takes me to so many different countries, festivals and institutions, which means I get to see the tendencies that are arising across the field.

What we’re seeing is that dancers are less often employed within one theatre or company for many years — in fact, most are now freelancers. To survive and succeed in a very competitive industry, they need to be versatile and unafraid to experiment with different styles and ways of working. They need to keep their minds open.

Your acclaimed duet “Ruina” is inspired by the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia. What first drew you to this subject, and how did you translate such a profound historical tragedy into movement without words?

Well, let’s start with the fact that I merely tried — you cannot truly translate such a tragedy. The duet was less based on the earthquake itself, and more on what it left behind: the spaces that were once full of life, now destroyed and empty. It wasn’t the event itself that drew me in, but its consequence.

I was lucky to work with two brilliant dancers, and I focused mainly on the idea of interdependence. We wanted to create movements that would not be possible if the other person weren’t there.

You come from an Armenian and Czech family. Your mother Gayane Breiova is a well-known restaurateur, cookbook author, and TV presenter, recognized for promoting traditional Armenian culinary heritage in Moscow and Prague. Could you tell us how your multicultural background has shaped your artistic identity?

I think art is personal at its core. Every culture I’ve encountered — even the ones that shaped me just by living there — is part of my identity. I’ve lived in seven countries now, so I’ve picked up a lot of influences along the way.

My mum, originally from Yerevan, has always been an advocate for Armenian culture, and her way of expressing it is through food — she’s incredible at it. When I came back to visit her after living in China, she made tolma, and I cried. Food is memory, and it’s one of the most primal kinds. My dad always spoke Czech to us growing up, and it’s probably my strongest language today. Language shapes how we understand the world, and speaking Russian, broken Armenian, English, and Czech all shapes my thinking — and by extension, my art.

Recently the contemporary dance scene in Armenia has become vivid. What was your experience from your workshop in Yerevan last August 3-4?

I was delighted to teach in Yerevan. I must say I still don’t know the dance scene there well enough — I’d love to know it more, so please feel free to educate me whenever you have a moment.

The workshop was an opportunity to understand the field by actually being in the studio. My main expertise is teaching at a professional level, working with dancers who are already established in their craft. To build a scene with that kind of professionalism, we need investment in culture and a genuine appreciation of it. Only then will parents, children and adult dancers alike believe that this is a career worth pursuing. I expected to find charismatic and beautiful people, and I did — the Armenian spirit is made for art. I really hope to see more Armenian dancers making a difference, both in Armenia and around the world.