Late on Sunday evening, a Sports source reported that the group Eteri Tutberidze was left by her constant choreographer Alexei Zheleznyakov. What actually happened between the honored coach of Russia and her devoted employee?
Parquet choreographer Zheleznyakov is an old-timer from among the surviving members of the headquarters. In recent years, he became the secret press attache of Khrustalny, and if something like that happened in the open spaces of the school, journalists turned to him first. Compared to the rest of Eteri Georgievna’s group, expressive, emotional and open Alexey looked almost like an oasis in the desert – he had an opinion on everything, and, most importantly, a desire to express it.
Very often his comments boiled down to defending Tutberidze’s team from so-called “attacks” from the outside. At one time, the opinion was firmly established among fans and journalists that Alexey was simply conveying to the public the thoughts of the head coach, but this is not entirely true. According to information, Eteri Georgievna was not always happy with the interview with her choreographer and repeatedly asked him, as they say, to be quieter. The rest of the staff coaches also expressed their displeasure, sometimes even publicly.
So, during the 2021 Russian Championship, choreographer-director of “Khrustalny” Daniil Gleikhengauz, answering a question about Alexey, told reporters that “not everyone should use the Internet.” In this way, Daniil commented on one of Zheleznyakov’s most shocking antics – a challenge to two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, with whom Eteri Georgievna had an active confrontation at that time. The head of Sambo-70, to which Khrustalny was then assigned, Renat Laishev, also tried to influence his employee. And many others probably tried – but Alexey, as they say, is Alexey.
Why, then, did their collaboration not end sooner? Probably because it was Zheleznyakov, of all the current coaches, who went with Tutberidze all the way from the bottom to the top. Having come to figure skating from ordinary dances, Alexey at first did not understand the specifics, but he knew his business perfectly well. From Polina Shelepen to Kamila Valieva, probably all the Eteri Georgievna stars you can remember went through his jazz class. Moreover, at first he not only did “parquet” choreography, but also choreographed ice programs for figure skaters – not for long, however, but for a non-specialist person such versatility is still amazing.
And in general, it would be wrong to talk about Alexey only through the prism of scandals. Behind all these loud comments about students who left Eteri Georgievna, competing staffs, international sports officials and God knows who else, there is a real professional in his field, and his contribution to the dancing of the Khrustalny figure skaters is difficult to overestimate. At one time, Tutberidze even believed that the dances taught by Zheleznyakov could be a replacement or at least a harmonious addition to general physical training (GPP) – so in literally everything that figure skaters Eteri Georgievna do on ice, if desired, one can see, let’s say, Alexey's hand.
But the 10-year experience of cooperation still came to an end. According to information, at the beginning of this fall, Alexey, for personal reasons, began to miss training from time to time, and at some point Eteri Georgievna could not stand it. It’s hard to say whether it was a truly objective reason or just a reason to end a “toxic relationship,” but another dance specialist will be working with her group at the new ice arena. But who it will be is, as far as one can understand, an open question.
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