Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview
The person I interviewed was from Russia and to try and describe this culture briefly I would
say, socially, there are many boundaries because people are not very approachable so they’re guarded.
Physically, it could be strenuous because of the extreme cold. Mentally, the people are smart and
disciplined people. Overall I would say culture is rich, by that I mean they are keeping up with today’s
rising culture in technology and trends, but they still teach and practice traditions from many years ago
in their history like dances and certain holidays. I am a little jealous that it seems they can keep their old
traditions as well as move on to newer and better things, and even the fact they are able to say that
they have these traditions that are theirs, I admire.
I picked this culture not just because I was I was running out of time to interview someone but
because I have realized I had been around four to five Russian people within the last year and a half and
I had never really known anything about their culture besides seeing some of their traditional dancing in
programs and by seeing the animated movie Anastasia, which is a fictional version of the story about the
Russian Romanoff family. In picking my interviewee my thoughts on the other Russians I had met
pointed me towards her.
I interviewed a girl named Anya Ivanov; I picked her because she’s in my English class and I have
sat next to her many times throughout this semester but never really got to know her too well. Also, as I
stated in the last paragraph, I picked her because I have been exposed to more Russian people lately so I
would actually like to get an idea where exactly they’re coming from. When I asked Anya to be
interviewed she very willing to do it, all I needed to do was pick a place and we worked the time around
her schedule. We met at the U of U institute building and I pulled out my laptop to record and we
started moving on the questions. The interview lasted about an hour and a half, it could have been
shorter but we would go off on many tangents of just friendly conversation. The interview went so well,
at least in my opinion, I felt totally comfortable with her and I believe she was comfortable too. We
Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview
were making jokes and randomly we would just veer off of the interview topics and just talk about life,
overall this interview was great.
So the first question was about culture. This question was a little more puzzling for Anya to
describe so she just described the feel of the people. The people are a little more closed off, not as
friendly compared to people in the US, for example she said that “here in the US it’s not unusual to
strike up a conversation with a stranger out of the blue, but in Russia people just don’t do that.” If you
would just meet someone there, they are generally going to be very guarded, but Anya mentioned that
they are a friendly people but it is a matter of how much time you are willing to give to get to know
them so they can trust and open up to you. It really does take a little more time I would say in Russia to
get to know people than here in the US. When Anya had talk about how closed and unapproachable
they can be it didn’t totally surprise me because I think growing up I heard and believed that people
there were just more cold and strict so that in a way just stereotyped Russians for me, up until talking to
her, now I imagine them like onions, you just need to peel a layer at a time and they’re not so bad. She
has really liked living in Utah because of the friendlier feel though she steel thinks because of her
Russian background that she comes off and cold and unapproachable, but I think she’s not quite that
bad.
When we got to talking about families in Russia compared to the US they seemed to be quite
different. People there tend to live in apartments more than homes so the families tend to be smaller,
like two to three kids tops. When I told her I was the youngest of 8 she laughed and said would almost
never happen there. As far as the responsibilities of the family members, it is more common to have the
husband and wife work, but sometimes just the wife working is common, but the wife generally works
to support husband’s drinking habits. Drinking is a very common daily routine there but not very
healthy. Anya described a family she knew where the kids worked as well as the mom to support
themselves and their father’s drinking habits and the drinking was the reason he didn’t work. Granted
Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview
this is only one family that she had known, she has known many more like them so this made me a little
happy to compare and know that here in Utah it is not like that, at least not to that extent.
The most valued stage in life in Russia, Anya believed, is when you can go out on your own get a
job and contributes to society. So 17-18 year olds are old enough to go out on their own and do this. I
thought it sounded like the US in that way, and later I said that to her and she agreed. So I am slowly
learning through this interview that Russia is not way different from the US in a general sense.
The communication there, from what Anya said, seems very structured in the language that is
spoken, how certain words are presented, as well as the gestures made there. So obviously they learn
Russian in Russia, but what I didn’t know is that they teach them English as soon as first grade, if their
funds are sufficient, at the latest they learn English in fifth grade. This just made me think how crazy is
that, in the US we only need to learn English but other countries are teaching two. Living in US Anya
sometimes feels as though she is not showing proper respect to people when she speaks to them but
she realizes that sometimes it’s actually because that is the way we are supposed to speak to others.
The reason she feels this is because in Russia, for example, there are at least 3-4 different ways to say
“you” and mean it in a single formal/ informal, plural formal / informal way, but here in the US we just
say “you” and there are no worries if you are offending someone by not saying it formally or informally.
After three years Anya still speaks Russian but not very often and has very well spoken English but with a
cute accent.
As far as gestures goes eye contact is a no no when it comes to being strangers, so if they’re walking
down a hall and they cross they don’t look at each other.
The typical food eaten there are potatoes, bread, and cheese. They typically drink tea, they
many kinds of it. Spicy food could possibly be considered their taboo food because the food in Russia is
very bland. Garlic there is considered a health food because they believe it kills bacteria so it’s good for
you to eat it as you feel you are getting sick.
Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview
If you were to eat at someone’s house and you dislike the food, so as not to offend them, you just make
up good white lies, like this tea is cold and we’re out of time.
How they dress in Russia is very similar to the US dress wise, and in Utah due to our crazy
weather. If you ever talk to a grandma she will tell you to put a hat and scarf on! People from our
generation (young adults) dress like people in US but with more skin showing, at least in comparison to
Utah’s dress style there are definitely less clothes on them. Older people tend to wear more dresses and
skirts than the casual clothes teens wear.
Punctuality is super important, not like here you could be 5 minutes late you and you could be
ok; there they will call you out on being late. Russians are not a touchy feely people they keep their
distance, so hugging someone only comes after being really really close to them. I’m thinking maybe
that’s why people are more closed off, because it takes so long to get under their onion like layers.
Holidays in Russia are a little different than in the US. They don’t celebrate Christmas alone, they
celebrate Christmas and New Year’s together on New Year’s Eve. That day is basically the biggest holiday
because it’s like everyone’s day they have an excuse to get drunk but they also do get presents.
Something I found cool was that there they have a Santa but he doesn’t have elves, it’s a niece that
helps him give out presents.
For Easter its basically the same there as in the US except they don’t dye the eggs, they will get eggs and
they bless them and they are holy eggs after being blessed, it’s a serious thing although I might think it
sounds hilarious, but it’s based off the Russian orthodox religion. A political holiday that Anya
appreciated is the 8th of May, which is the title itself, like Mother’s day for the US, but its for every girl
not just the mothers.
Dancing today in Russia, Anya says, is a lot like dancing in the US, at least for the younger
generation. There are Stomps just about every weekend that she would go to growing up.
Usually both genders dance not just one and they can see each other, not like other cultures we
Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview
have studied. They still continue their traditional folk dancing like the Barynya that has been
done for many years, but it’s usually for certain occasions or holidays, but the style is definitely
still taught and practiced. The Baryna can be danced by men or men and women together, in
the dance you will see plenty of bents legs because that is something done in most Russian folk
dancing. The costumes for the traditional dance are still basically the same a kind of a peasant
look to them they just have a newer edge to them using new fabrics or designs and colors.
Music liked in Russia is very close to what we like here in the US. Anya pointed out that a big
majority of the younger generation seems to be leaning more towards techno, which she loves
also. Her favorite group in the techno genre is Bass Hunter, which I happened to hear about a
year before and now I love them. They still use the traditional music and in a newer generation
there have been a few tweaks but the sound of it is still really the same.
The arts and music are very valued in Russia, ballet and opera is a special thing to go to. Anya has
been to many growing up and she really learned to love them. Kids are encouraged to do ballet more
than any other dance. The music valued there is more of the traditional kind but that’s, now with a
newer generation they are embracing the newer types of music. Popular instruments that kids learn to
play would be the piano, accordion, guitar, and violin. Anya learned to play the accordion and piano
growing up. When she told me about learning the accordion I pretty much thought that was amazing,
she would be like the only one here at SLCC to play, probably.
Anya’s experience in Utah and in the US she said people are much nicer to her than in Russia, she
found it weird but it made her feel special. People would stop to help her or hold things for her and she
thought it was because she was Russian and then she realized it happens to many people in this culture
or at least the Utah culture. She did mention that while people here are quite caring, we are not always
respectful; I think I would call it thoughtless. She had an experience when she had a friend and her sister
Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview
over and the sister just put her foot up on her couch while she was talking to Anya. Anya was seriously
offended she couldn’t believe someone would just do that. I guess people in the US are more relaxed
about manners and we do many things just out of assumption that we can.
As far as Prejudice goes, she says she hasn’t really experienced any that she can really remember any. To
me you can’t tell off of a glance that she is Russian but once she talks you know it.
In interviewing Anya I have come to realize that I am quite privileged just living in the US, not just having
the rights I do, but being surrounded by the many nice and open people here. Being “different”
in America has a bigger meaning to me now; there are big differences in culture but also in common
everyday life experiences that I take for granted, like being able to hug someone I just meet or even
make eye contact with them. The Russian Culture is not as big as a puzzle to me as it was before this
interview, I have learned that yes, they can be a closed people as I thought, but it is just a matter of
trying to get to know them. In a way it is what I had to do with Anya and my other Russian
acquaintances. What surprised me was my opinion of the US was greatly heightened. I can better
understand what privileges I really do have by living in the US like more freedom. Also I found our
culture to be thoughtless in the way we treat others sometimes, I wished sometimes we could be as
proper in the way we speak or by our mannerisms like they are in Russia.
Pretty sure learning about the holidays was my favorite because of the differences there are between
our countries and the way we practice them, it might also be due to the fact that we laughed the most
during that portion of the interview.
When I was driving to interview Anya I remember thinking, “Ok just make this fast and easy, get in get
out.” But when it actually came down to asking the questions it was so much better because it wasn’t so
cut and dry. We really did have fun and we both learned about each other and as an end result I now
know more about the Russian culture other than the movie Anastasia and the Russian folk dancing they
perform.
Lauren Perrier
Dance 1010
Life History Interview