Model: Daria Panchenko.
Daria Panchenko, a versatile artist whose journey spans from the elegance of ballet to the intensity of acting, now ventures into the realm of writing. Seamlessly integrating her diverse experiences, she views each discipline as a canvas for truth-seeking. Beyond the stage and page, Daria finds solace in the unexpected arena of boxing, where her fiery temperament finds release. In her quest to convey the complexities of the human soul, she emerges not only as an artist but as a catalyst for introspection and societal change.
Harper’s Bazaar (HBZVN): You are a ballerina and actress who studied at the Kyiv National I.K. Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre, Cinema, and Television. How does your experience in ballet influence your acting skills and approach to roles?
DARIA PANCHENKO: Ballet is considered the most brutal of the arts, but when you engage in the true acting profession, living the fates of your characters, you realize that nothing can be more harsh and rigorous than this profession. You are completely drained like a lemon after rehearsals, and this process never stops. You fall asleep and wake up with thoughts of how to further enhance your role. If you are seriously dedicated to this profession and not dabbling in amateurism, it doesn’t let you go. When something tragic happens in your life, no matter how difficult it is at that moment, your acting fate pushes you to look in the mirror at your suffering and tears and think about how to experience this in your roles. If you are truly engaged in the acting profession, it is backbreaking labor that takes all your resources, but it gets you addicted to the drug of audience attention, without which you won’t be able to live a fully happy life.
HBZVN: Tell us about your transition from acting and ballet to writing. What inspired you to start writing scripts? What themes and ideas do you strive to realize?
DARIA PANCHENKO: If you ask film actors what causes discomfort in their profession, I assure you, you will hear complaints about how bad the scripts are being written nowadays. When you come to a film set, you hear many directors and actors shouting, “Who wrote these lines?” “We don’t talk like this in real life.” But the script is the skeleton, and no matter how harmoniously the actors exist on screen, without a foundation, it is impossible to create truth.
I discovered my love for writing when I was studying at the theater. We had to bring sketches every day, and when I wrote the dialogues and plots, all my classmates said I should write scripts. But I realistically understood where I was and where the writers were.
You need to have colossal talent and inspiration to write even one work that holds the readers’ attention.
Circumstances in my life unfolded in such a way that not narrating them would be a crime. It was as if someone from another world was forcing me to write. Having never written anything serious before, after some hard events in my life, the words flowed by themselves, and I wrote my script without stopping and found my writing style. All creative people are traumatized; it is impossible to seek inspiration in happiness and a harmonious state. If you look at the fates of great creative personalities, there is always some kind of breakage.
Themes and ideas are not important to me; truth is important, and there is very little of it. Detailed truth without silly exaggeration and imaginary action that is commonly used to supplement bad series. To say that I want the reader to read my work and realize my deep-seated ideas is very naive. Everyone sees their own thing and reads through the prism of their life experience. Someone will take from my character how not to act, while someone else will latch onto it and realize that this is what they were missing and find themselves in it.
HBZVN: For a delicate girl, you have an unusual hobby – boxing. How did you choose it?
DARIA PANCHENKO: Appearance can be deceiving! I am a very hot-tempered person, flaring up like a match and wanting to demolish everything if something doesn’t please me. In this regard, boxing really tempers my emotions and takes away unnecessary negative energy. I found my sport, which highlights my temperament and allows me to express my impulsive nature.
HBZVN: What career goals do you set for yourself in the near future?
DARIA PANCHENKO: To convey the truth to people through my works and to debunk many commonly accepted stereotypes. My works are about the emptiness of the soul and how it erodes us. I want all layers of society, regardless of social level, to find themselves in my lines, and for the described birth of emotions and shades of feelings to evoke the sensation like they were taken from their personal lives.
Model: @vadimovna_darya_p.
Photographer: @natalysyakova.
PR: @multi_publications
Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam
