“WHEN I WAS A STUDENT WITH” TANJA KOCHOVSKA, ACTRESS: I WANTED TO BE A SURGEON, BUT THE POWER TO TRANSFORM WAS STRONGER!
With Refet Abazi we had best chemistry on the scene, we agreed a lot and we were understanding each other simply with a sight, we were complemented in the emotion, in the reaction we felt. Milchin was putting us together to act, he is a very good actor and I felt very confident with him.
There is no child who does not recognize her, from the plays in the Theater for Children and Youth. Most of the applause and smiles were provoked exactly by her, Tanja Kochovska. Although, since last year she is no longer a part of the ensemble of that theater, she still plays her roles. The Macedonian National Theater is her new home and as she says: “The children’s theater for me is like a child who has grown up, matured and now we need to split”.
She gladly told us about her student days in “When I was a student”, a column that Fakulteti.mk and Pivara Skopje has creating for you. We were patient and waited for the premiere of the musical “Mama Mia!” in December, so that we can talk with her, because as she says: “When I work on a new project, I can only think just on my role and nothing else.”
Her only other wish was to become a surgeon, but still the theater was more magical. And the genes has done its own. As the first child of Pantelej and Nevenka Kochovski, the stars of “Manjfico”, who had toured all around the world at the time of her childhood, it seemed normal for Tanja to fall in love with the stage.
She enrolled at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in 1985. She has chosen to interpret a text from the 8 grade for the entrance examination.
– I prepared myself quickly. It’s a scary story that struck me. In Serbian, I recited “Stojanka’s mother Knezopolka” by Skender Kulenovic … I entered in the first round. Milchin asked me if I was a daughter of “Manjifico”, and I responded that we are relatives. The student life is the most difficult and beautiful time. One hour you will do something good, and the other you will go through a hell – says Tanja.
She belonged to a class with more than one professors.
– For two years our professor was Vladimir Milcihn, in the third year Vlado Cvetanoski and Kiril Ristoski, then Ilija Milchin and Slobodan Unkovski, and we finished practically with Ljubisa Georgievski. We all worked with two directors. I think it’s a good option for an actor, to have an opportunity to go through different ways of working and approaches – says the actress.
She was a colleague with Vladimir Endrovski, Refet Abazi, Kiril Pop Hristov, Vladimir Lazovski, Valentina Bozhinovska, Danica Georgievska. In the third year of the studies Senko Velinov, Dragan Spasov-Dac, Sofia Kunovska-Angelovska, Gjorgi Jolevski joined them.
– We were together for 24 hours, we slept at the academy. We were going to Ljac’s home for additional learning, and afterwards, in my home, with sleeping, eating, it was a whole tour. We were so close friends, that I got pregnant by Ljac and gave birth to a son. We worked very closely together and we were connected. One day they got angry at me because I started working more often with Jolevski and Senko. Jolevski from that day is my colleague and friend, he is considered as a more specific character, because he is a great worker. When we played “Tartif”, we worked together for days to have a good result, she says.
During the dissertation she was pregnant. She was afraid that everyone would forget her after she gave a birth to a child. But she was invited by Blagoj Chorevski to become part of the ensemble, in that time, the director of the Drama Theater. The others,Velinov, Kunovska-Angelovska, Dac already entered there.
– Ljubomir Chadikovski was often comming to the Drama theater buffet and once invited me to move to the Children’s and Youth Theater, which was in its beginnings. By nature, I want new challenges and I have accepted to go, which was announced as an open concept in the beginning, but later it turned out to be opposite, for us, the actors. We couldn’t play on other scenes or projects. That wasn’t good for us, but for the theater for sure. When we played in the region, we were called “heavy artillery from Macedonia”. When Dovlev came, we were already opened a little, and then it happened to me to work on the first projects in MNT. – tells Tanja.
Since the elementary school,she felt that she had a talent for this profession and she reacted differently to certain situations.
I could feel sadness in a moment, while in the next – joy, I could easily change my mood. There were people who noticed this, but they didn’t told me anything. When I was watching a movie, I focused on the character I liked the most, and I started to react just like him. I loved medicine, but the genes did its own. I had a specific childhood, I lived with my aunt and my uncle. My parents traveled a lot, but I can’t complain that I had a bad childhood, it was the best for me in the world – reminds Kochovska, which is categorical that the academic period is the most beautiful period in terms of education.
She admits that in the childhood days she was slightly rejected by her classmates. She had good friends, but she was not accepted easily.
I was buying them gifts to befriend me. Now it’s opposite, today they bring me presents, but I do not pay any attention to them. I was like an ugly duck. Some things changed in the secondary school. First, I studied in the high school “Nikola Karev”. I had excellent grades, but I had a teacher on the subject of physics with whom I went through a difficult period in the high school, because I didn’t want to learn physics. So, I switched to “Orce Nikolov”. As I entered the classroom, I saw a charming little girl who immediately told me to sit next to her. It was Amelia Serafimovska, and even today she is my best friend – says Kochovska.
We asked her if the fact that she is a daughter of famous musicians helped her in life. She says that their commitment to work was most helpful.
– My parents never came to school specifically to insist on something. They always told me: you did it well, but you can do it better. They enrolled me at the Music School. I didn’t go to the exams, I didn’t want to go any more, but I managed up to the fourth year. Later, when my sister went to high school or university, I did not even like the smell of the building. Singing is in my genes, but I didn’t want to learn it – admits Kochovska.
She is impressed by many professors from the Faculty of Drama arts. She says that they were studying from the “old guards” of professors.
Ivan Ivanovski, Goran Stefanovski, Aco Aleksov, Vladimir Milcin … these were professors whose lectures were special. At the faculty we had “old guards” professors. I have always been keeping notes, and even today I do it when I have a rehearsals. It helps me to create a certain character. It was different with those old professors. At first, it was not possible everyone to become a professor. We were actors who wanted to be specific, but we knew the measure. They never told us anything bad, but still we were crying every time when we were going home. We were frustrated when Milcin gave us some literature to read in two days. I had a history teacher from “Orce Nikolov”, which was the strictest and accurately assessed me and found a way how to learn systematically and I never learned more about history than with her. It all depends on the pedagogue and in what way he/she will transfer you the knowledge – says Kochovska.
As a student, she often worked on performances by Aleksandar Popovski and regrets that she had no opportunity to work again.
– I loved Chekhov and played it successfully, I loved the role of Nina Zarechna the most. I even wanted to name my daughter Nina, but I changed my mind and I gave her the name Nela after the two grandmothers. People like me in belong in comic performances. “Tartif”, “Life is wonderful” I had big tests, to see how the audience will respond. I worked with genius directors and I had no problem. I still have little stage-fright every show, I do not feel confident enough, and every role is as it’s my first. Movies or concerts are not my type, every time I think of it, I die. But if there is singing in the show, there is no problem. It’s good sometimes, because again I get a new impulse – the actress says.
With actor Refet Abazi she had the most chemistry on stage.
– We agreed very much on the scene, we were understanding each other simply with a sight. We were complemented in emotion, in reaction. And Milchin was putting us together, he was a very good actor and I felt very confident with him.
Since the secondary school, she didn’t want to make compromises and learn subjects that did not attract her.
Mathematics, for example, I didn’t like that subject, and I didn’t study. I was lucky to have professors who knew to respect my personality and not to force me to learn what I didn’t want to learn and they motivated me in their own way.
During the studies, at summer time, she was working on islands in Greece.
– When I gave birth to a child, I lived separately and in parallel I worked in the theater, I cleaned houses, stairs in several buildings. I’ve never been ashamed of a work. I’ve been dedicated to the theater. I ran into rehearsals even when I did not feel good, with infusion, or when the children were ill. This profession requires you to be committed- she is categorical.
The popular actress sends a beautiful message to the acting students.
– I recommend them to be grounded. To “drink” from the experience of the professors, of the older colleagues. To go regularly to the theater, to read a lot profession-related literature, from everyday events to develop scanning power, to analyze, so that they can use it for some role. And, very important, to be workers. The audience does not want cheating, but honesty. They know exactly who we are and what we are and what we offer to them, and they know how to make awards. It’s not just the loud applause for that. Sometimes a sigh of the audience can say a lot. The actor should have that power to take that emotion and properly return it back to the audience.
