News and performances from Ukraine

[Irmgard]

I was delighted to attend the first two days of the Ballet Festival (Ballet UA) by the Ukrainian National Ballet in their beautiful home in Kyiv - the National Opera House of Ukraine - for my first trip outside of England for over a year.  The first evening, 21 October, was devoted to two recent ballets for the company.  As it was a little difficult to negotiate the opera house’s website, I am not sure if the first of these, “Eyes Wide Closed” was its première.  I take it that the translation was meant to be “Eyes Wide Shut” in reference to Stanley Kubrick’s film.  It was choreographed by Viktor Ishchuk, a dancer with the company and one of the two male dancers appearing in it, the other being Serhiy Kryvokon.  Amongst the featured females were Natalia Matsak and Yulia Moskalenko who charmed me so much when she appeared in Ivan Putrov’s gala in London last month.  The piece was performed to a selection of works by Bach, Rachmaninov and Chopin alternately played by the fabulous Gabriella Lina Magallas on piano and a string quartet, presumably from the resident orchestra, placed on opposite sides of the stage.  The female dancers were dressed in a rendition of 18^th century undergarments – corsets and panniered skirts – with the men in conventional tights and shirts.  The piece opened with everyone dancing in silhouette, like the artwork so favoured in the 18th^th century, which was very effective.  Later on, the ladies dispensed with their skirts and danced in a variation on frilly knickers.  The choreography itself was very musical albeit not particularly inventive but it was a joy to see such beautifully trained dancers who appeared to be thoroughly enjoying dancing it.

 

The second piece premièred in June 2021 and was entitled simply “Dante”.  By Yaroslav Ivanenko, formerly a member of the company and now choreographer for the ballet company in Kiel, this was a telling of Dante’s search for his beloved Beatrice in the underworld.  Set to a score comprising works by Ezio Bosso, Dvorak and Wagner, this was a thrilling piece with a lot of virtuoso dancing, not least from Vitaly Netrunenko.  Without having read the programme note, I assumed he was the Devil, such was his charismatic and forceful dancing, but apparently he was Virgil, Dante’s constant companion during his search.  The corps de ballet were put to admirable use in the first scenes, with their very energetic dancing suggesting to me that they were the furies, characters beloved of 18^th century ballets who performed all the acrobatic steps in keeping with their other-worldly status.  Sets, costumes and lighting were all very effective, although I think the use of the chute (rather like the emergency chute on an aeroplane) for the entrance of the corps de ballet into the underworld was used perhaps in one too many scenes.  The piece culminated in a very moving pas de deux for Dante (Nikita Sukhorukov) and Beatrice (Tatiana Lyozova) to Wagner’s “Liebestod” before they ascended into heaven.  All in all, this was a very enjoyable evening and a great introduction to this talented company.

 

The second evening (22 October) was rather like a national Emerging Dancer competition, with couples from all the major companies in Ukraine performing their party pieces. Katja Khaniukova and Aitor Arrieta from English National Ballet were the guest artists providing ‘interludes’ from the competition, ending the first half and then the whole evening.  Due to her commitments in London, Khaniukova and Arrieta were unable to perform in the gala performance the following evening with other guest artists from the Paris Opéra and Kiel, among others.  Of the competing couples, in the first half I very much enjoyed Maria Shupilova and Pavel Zurnadzhi from Kyiv in a sparkling performance of the “Flames of Paris” pas de deux and a particularly charming and classy Anastasia Gurska and Andriy Havryishkiv, also from Kyiv, in a delightful performance of the “Talisman” pas de deux.  In the second half, Alexei Knyazkov and Christina Kadashevich from Kharkiv raised the temperature in the auditorium with an incredibly steamy performance of the Crassus and Aegena pas de deux from “Spartacus”.  He looked every inch the swaggering, arrogant Roman, and she used her long legs particularly seductively, with each gravity-defying lift or clinch eliciting spontaneous applause from the audience who were so enamoured of this couple that the applause continued long after they left the stage.  I later discovered that they had been awarded the pas de deux prize.  However, my highlight was an enchanting performance of the “Diana and Acteon” pas de deux by the effervescent Moskalenko and Stanislav Olshansky from Kyiv which ended the competition segment of the programme.

 

After all these Russian gala favourites, it was like a breath of fresh air to see Khaniukova and Arrieta in the Act I bedroom pas de deux from MacMillan’s “Manon”, possibly the first time it has been seen live in Kyiv. I was lucky enough to see Arrieta as Des Grieux three times during English National Ballet’s 2018/2019 season and each time I was extremely moved not only by the beauty of his dancing but also by his passionate characterisation which intensified at each performance.  For Khaniukova, this was her début as Manon, having previously danced the Mistress, and she proved that this is a role she was born to dance with her exquisite footwork, beautiful use of épaulement and the utter charm of her characterisation.  With their flawless techniques and ability to totally inhabit characters, even in an excerpt, Arrieta and Khaniukova are perfectly matched, and there was a palpable chemistry between them. Their obvious joy gave the pas de deux an added rapturousness, with Arrieta making Khaniukova look as light as air in the thrilling lifts, and the final slide had the audience applauding and cheering before the music had finished, making me so glad that Khaniukova had chosen to present this gorgeous pas de deux in her home city.  To close the evening, Khaniukova and Arrieta danced the lovely pas de deux which follows the pas de trois in Act II of Anna-Marie Holmes’s staging of “Le Corsaire”.  This was a beautifully polished performance, danced with such tenderness that it took my breath away multiple times and I would love to see them dance the full ballet together (as I would “Manon”!).  Again, the audience gave them a huge and prolonged ovation at the end and I think we all went home with smiles on our faces and our hearts singing after witnessing such a wealth of beautiful dancing.  I was only sorry that I could not stay to see the gala the following evening but delighted to have been there for two very entertaining performances.

[maryrosesatonapin]

What a detailed and vivid review - I'm jealous!  Thank you, @Irmgard.

[Bluebird]

I just saw the following clip on CNN.  It shows ballet continuing in Odessa despite the air raids:

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/07/25/ukraine-odesa-opera-house-ballet-defiance-intl-watson-pkg-intldsk.cnn/video/playlists/russia-ukraine-military-conflict/

I hope the link works.  Here is how they describe it:

"See the defiant ballet performance punctuated by air raid sirens

Amid a brutal war with Russia, the shows at a 135-year-old opera house in the southern city Odesa still go on. CNN's Ivan Watson goes to a ballet performance that is punctuated by air raid sirens as the port city is being periodically pounded by Russians."

[Sim]

Thanks Bluebird.  This has already been posted on today's links. 

 

[Bluebird]

Just now, Sim said:

Thanks Bluebird.  This has already been posted on today's links. 

 

I should clearly read the links before watching CNN!

[Sim]

1 minute ago, Bluebird said:

I should clearly read the links before watching CNN!

 

[Naomi M]

As I have mentioned on another thread, the National Ballet of Ukraine is currently touring Japan with 26 dancers. Here is another news documentary with some stage footage. I did see one performance in Tokyo, and although they could not perform works with Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, they danced some experts from Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, La Sylphide and Gopak. Despite the serous situations they are facing, they gave superb performances. Especially 17 year old Katherina Mykluha ( who is currently a member of Dutch National Ballet Junior Company) and principal Nikita Skholkov were memorable.

 

 

Documentary on Mykluha (hope this is not geo-blocked) 

https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_international/articles/000262540.html?fs=e&s=cl

[SheilaC]

2 hours ago, Bluebird said:

I just saw the following clip on CNN.  It shows ballet continuing in Odessa despite the air raids:

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/07/25/ukraine-odesa-opera-house-ballet-defiance-intl-watson-pkg-intldsk.cnn/video/playlists/russia-ukraine-military-conflict/

I hope the link works.  Here is how they describe it:

"See the defiant ballet performance punctuated by air raid sirens

Amid a brutal war with Russia, the shows at a 135-year-old opera house in the southern city Odesa still go on. CNN's Ivan Watson goes to a ballet performance that is punctuated by air raid sirens as the port city is being periodically pounded by Russians."

I saw the ballet company at Odessa about 40 years ago. My father and I shared a small box with a couple from Siberia. My father, who was learning Russian, chatted with them and afterwards they corresponded. We saw Esmeralda, unfortunately I couldn't get a programme or cast list. The opera house is very beautiful.

Two weeks ago the Guardian showed photos of the main company in Kyiv rehearsing for a performance that week as the theme for its photo spread in the centre pages. (I don't think it was in Links, presumably because it wasn't an article or review; and when I later tried to search for it on the paper's website I could find no reference to it).

[Emeralds]

Just found this thread after SheilaC’s post bumped it back to the current posts and found Irmgard’s interesting review. Hope Yulia Moskalenko will be dancing on one of the performances of United Ukrainian Ballet’s Giselles that I’ve booked. I might book an extra performance if she’s dancing on a different night. The company has also posted an intriguing picture on Facebook of Vladimir Malakhov working with Alexei Ratmansky on Giselle- wonder if he’s performing?? (As Hilarion, the Duke, or some other role??)  

 

I wonder if there’s any news of whether Natalia Matsak has gone abroad or has stayed in Ukraine?  

 

Interesting to see that Yaroslav Ivanenko also created a ballet about Dante around the time that Wayne McGregor was also working on a ballet about Dante for the Royal Ballet! Thank you Irmgard, Naomi M and SheilaC, for the fascinating  reports about these performances. 

[Naomi M]

According to Natalia Matsak’s Instagram, she has performed Giselle on the stage of National Ballet of Ukraine in Kyiv on July 10th. 
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf1rSuooB1L/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=