A fairy-tale debut. Choreographer Serhii Kon stages the ballet “A Minute Before Christmas”
Rehearsals of the upcoming production prepared by the “Kyiv Modern Ballet” artists are underway.
The new project is a fantastic theatrical fairy tale: the ballet-journey “A Minute Before Christmas” to music by C. Saint-Saëns and “Carol of the Bells”.
Premiere scheduled for December 21, 22 and 23, 2023 and January 2–6, 2024, on the stage of the Kyiv Cultural Cluster “Krakow” (12 Rusanivska Embankment).
The production team of the ballet «A Minute Before Christmas»: author of the libretto – Oksana Taranenko, choreographer-director – Serhii Kon, author of the video content – Olha Nikitina, project director – Radu Poklitaru.
This will be a journey into a world of magic and wonder, where the story begins with reality but quickly transforms into a world of illusions, where truth intertwines with fancy, and the fantastical mingles with the everyday.
“A Minute Before Christmas” is my first experience as a choreographer-director working together with the artists of the "Kyiv Modern Ballet" theatre, says Serhii KON. The desire to work and create a new production with talented dancers in a professional contemporary dance theatre had been with me for quite some time. When I received the invitation to work with the artists of the «Kyiv Modern Ballet» theatre and to create the movement design for a new Christmas show, I agreed at once.
In the show "A Minute Before Christmas", the style of the choreography and movement is aimed at combining elements of classical dance with various dance techniques, along with my personal sense of the music, expressed in my own physical response to it. The wonderful, easily perceived music of Camille Saint-Saëns, combined with Carol of the Bells, serves as a source of inspiration for creating a Christmas spectacle. The unobtrusive storyline of the show, with its journeys through fantastical worlds — marvellous birds, bikers on motorcycles, fairy-tale animals — should leave even the smallest and most demanding viewer engaged and intrigued."
At the heart of the English-language carol Carol of the Bells lies a masterpiece of folk art. The piece titled "Carol of the Bells" or "Shchedryk", the latter name being more familiar to the Ukrainian listener, with its ceaseless repetition of four notes, with its endlessly varied accompaniment and harmonisation.
87 years ago the world — the United States — heard "Shchedryk" in its English-language rendition. This true calling card of the Ukrainian people, in the arrangement by Mykola Leontovych, became even more popular. Without exaggeration, the whole world could not resist the exquisite Ukrainian folk song.
Merry rhythms that fade away and then grow loud again speak of the coming of a magical season. Together with a model of classical music, the works of C. Saint-Saëns, the Ukrainian carol Carol of the Bells will complete the ballet-journey "A Minute Before Christmas".
Tetiana Polishchuk
Music-review Ukraine
