Opera became ballet: Rada Poklitaru staged "La Traviata" in Kyiv
This is not a reconstruction of the classics, but a contemporary reading where familiar images appear sharp, unexpected and extremely personal.
On 23 September 2025, the official presentation of the new ballet «La Traviata», set to the music of Giuseppe Verdi and staged by Radu Poklitaru for the Kyiv Modern Ballet Academic Theatre, took place at the «Kyivinform» press centre. The creative team presented the concept of the production and showed a teaser of the premiere, scheduled for 16-17 October on the stage of the ICCC. The project is being realized with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and the budget of Kyiv within the framework of the programme of repayable financial assistance to cultural institutions.
Radu Poklitaru, the author of the libretto and chief director, described «La Traviata» as a contemporary choreographic reading of the classic opera, preserving the central story of love and self-sacrifice.
«Of all operas, «La Traviata» is the most balletic. This will be «La Traviata by Radu Poklitaru». I have updated the libretto, leaving the main drama unchanged. The audience comes not for a literal reproduction of the classic, but for an authorial statement», – the choreographer noted. He added that his Violetta is «an extract of the image of Woman, pulsating with passion, ready to sacrifice herself on the altar of love».
The production unfolds in three spaces: the cold world of hypocritical society, the fragile world of the love between Violetta and Alfredo, and the inner world of the characters, which, through large-scale video projections, transitions into a chamber dimension. The interactive video scenography of Olga Nikitina responds to the dancers’ movements in real time, uniting choreography, light, and music into a single artistic rhythm.
Costume designer Dmytro Kuriata presented a concept of restrained, symbolic colouring and unisex silhouettes subordinated to the choreography.
«The director’s idea – one woman amid a male entourage – dictated the unisex approach to creating the costumes. The colour palette is restrained and symbolic: even within a single colour, the emotional register of the production shifts», – he explained.
Viktoriia Mukha, head of the standing commission of the Kyiv City Council on cultural affairs, emphasized the importance of the premiere for the city and society. «Culture in wartime is timely. Municipal institutions receive support through the mechanism of repayable financial assistance, which makes it possible to create vivid premieres. This year the commission supported the Kyiv Modern Ballet project as one of the key anniversary projects of the season», – she said.
Radu Poklitaru’s «La Traviata» is a story of love, self-sacrifice, and the power of self-renunciation. The ballet turns every movement into a confession, every scene into a trial, and its compositions lead the audience toward catharsis. This is not a reconstruction of the classic, but a contemporary reading, in which familiar images appear sharply, unexpectedly, and exceedingly personally.
Anastasiia Kovalova
thepage.ua
