Radu Poklitaru: “My heart belongs to Kyiv Modern Ballet”

On closing the season. What will tomorrow hold for the Kyiv Modern Ballet company? What about the new creative project «DiscrimiNATION» the artists are preparing now? How does one manage to work in these unstable, wartime conditions? A conversation between Tetiana Polishchuk and the outstanding choreographer about a team of like-minded people

– I am very glad that, despite this difficult time and the challenges that have confronted all of Ukraine, as well as our artistic companies, for 17 months now of the full-scale war unleashed by the Russian invaders, we nevertheless have a strong roster in the Kyiv Modern Ballet company, – noted Radu POKLITARU. – Through several rounds of casting and our work together in the rehearsal hall, we managed to bring the new dancers who joined our company up to a high level.

Today we can say that our theatre has a fully fledged creative team, and these are artists who embody that «hallmark» of creative quality for which Kyiv Modern Ballet is renowned, not only in Ukraine but throughout the world.

We closed the season with a new addition to the repertoire – the one-act ballet «Tomorrow» set to the music of Chopin. Told in the language of dance, it is about those who live here and now, about the fleeting nature of time, about how our actions today shape our future tomorrow. For what our tomorrow will be, we decide already today, and it is for the sake of it that we live to the fullest…

The premiere took place in March, and audiences received this production of mine very warmly.

For the second part of the programme we presented another work – the production «Up the River» set to the music of the contemporary composer Oleksandr Rodin, a friend of our theatre. It is a one-act ballet based on the short story by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, «The Curious Case of Benjamin Button», about a man who grew up… in reverse (the premiere took place in April 2017; the production has been shown at various festivals and has received favourable reviews from audiences and critics – T.P.).

– Radu, and how do you envision tomorrow for the Kyiv Modern Ballet company?

– Despite the war, I am still positively minded and confident that everything will be wonderful. You know, as they say: «Every cloud has a silver lining». Right now I have many offers to work in Europe, to stage various ballet productions and new projects. Although it is difficult for me to create new works outside Kyiv, away from my own artists.

For now I manage to work with companies in various countries, but my heart belongs to Kyiv Modern Ballet. I come to Kyiv often, and I have many plans that I want to realize precisely with my own company.

I hope that not only my productions but also the works of my colleagues will once again appear in our theatre’s repertoire. And that is the right thing, because for performers (and a dancer’s career, unfortunately, is rather short) it is important to try out the various styles that different choreographers offer. For young ballet masters, it is vital to realize themselves creatively as early as possible.

Today our theatre is a powerful creative platform for a constellation of choreographers. On August 26 we open our new theatrical season with a one-act ballet based on the play of the same name by William Gibson,  «Two for the Seesaw», set to the music of J.S. Bach and C. Vargas, together with the contemporary choreography divertissement «And the Sun Rises Every Day!». For the first time we will be working at a new venue, the Kyiv cultural cluster «Krakiv» (Kyiv, Rusanivska Embankment, 12).

«SYLVESTROV’S MUSIC IS A PEARL IN A GOLDEN SETTING»

– You do not look for easy paths. For the first time, the music of Valentyn Sylvestrov will become the basis for a ballet. The composer’s body of work contains complex, multi-genre pieces: symphonic, chamber and piano music, vocal and choral cycles. Which works exactly  will be heard in «DiscrimiNATION»? Are these special recordings made for this project, or a compilation, and who made them?

– I am a great admirer of academic music, and I know Valentyn Sylvestrov’s work well. When the idea arose to create the production «DiscrimiNATION», for this first ballet attempt set to Sylvestrov’s music I wanted to draw on his piano works.

This production will use six pieces performed by the composer himself (in recording). Also, alongside the music of our contemporary, multi-genre works by a classic of the Baroque era – Handel – will be heard. This will be orchestral, choral and vocal music. The «DiscrimiNATION» project is being created thanks to a grant – the financial support we received from the «Ukrainian Cultural Foundation».

– You are the author of the libretto for all your productions. What will «DiscrimiNATION» be about? The title of the ballet is very topical…

– It will be a parable-like production, my reflections on what discrimination can be like. Unfortunately, discrimination comes in many forms: on racial grounds, on the grounds of health, of age – old or young – of sex, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, or any other trait; in other words, it is endlessly «diverse», like our life itself.

It can be more aggressive, and at times veiled; it can be hidden… Discrimination is very mythical at its core, sometimes disguised as something else, sometimes concealed behind something righteous, even humane and good… Discrimination is a widespread problem that affects both individuals and society as a whole.

Such actions are a significant obstacle to the creation of a more harmonious and just world. 

Our ballet «DiscrimiNATION» is a production of reflection, which will consist of a series of vignettes, each one «telling», in the language of dance and movement, about the problems of one form of discrimination or another. I have already created two numbers: the introduction to the ballet and one of the numbers in the middle of the production. I take enormous pleasure in working with the dancers of our theatre. You know, I can work this quickly only with the artists of Kyiv Modern Ballet, because we understand one another at a glance.

– The premiere is planned for the autumn. Will Maestro Sylvestrov come to Kyiv, since after the full-scale war he left for Germany? Did the composer express any wishes regarding your ballet?

– On October 21 we will invite audiences to the premiere, which will take place at the IICC (the October Palace). I would very much like Valentyn Vasylovych to come to the premiere.

We spoke about this with his daughter, but the question remains open… If Sylvestrov were to come to Kyiv and attend the premiere – that would be a super event, and a dream of mine. I adore the work of the great trio of contemporary Ukrainian classical composers: Sylvestrov, Skoryk and Stankovych.

Valentyn Vasylovych responded favourably to the idea of a ballet being staged to his music, but he did not express any reservations, wishes or instructions. I regard the right to stage a ballet to his music with the utmost reverence. I believe that Sylvestrov’s music in our ballet will become a pearl in a golden setting of Handel’s music.

– Today it is difficult for large companies to survive. Western impresarios more often invite mobile, small troupes, or specific soloists for a particular production or concert. How do you manage to keep your sold-out productions at a high level while preparing new ones?

– The theatre’s touring activity is on pause. At first the COVID-19 pandemic stood in the way, then the war that the rashists brought to Ukraine… Right now our theatre does not travel anywhere. First of all, there is a very great danger that, at the last moment, the men will not receive permission to leave the country.

Let me remind you that tours are planned half a year in advance, whereas a cancellation of the dancers’ permission to travel can come within two days… So there is no point in talking about touring on a regular basis right now. Although we are holding negotiations and drawing up hypothetical touring routes, as long as the war continues such plans are hard to realize.

Performing at a high level is our job, because a theatre exists in order to show interesting productions and to create new ones. If any of this is done poorly, then such a creative company has no right to exist.

– It is indeed difficult for artists to travel abroad nowadays, but are tours within Ukraine (not to the east, but to the west, where there are no active hostilities) possible?

– Organizing a tour within Ukraine also has certain difficulties, particularly because it is hard to predict whether the rashists will launch missiles and Shahed drones, shelling various cities. Will an air-raid alert be announced during a performance? It is one thing when we perform in Kyiv, and if the alert is not long, then after the all-clear we can finish the production. But what if the alert lasts several hours? Then the performances have to be cancelled (this has already happened to us several times), because the audience and the artists will not manage to get home before the start of curfew.

And if it is a tour – a rented venue, paid-for transport, a hotel, technical riders (setting up the sets) – then what is to be done? Rescheduling the performances for another day will not work, because the hall, or the theatre, hosting the touring performances of Kyiv Modern Ballet have plans of their own…

– Over the 18 years that Kyiv Modern Ballet has existed, has your creative team changed greatly? What is it like today?

– Over these years our team has not changed all that much. The core has remained the same as in the year the theatre was founded. They are Volodymyr Melenchukov, the theatre’s director and artistic leader; Oleksandr Kurii – a wonderful sound engineer; Olena Antokhina – a lighting designer; the soloists Oleksii Busko and Dmytro Kondratiuk, who still performs today while also serving as acting principal ballet master. But the artists do indeed change.

I have never been a serf-owner, because I believe that dancers have the right to perform where it is better for them, more interesting creatively, more peaceful…

– Are there plans to work with the composer Oleksandr Rodin again?

– There is an idea, but these are not concrete plans. In April, the premiere of «Viy» after Gogol, set to Rodin’s music, took place in Latvia. It was a new edition of the production, substantially different from the one that was presented at our theatre. For the first time in the history of modern Ukraine, a modern ballet on a Ukrainian theme entered the repertoire of a European national theatre. The composer and the project’s guiding inspiration was Oleksandr Rodin, the costume designer was Dmytro Kuriata, and the conductor was Kaspars Adamsons of the Latvian National Opera.

The premiere was a success in Riga. This is an entirely Ukrainian creative «product», plus a live orchestra (not the recording we used in Kyiv) and the artists of the Latvian Opera and Ballet. It is a transfer of the production we created for Kyiv Modern Ballet, but in Riga it came out as an expanded version in terms of cast for a large stage. The production uses new video technologies that give the ballet greater spectacle.

The cast was wonderful, and these are world-class dancers. I added 8 people to the corps de ballet, and the spectacle became more impressive. The ballet plays to sold-out houses, and I am proud of this. On June 16 the Latvian National Opera and Ballet closed its season, and tickets for all performances of «Viy» had been bought up in advance.

– And may we dream that one day Kyiv Modern Ballet too will have its own orchestra, and the performances will be given live rather than to recordings?

– In the 18 years of our theatre’s existence we still do not have our own premises: a stage, a rehearsal hall, and so an orchestra is not the most important thing that Kyiv Modern Ballet needs. But we are free to dream… All the same, what we need more is our own home, but as long as the war goes on, that question is not on the agenda.

Tetiana POLISHCHUK

Music-review Ukraine