"La Traviata": surprising and enchanting...
Two premieres were sold out! The next time the ballet "La Traviata" will be performed will be in February 2026.
"NOWHERE IN THE WORLD IS THERE SUCH A TEAM AS "KYIV MODERN BALLET"!"
Lesya OLIYNIK, a musicologist, shared her impressions of the new production by Radu Poklitaru and the artists of the "Kyiv Modern Ballet" theater:
Lesia Oliinyk, a renowned musicologist, shared her impressions of the new project by the Academic Theatre “Kyiv Modern Ballet” — the ballet in two acts “La Traviata”, staged by Radu Poklitaru to the music of Giuseppe Verdi — with music-review Ukraine.
We remind you that this creative project was implemented as part of the initiative “20 Seasons of Sustainability and Innovation” with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (the “Culture During Wartime” programme, LOT 1 “Creation of Cultural Product and Content”) and the budget of the city of Kyiv under the programme for providing financial assistance on a repayable, interest-free basis.
The premiere took place on 16 and 17 October on the stage of the ICCC.
CREATIVE TEAM:
libretto, choreography, staging - Radu Poklitaru, Honoured Artist of Ukraine
costume designer - Dmytro Kuriata
video content - Olha Nikitina
choreographer’s assistant - Oleksii Busko
lighting designer - Olena Antokhina
sound engineer - Oleksandr Kurii
CHARACTERS AND PERFORMERS:
Violetta
Anastasiia Baird
Kateryna Kurman
Alfredo
Oleksandr Pavluchenko
Christopher Ponomarenko
Germont
Oleksii Busko
Dmytro Kondratiuk
Baron
Borys Melnychuk
Serhii Shcherbinenko
Doctor
Christopher Ponomarenko
Michelle Fondue
The Baron’s new favourite
Sofiia Husieva.
“La Traviata” is a plastic drama, a story about love that obeys no rules and recognises no boundaries. About a feeling that does not ask society’s permission, that does not stop before the verdicts of fate.
It is love that burns in defiance — and therein lies its true grandeur.
In this production, even death is not the end. It turns into a triumph, into a hymn of immortality, sanctified by love. An irrepressible feeling “transmutes” tragedy into celebration, into a victorious force, etched into eternity…
The two premiere performances played to full houses! The next time the ballet “La Traviata” can be seen will be in February 2026.
“NOWHERE IN THE WORLD IS THERE A COMPANY LIKE ‘KYIV MODERN BALLET’!
Lesia OLIINYK, a musicologist, shared her impressions of the new production by Radu Poklitaru and the performers of the “Kyiv Modern Ballet” theatre:
-You know, if there were a notional nomination for the “7 Wonders of the Art of Ukraine”, then I believe one of the first to make this list would be the “Kyiv Modern Ballet” theatre and its creative leader, the choreographer Radu Poklitaru.
For two decades now, this company has been giving admirers of high art innovative productions, creative explorations and discoveries that resonate within the artistic circles of Ukraine.
Nowhere in the world is there a company like “Kyiv Modern Ballet”! Because Radu Poklitaru himself is a vivid and extraordinary personality, and his art is a unique phenomenon!
In my opinion, one should recall one of Poklitaru’s finest productions — the ballet-triptych “Crossroads” to the music of Myroslav Skoryk. It was a philosophical parable about the crossroads of lives, fates, desires and feelings, performed to live music, and it was an emotional shock! Skoryk’s 6th, 2nd and 7th violin concertos were played.
The maestro himself was the conductor, and the soloists were stars: Andrii Bielov, Bohdana Pivnenko and Nazarii Pylatiuk played on a podium beside the conductor’s rostrum. At that time, on the stage of the National Opera of Ukraine (May 2012), the audience heard a live performance of Myroslav Skoryk’s brilliant music, which gave a tremendous creative impulse to “Kyiv Modern Ballet”.
I hope that when the war unleashed in the Kremlin ends, and peaceful life comes to our land, Poklitaru’s performances will take place not to a soundtrack but to a live orchestra.
I recall how Myroslav Mykhailovych and I came together to the first rehearsal of “Crossroads”. The production began with a woman giving birth to a child, and the dancer screaming loudly… To be honest, I was even a little frightened — how would Skoryk react to these cries? Then the music begins to sound… And suddenly the maestro turns to me and says: “My God, how colossally Radu feels my music”!
I think the “key” to all of Poklitaru’s productions lies precisely in his feeling for the music itself! The choreographer feels different musical material and every musical intonation in the subtlest way. He experiments delicately, makes creative explorations and original discoveries in each of his performances.
After “Carmen.TV” (to the music of G. Bizet), the ballet that opened a new theatre — “Kyiv Modern Ballet” — and in which, in his very first production, Radu Poklitaru dared to interpret operatic arias in the language of choreography, the choreographer now turns once again to an operatic masterpiece.
In “La Traviata”, the legendary music of G. Verdi sounds, and it is a stunning mix in which recordings by leading world stars are subtly selected. Verdi’s music “sounds” in his choreography in the language of the classics.
Some spectators will be enchanted by the matchless choreographic execution of the ballet; others will, first and foremost, delight in the wonderful voices of the star vocalists. Radu Poklitaru’s “La Traviata” is a performance about Love that is all-conquering, with its varieties and subtleties. It is also a story about the passion and power of love…
In each of his new works, Radu Poklitaru astonishes with his subtle feeling for musical intonations, which are embodied in the language of choreography, lending the ballet its sensuality — and all of it together creates a choreographic masterpiece.
In this performance, Poklitaru appears in three guises — as the author of the libretto, the choreographer and the director — and the music of G. Verdi gave him the opportunity to experiment creatively…
Let us note the special scenographic “reading” of the ballet (the video content presented by Olha Nikitina) — a mysterious mirror, as if a looking-glass world. Where one action takes place on the stage, while in the mirror reflection something different is happening… By computer means, moving fresco-panoramas come vividly into play…
The work of each performer is absolutely unique! In the dancers, everything is at work: every muscle, every movement! The body of the performers is like a work of art, something divine that moves like music itself! The mastery of all the dancers is stunning. The corps de ballet is like a “chorus”, and we perceive the performers as vivid personalities, where each of the dancers is a soloist who creates his own line in this story in the language of choreography... Each performer in Radu Poklitaru’s production leads his own line, and together they “paint” a powerful artistic “canvas”.
The premiere of the ballet “La Traviata” is undoubtedly an exceptional creative event that will complement the theatrical playbill of “Kyiv Modern Ballet” and of our capital, and this performance deserves to be presented on the prestigious stages of the world. We believe that after the war, this production by Radu Poklitaru will be applauded by audiences from various countries of the world.
Lesia Oliinyk
