…And the premiere is online
On September 14 and 15, “Kyiv Modern Ballet” opens its fifteenth theatre season.
After a six-month break, the popular artistic company led by Radu Poklitaru is resuming performances that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shows will be held in observance of social distancing and all recommendations of the Ministry of Health.
The new theatrical season will open with an evening of one-act ballets, «Women in D Minor» to music by J.S. Bach and «The Long Christmas Dinner» to music by A. Vivaldi (both staged by Radu Poklitaru). The performances will be shown on 14 and 15 September on the stage of the Kyiv Opera (2 Mezhyhirska St.).
Let us recall that the ballet «Women in D Minor» is a story about female friendship that... does not exist, and this gives ample grounds for dramatic, poignant plastic solos and duets.
The performance «The Long Christmas Dinner» is based on the eponymous play by Thornton Wilder. It is a ballet-meditation on the fleeting nature of life, on the vain, futile pursuits with which we fill the precious minutes, hours and years of our existence on earth. In a succession of feasts and celebrations, human destinies pass before us. Like mayflies, they vanish, dying without leaving behind anything that would give future generations a reason to remember them...
Several performances will be presented on the stage of the ICCM October Palace. Thus, on 18 September «Swan Lake» to music by P. Tchaikovsky is a parable about how important it is to remain true to yourself and to live your life honestly, as you truly are. The protagonist is a white swan whom an evil genius has transformed into... a boy. Love comes to him only in dreams, and when he attains the freedom he longed for, it is already too late...
On 3 October comes «Giselle» to music by A. Adam. «Into this modern version of the classical ballet I poured all my love for the original source. My Giselle is a destitute child of a great modern city. Like her classical prototype, she dreams of true love. And although this story ends tragically, the audience believes in the strength of the human spirit that sustains us through the cruellest blows of fate», – choreographer Radu POKLITARU told Den before the premiere, which took place in 2016. This production resonated with both the public and the critics.
On 27 October the artists of «Kyiv Modern Ballet» will invite audiences to the Kyiv Opera hall for an evening of one-act ballets. «Boléro» to music by M. Ravel is a tale of the individual’s ceaseless struggle for the right to one’s own opinion, to the expression of one’s individuality, for freedom of thought and for setting oneself apart from the crowd... And «Rain» is a choreographic fantasy set to the music of the peoples of the world and J. S. Bach, a metaphor in the form of a choreographic suite about the destinies of people in one place at one time... Both of R. Poklitaru’s performances received the «Kyiv Pectoral» award in 2007 in the «Event of the Year» category.
And what new works will the artists surprise us with? Two premieres staged by the chief ballet master of the «Kyiv Modern Ballet» theatre, Radu Poklitaru, are planned. Thus, on 21 October (with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation) audiences will be invited to the premiere of «The Little Prince» to music by W.A. Mozart and Ukrainian lullabies. As Den was told, due to quarantine restrictions, the premiere of the performance will for the first time take place for audiences online! The new production will remind adults that, amid everyday affairs and the accumulation of material possessions, they forget about values – spiritual ones, which play an important role in the process of shaping the personality.
The second performance is the one-act ballet «Nine Dates» to music by F. Chopin. The premiere is planned for November. «Nine Dates» is an attempt, in the language of contemporary choreography, to understand the psychology of human relationships: to touch upon the most intimate emotions, to trace the so often imperceptible «rules of life» of first dates...
According to Radu Poklitaru, the quarantine restrictions have had a negative impact on the festival and touring activities of the «Kyiv Modern Ballet». The theatre’s planned trips abroad before the new year have been cancelled: Latvia (Liepāja, Riga, Cēsis), Estonia (Tallinn), Kazakhstan (Astana) and the annual traditional tours to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Nevertheless, provided the epidemic situation in the country improves, it is planned to show several performances to audiences in Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa.
Tetiana POLISHCHUK, «Den»
Newspaper: No. 170, (2020)
Section: Culture
