Mozart and lullabies: Kyiv Modern Ballet stages “The Little Prince”
The fifteenth theatre season opens on September 14 and 15 with one of the most notable dance-theatre companies — Radu Poklitaru’s academic “Kyiv Modern Ballet”.
On 14 and 15 September, one of the most notable dance-theatre companies — the Academic Kyiv Modern Ballet of Radu Poklitaru — opens its fifteenth theatrical season.
At the same time, the theatre is resuming performances that had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, on various stages: in the venue on Kontraktova Square, which it shares with the Kyiv Opera, and in the Arts Centre, whose most common name is still the “Zhovtnevyi Palace.”
Naturally, audiences are admitted to the performances in compliance with all the recommendations of the Ministry of Health: from social distancing to masks.
The first two evenings of the new season are a delight of one-act ballets — “Women in D Minor” to the music of J. S. Bach and “The Long Christmas Dinner” to the music of A. Vivaldi.
Of the first, the author of the libretto, choreographer-director Radu Poklitaru says: “Women in D Minor is a performance filled with admiration for the greatness of the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach’s polyphony became the source of inspiration for the author of the choreography — the plastic fabric of this ballet is entirely polyphonic.
The tragic story of a female friendship that does not exist became merely a pretext for unfolding extraordinarily complex multi-figure compositions and piercing duet fragments.”
The main storyline of the piece “The Long Christmas Dinner” tells of ninety years in the life of the Bayard family. And the form of this saga is the Christmas dinners.
In the context of a series of feasts and celebrations, the audience is presented with the fates of people who vanish like mayflies and, dying, leave behind nothing that would give future generations cause to remember them. And this, without moralising or lecturing, prompts each viewer to recall their own path — and perhaps, in time, to fill it with more meaningful content.
Already on 18 September comes “Swan Lake,” with the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky and a plot slightly different from the classical one. “How can one tell, in the language of dance, the story of how we must fight for the right to be ourselves, whatever this inner freedom may cost us? — Radu Poklitaru asks himself. — A person has but one life, and it must be lived sincerely and honestly. Lived with one’s own face, whatever masks and guises the surrounding reality may impose. A little white swan lives in each of us. It is just that in some it is visible, while others do not even suspect its existence…”
For the autumn, two premieres are planned, staged by the theatre’s chief ballet master, Honoured Artist of Ukraine Radu Poklitaru. On 21 October, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the premiere of the performance “The Little Prince” will be presented, to the music of W. A. Mozart and Ukrainian lullabies. Due to quarantine restrictions, for the first time the premiere of the performance will take place for audiences online.
The new production of the Kyiv Modern Ballet theatre will remind adults that, amid everyday affairs and the accumulation of material values, they forget about spiritual values, which play an important role in everyone’s formation. The broadcast of the performance will take place on 21 October with the assistance of the OpenTheatre platform. (Prior registration for the event via the link here).
At the centre of the performance is a new reading of the story of the Little Prince. It is a tale about the superiority of simple things and values over the vanity and complexity of the “world of adults,” about the significance of childhood as the main period of human life.
The performance will hold many surprises: from the music (the performance uses the music of the 8-year-old W. A. Mozart combined with Ukrainian lullabies), to the choreographic solutions, the unique costumes (costume designer Dmytro Kuriata), as well as modern 3D-projection technologies (author Olha Nikitina) and lighting (Olena Antokhina).
In October, the Kyiv Modern Ballet also plans performances of A. Adam’s “Giselle” (3.09) and an evening of one-act ballets — M. Ravel’s “Boléro” and “Rain” to the music of J. S. Bach (27.09). The second premiere performance of the new season for the theatre is to be the one-act ballet “Nine Dates” to the music of F. Chopin, whose showing is planned for November.
