7 replies to this topic

[whetherwax]

I just bought tickets to a performance of Swan Lake by Kiev Ballet in Melbourne in May. This was totally on spec ,  ballet performances  of overseas companies are fairly  rare in Australia - so far away i guess - they get sold out quickly. I know absolutely nothing about the dancers or this company's history. Can anyone help?

[pj]

We saw this company do Nutcracker a couple of years ago and were very pleasantly surprised at the production.  It was very nice, and the company is certainly made up of well-trained dancers.  I think you might have made a good investment!

[Rhapsody]

Is Kiev Ballet the same as Ukraine National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kiev?  We recently saw Victor Ishchuk from UNOBT and were dazzled.  He performed Don Q Pas de Deux (with PNB's Kaori Nakamura substituting for an ill or injured Natalia Domracheva) during a Stars performance put on by Vera Altunina's International Ballet Theatre in Kirkland, WA.  His leaps are phenomenal and at one point he seemed to zoom out over the audience before turning back and landing on the stage (it was a small venue).  If this is the same company, I'd love to see more of them.

[whetherwax]

Thanks to you all. I think it is the Ukraine lot. I found a truly wonderful tarantella on youtube after searching for kiev ballet The title is in Russian but the names are Ratmansky and one i couldnt decipher. The dancing is delightful and joyous and i think I may well be in for a treat.

[volcanohunter]

The current director of the troupe is Viktor Yaremenko, whom you may remember as the Golden Slave in Andris Liepa's film of Scheherazade.

[whetherwax]

Off topic. But related to Kiev ballet - apparently Kiev chucked Ratmansky out and he is now at Bolshoi since 2004. He has a wonderful cv.

[volcanohunter]

whetherwax, on Mar 26 2008, 06:39 PM, said:

Off topic. But related to Kiev ballet - apparently Kiev chucked Ratmansky out and he is now at Bolshoi since 2004. He has a wonderful cv.

After spending six seasons there, Ratmansky left Kiev, of his own free will, to dance with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for three years, came back to Kiev for a couple of years, then became a principal with the Royal Danish Ballet. Eventually he retired from performing to concentrate on choreography, but he was never director of the ballet in Kiev, and I certainly don't think the opera house would have chucked him out. On the other hand, I can see how he might have been unhappy in the milieu of the Kiev Ballet's extreme conservatism.

[whetherwax]

volcanohunter, on Mar 26 2008, 09:54 PM, said:

whetherwax, on Mar 26 2008, 06:39 PM, said:

Off topic. But related to Kiev ballet - apparently Kiev chucked Ratmansky out and he is now at Bolshoi since 2004. He has a wonderful cv.

After spending six seasons there, Ratmansky left Kiev, of his own free will, to dance with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for three years, came back to Kiev for a couple of years, then became a principal with the Royal Danish Ballet. Eventually he retired from performing to concentrate on choreography, but he was never director of the ballet in Kiev, and I certainly don't think the opera house would have chucked him out. On the other hand, I can see how he might have been unhappy in the milieu of the Kiev Ballet's extreme conservatism.

Your reading is most likely to be the right one . I had just googled him and got this  - ALEKSEY RATMANSKY: A NEW WAVE FOR THE OLD BOLSHOI. It can certainly be read as Byzantine politics at work, and not actual sackings.