United Ukrainian Ballet Fundraiser in London September 13-17

[California]

United Ukrainian Ballet will perform Alexei Ratmansky’s Giselle in London to support Ukraine.

Tuesday 13th – Saturday 17th September 2022
London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4ES

All profits from ticket sales will go to support the people and culture of Ukraine

Public booking opens Monday 11th July 2022 at 10am

No details on what counts as Ratmansky's Giselle -- the Bolshoi reconstruction shown in 2020?? The Willis Fugue? 

http://www.colinscolumn.com/new-united-ukrainian-ballet-takes-interpretation-of-giselle-to-londons-coliseum-september-2022/

[naomikage]

Here are more information on the United Ukrainian Giselle and the foundation that supports it.

http://unitedukrainianballet.com/

It seems that the Ratmansky Giselle is choreographed for this initiative and might be different from the Bolshoi one. 

[California]

4 minutes ago, naomikage said:

It seems that the Ratmansky Giselle is choreographed for this initiative and might be different from the Bolshoi one. 

We have been wondering about the rights to the Bolshoi reconstruction that Ratmansky made. The language of this announcement is interesting: "A new interpretation specially created for the company by Alexei Ratmansky." 

[volcanohunter]

It will be interesting to see the extent to which Ratmansky recreates his production. He will be working with smaller forces on a substantially smaller stage, so his production would have to be altered at least to that extent. Having Alina Cojocaru and Katja Khaniukova as Giselle is already splendid.

[California]

Tickets are now on sale for the Ukraine Giselle fundraiser at the London Coliseum. Cojocaru is scheduled to dance on Wednesday and Friday, September 14 & 16.

To view in browser, click here   Love, betrayal, death, mercy: The United Ukrainian Ballet, comprising some sixty dancers in exile, stage one of the greatest works in the classical repertoire in a powerful new interpretation by world renowned choreographer Alexei Ratmansky.  Featuring guest performances from Alina Cojocaru and Katja Khaniukova^, and under the baton of Viktor Oliynyk, conductor of the National Opera of Ukraine, this is a unique opportunity to see a powerful and moving interpretation of one of the greatest romantic ballets of all time, with a company of world-class artists united by the tragedy of war and an ardent hope for the future.  All ticket profits will go to the DEC Ukraine Appeal and The United Ukrainian Ballet Foundation.  13-17 September 2022 Tickets from £10 (plus booking fee)* Book now

[volcanohunter]

Classmates Malakhov and Ratmansky at rehearsals in The Hague.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgRkXl_opqN/

[naomikage]

A beautiful but tragic trailer of the performance, dancers dancing in the ruins of Ukraine. 

https://cloudflarestream.com/564171df138fa4e77fb6ac7023b547d8/watch

[maps]

On 7/22/2022 at 11:23 AM, naomikage said:

A beautiful but tragic trailer of the performance, dancers dancing in the ruins of Ukraine. 

https://cloudflarestream.com/564171df138fa4e77fb6ac7023b547d8/watch

Thank you for posting the trailer.  In a few months :

• The United Ukrainian Ballet | Ballet and Culture
• The United Ukrainian Ballet brings Swan Lake to Australia (limelightmagazine.com.au)
• Ratmansky -Tchaikovsky- Remembrance of a dear place, Kylian, Zvereva 

Edited July 26, 2022 by maps
-

[volcanohunter]

It's not much to go by, but this looks more "reconstructionist" than what Ratmansky did in Moscow. At the Bolshoi it was probably hopeless to regulate leg or passé height or to have chaînés on demi-pointe.

[canbelto]

2 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

It's not much to go by, but this looks more "reconstructionist" than what Ratmansky did in Moscow. At the Bolshoi it was probably hopeless to regulate leg or passé height or to have chaînés on demi-pointe.

it actually looks the same.

 

[volcanohunter]

Very similar, but Smirnova was sometimes raising her foot higher than the ankle in the diagonal of turns--the height looks sort of indeterminate in her rendition--and her chaînés were on pointe.

Edited July 30, 2022 by volcanohunter

[volcanohunter]

The dancers are getting acting coaching from Guillaume Gallienne.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg0smEyqbQA/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[volcanohunter]

Definitely not the standard after-Petipa variation

[Lynette H]

More details available on this 20 min segment about the production, lots of background info. 

 

 

Just a few details: Giselle is not ill, and doesn't have heart problems, she's just happy.  At the very end, Giselle tells Albrecht to return to his fiancee. 

Costumes and sets are loaned by Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

[California]

28 minutes ago, Lynette H said:

More details available on this 20 min segment about the production, lots of background info. 

 

 

Just a few details: Giselle is not ill, and doesn't have heart problems, she's just happy.  At the very end, Giselle tells Albrecht to return to his fiancee. 

Costumes and sets are loaned by Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

Thank you for posting! Fascinating!

In one of the many Facebook postings on this, I saw a reference to Christine Shevchenko making an appearance, but haven't been able to find any more information. She's not listed as Giselle, but would make a wonderful Myrtha. Perhaps they were just noting that she is from Ukraine.

In the Ratmansky reconstruction for Bolshoi, shown on a live stream in the theaters in January 2020, Giselle also tells Albrecht to return to his fiance. My understanding was that was from the original version in Paris.

In an incredibly fortunate coincidence, I will be in London that week for a conference and have a ticket for one of Cojocaru's performances. I'll be interested in comparing notes with any others who are able to attend. 

https://londoncoliseum.org/whats-on/giselle/

http://unitedukrainianballet.com/

[volcanohunter]

The sets and costumes may be on loan from Birmingham, the company of dancers is smaller and presumably there are no live horses (I hope Myrtha's scooter is also a no-show), but the alterations to the wilis' chugs and Myrtha's manège are the same ones that Ratmansky used at the Bolshoi. Khaniukova's description of the first scene is also very reminiscent of the rehearsals that were broadcast on World Ballet Day a few years ago.

This rehearsal footage of Giselle's second-act entrance ends with her at center stage, presumably in the middle of the large cross formation Ratmansky used in Moscow.

So his production of Giselle lives on. I am on record as disliking it intensely, but I hope that after the war one of the opera houses in Ukraine will take it into its permanent repertoire.

[California]

For the London performances of the United Ukrainian Ballet, Christine Shevchenko will perform the role of Giselle Saturday, September 17, but the announcement doesn't say whether that's the matinee or evening. She will also do Myrtha at several performances, but it doesn't say which ones.

UPDATE: In the comments, the Ballet says Shevchenko will do the evening performance on September 17, with her Myrtha performances TBA.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Chj2yYEoEyj/

Edited August 22, 2022 by California

[volcanohunter]

It was also announced that Cojocaru will be partnered by Hamburg Ballet's Alexandr Trusch, a luminous dancer.

[volcanohunter]

Because I'm not sure she's getting enough credit in the English-language press, I think it's important to recognize that the United Ukrainian Ballet is the brainchild of Igone de Jongh. She was touring the Netherlands with her own show when the bombs began raining down on Ukraine, and her stage partners, National Ballet of Ukraine dancers Stanislav Olshanskyi and Alexis Tutunnique (Oleksii Tiutiunnyk), suddenly became refugees. She found sponsors, received permission to turn the former premises of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague into a rehearsal space/living quarters/day care, brought in Kylián and Ratmansky to work with the troupe and quickly organized performances of Giselle in the Netherlands and London, a tour of Swan Lake in Australia and a bunch of other stuff. I'm quite in awe of her competency, and if the country ever needs it, I suspect she could step in as prime minister of the Netherlands.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/aug/23/ballet-bombs-ukraines-dance-stars-defying-putin-giselle-ratmansky-hague

Interesting that the Guardian article quotes Vladyslav Detiuchenko because he is a modern dancer, a good one, and he probably never expected to be leaping about as a peasant in Giselle.

These features are Dutch, but the dancers were interviewed in English. 

 

[volcanohunter]

In her Instagram stories Igone de Jongh has posted a tiny clip of Christine Shevchenko rehearsing the pas de deux with Alexis Tutunnique.

Also, posts indicate that Elizaveta Gogidze and Oleksii Kniazkov will dance the matinee on September 17.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch89BvdjsZI/

This production has been a huge opportunity for Gogidze, a strong and versatile dancer with lots of personality, but whose biggest role thus far has been Myrtha (which she's also dancing in this production). The National Ballet of Ukraine favors tall, elongated leading women, so she has been shut out of principal roles thus far, but Ratmansky is putting her technique to good use, as you can see on the third slide, where she does all 14 entrechats that the music allows at high speed:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChiHhDps66k

Edited September 1, 2022 by volcanohunter
links

[Drew]

Thank you for links. Marina Harss's NYTimes article also spoke about the important role of Igone de Jongh, and I thought it was one of the better pieces on this company and its efforts.  In Harss's article, I liked the bit about Ratmansky trying to work with dancers in Ukrainian and having to switch to Russian because he was making so many mistakes the dancers were laughing. (I can't imagine there is ordinarily much laughing at Ratmansky going on during rehearsals!)

Maybe once live performances are done, they might consider streaming a recording as some kind of fundraiser. I would pay for that....with whatever cast.

[volcanohunter]

Detailed casting has been posted:

https://londoncoliseum.org/artists/giselle-cast/

[Mashinka]

Sadly the train strikes will impact a couple of those performances.

[volcanohunter]

Oops. I had actually meant to post the link to Ratmansky's Zoom conversation on September 7th here. 

https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/46801-ukraine-invasion-the-arts-gergiev-fired-by-his-agent-etc/?do=findComment&comment=441998

[FionaE]

Interview with Ratmansky by Graham Watts , arranged by the London Ballet Circle.  In which he says the costumes and set designs are donated by BRB.  For Act 2 they are using Royal Ballet’s sets from Ashton’s The Dream, orchestra is donated by ENO.