National Ballet of Ukraine East US tour

[naomikage]

The National Ballet of Ukraine will tour 16 cities of east US in October. This is a joint tour with the Canadian/Ukrainian folk dance troupe Shumka 

https://nationalukraineballet.com/

Program

https://nationalukraineballet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Program-with-Updated-Choreography-High-Rez-8.22.20241-1.pdf

 

Portions of the proceeds from the tour—from ticket purchases, merchandise, and individual donations—will benefit HUMANITE and Ukraine House, an organization dedicated to restoring and improving the lives of Ukrainian families affected by the war.

Before this tour, the company participated in Fall for Dance with Ratmansky's Wartime Elegies.

[Drew]

I wish their touring program included Wartime Elegies.

[volcanohunter]

Yes, as it stands the program is very disappointing. A similar tour took place in Canada in the spring, which in turn was based on a fundraising gala that took place in Orlando in 2022. It's a shame because the basic cast of Wartime Elegy is the one that's going on tour. But I suppose Pacific Northwest Ballet has something to say about when and where the piece can be performed. 

[abatt]

I attended the Natl Ballet of Ukraine performance at New York City Center last night.  Since I had seen the company in D.C. a year ago in Giselle, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.  Then, as now, I thought many of the dancers are adequate but unremarkable.  I don't have my program anymore, but there was one male dancer who performed in Harlequinade.  He was quite wonderful.  However, the other male principal ballet dancers were very ordinary in terms of their technical ability.  They had a few pretty good female principal ballerinas, but again, most had limited technique. 

I was really looking forward to seeing folk dancing by Shumka.  I have loved this type of folk dancing for many years and seek out these types of troupes on their rare visits to New York.  The athletic ability of many of these troupes is simply jaw dropping. I was disappointed  and underwhelmed by Shumka.  They do not dance at the high level that I have come to expect.  

 

 

[California]

17 minutes ago, abatt said:

I attended the Natl Ballet of Ukraine performance at New York City Center last night.  Since I had seen the company in D.C. a year ago in Giselle, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.  Then, as now, I thought many of the dancers are adequate but unremarkable.  I don't have my program anymore, but there was one male dancer who performed in Harlequinade.  He was quite wonderful.  However, the other male principal ballet dancers were very ordinary in terms of their technical ability.  They had a few pretty good female principal ballerinas, but again, most had limited technique. 

I was really looking forward to seeing folk dancing by Shumka.  I have loved this type of folk dancing for many years and seek out these types of troupes on their rare visits to New York.  The athletic ability of many of these troupes is simply jaw dropping. I was disappointed  and underwhelmed by Shumka.  They do not dance at the high level that I have come to expect.  

 

 

The group that toured Giselle last year was more of a pick-up group with refugees from several companies housed in the Netherlands, called the United Ukrainian Ballet. And they brought in several guest artists for their London and US tours (Cojocaru, Shevchenko) I don't know if some of those came from the National Ballet of Ukraine.   https://unitedukrainianballet.com/

I've been following the National Ballet of Ukraine on social media. They are still performing in Kiev, but the audience size is limited to the capacity of the bomb shelters downstairs in the theater! I get the sense that at least some of the performers have ended up in the military in recent years -- whether drafted or volunteers. Ratmansky has posted quite a few deaths among the Ukraine dancers. https://nationalukraineballet.com/

Edited Wednesday at 03:14 PM by California

[nysusan]

20 minutes ago, abatt said:

II don't have my program anymore, but there was one male dancer who performed in Harlequinade.  He was quite wonderful. 

I was really looking forward to seeing folk dancing by Shumka.  I have loved this type of folk dancing for many years and seek out these types of troupes on their rare visits to New York.  The athletic ability of many of these troupes is simply jaw dropping. I was disappointed  and underwhelmed by Shumka.  They do not dance at the high level that I have come to expect.  

 

 

The Harlequinade dancers were Tetiana Lozova & Yaroslav Tkachuk. This was too soubrette/demi-character for my taste but the guy was wonderful.

I kind of agree about most of the principals - there were things I liked about most of them but certainly they were not at the level of the major Russian companies. Their technique may not have been at the level of the top ABT dancers but their style & epaulment was way above most of them.

I did love the Talisman pdd (which I am not familiar with) and both of the dancers in it - Kateryna Kurdchenko & Daniil Silken ( I did a double take when I saw his name!)

I also agree about the Shumka dancers. They were totally underwhelming compared to groups like the Moiseyev, which I love.

[volcanohunter]

The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers are an amateur group from Canada, the sort that get together for rehearsals a couple of evenings a week. I guess they were a cost-saving measure on the part of the organizers, even though it's plenty obvious they aren't professionals.

These are pros from Ukraine:

Irina Dvorovenko's parents danced with the Virsky Ensemble. Two generations of Leonid Sarafanov's ancestors also danced with the company.

[volcanohunter]

I gather most of the company is back home giving performances and learning La Fille mal gardée.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAote3Vol1w/?igsh=YWIyOGUwM2d4Mzhq