No taboos for the academic stage

According to the composer, the ballet was staged to his violin concerts (Second, Sixth and Eighth). “These are three acts, each with a plot of its own. The production is Radu Poklitaru’s brainchild, and he selected the music pieces himself. Poklitaru is a very interesting choreographer. In ballet he raises philosophical, moral, and universal problems. The Kyiv Modern Ballet Theater company is quite expressive. Radu Poklitary feels the music well, each of its elements, therefore his choreographic interpretation is very interesting.” Incidentally, maestro Skoryk is not only the music author, he will also conduct the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Opera House of Ukraine, with three outstanding violinists being the soloists. Three famous musicians, to whom these concerts are dedicated, have been invited to perform. Unfortunately, one of them, Oleh Krysa, won’t be able to come to Kyiv. He will be substituted by a wonderful Kyiv violinist Bohdana Pivnenko. She has recently recorded the Second concert. Incidentally, the maestro dedicated his Sixth concert to the renowned Ukrainian violinist Andrei Belov (Germany), whereas Nazarii Pylatiuk, a young violinist from Lviv, was the first to perform the Eighth Concert.

Each of the soloist violinists (Belov, Pivnenko, and Pylatiuk) are musicians of world scope. Kyiv Modern Ballet dancers are an interesting team, headed by the authentic choreographer Radu Poklitaru. Crossroads is a creative project supported also by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Culture, as well as Kyiv City Administration, the National Union of Composers, etc. Radu POKLITARU told The Day how the ballet production emerged.

“We have tried ten different names and finally chose Crossroads. The production’s idea is that we all are wanderers in this life. We set out from the point A and go to the point B, covering certain stages on our way. Every person has his own path and his own road. The ballet Crossroads can be called a parable play, a fantasy, and a journey. I am against librettos. We will use the language of dance to tell three different stories, and I am sure that the audience will understand us without the prompter elucidations in the program brochure. And performing to living music, which has been composed by one of the best composers of our time with star violinists being the soloists, and the author at the conductor’s stand, is a huge delight for all the dancers. Touching the wonderful works by Skoryk is a creative shock for the dancers. Three soloists (Andrei Belov, Bohdana Pivnenko, and Nazarii Pylatiuk) will be on stage and their performance of genius music by Myroslav Skoryk gives a huge impetus to the performers of the Kyiv Modern Ballet Theater and me, as a choreographer.”

Belov, Pivnenko, and Pylatiuk actively go on tours, and it is quite hard to gather them together. Will you use a recording after the premiere? Will the production be part of the theater’s repertoire or a theatrical enterprise? In this case you will have to invite other soloists.

“We have agreed with Myroslav Mykhailovych that we will show the triptych ballet only to a living performance, not a recording. Stars mentioned in the billboard will perform at two premiere performances, whereas later the solo parts will be played by violinists from the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Opera, but this double will be highly qualified musicians. Crossroads is not an enterprise. It will be a repertoire ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine, with the dancing parts performed by the dancers from the Kyiv Modern Ballet. You know, the rehearsals and communication with maestro Skoryk are sheer delight for me.”

Kyiv Modern Ballet is well known to theater-goers and attracts the audience by its experimental productions. You are a professional [Poklitaru was schooled at the Perm Choreography College as a dancer and graduated from the Belarusian Academy of Music, choreography department. – Author], but your company does not include any graduates of choreography schools. Why do you prefer to work with non-professional dancers?

“Any talented person can work in our theater. Our company has no taboos. Most importantly, the dancers should not be afraid to experiment, and if any academic artiste is eager to dance in our company, they are welcome. The Kyiv Modern Ballet Theater was founded in 2006 at the initiative and financial support of Volodymyr Filippov, a Ukrainian patron who continues to help us very much. When we started, we held a casting all over Ukraine. We’ve selected 16 people, then the company increased to 21 people, and at the moment 24 dancers are working at the Kyiv Modern Ballet. The academic dancing education is not a necessary requirement for being accepted to our company. We have no stiff rules, the main thing is the performer’s desire to show his/her creative ‘self,’ and mastery on stage. In our team the dancers understand subordination, but it is not as strict as in academic theaters. But I am sure that our performers, like dancers, will leave any ballet company in dust. There’s no drilling at the rehearsals, we can joke and laugh. Every dancer can express his opinion, but in the end I make all the decisions myself.”

In every production you use different dancing and plasticity colors. Have you found your style or continue to look for a choreographic language?

“A true artist looks for something new and his own palette as long as he lives. I don’t want to turn things that I have found into a template, therefore I try to find something special for every production.”

Kyiv Modern Ballet’s tours in Donetsk and Chisinau are scheduled for the end of May and the beginning of June. What will you show? Will Crossroads be on the billboards?

“We were invited to Donetsk by the art director of the Donetsk-based Solovianenko Theater Vadym Pysariev. We will show the plays Carmen.TV [for this debut production the Kyiv Modern Ballet won two Kyiv Pectoral awards, in the categories ‘Best Production of the Year’ and ‘Best Work of Choreographer,’ and Olha Kondakova who performed Carmen’s part was nominated in the category ‘Best Female Performer.’ – Author] and Verona’s Myth: Shakesperiments [in 2008 this production by Poklitaru won a Pectoral in the category ‘Main Event of the Year.’ – Author]. And in Chisinau we will take part in the International Festival of Theater ‘Biennale of Eugene Ionesco’s Theater,’ where we will show our underground production Ward No. 6. We invite those who won’t be able to see the premiere showings of Crossroads to the National Opera on June 21, and afterwards (in the new theater season) in September, because this triptych ballet will be on the billboard of the National Opera House of Ukraine.”