Noble tradition revived by Kyiv people of the arts
It seems that a very interesting form of intellectual leisure is being revived in Kyiv that had been forgotten since almost eighty years ago. The weekend before last all visitors of the DAKH (Roof) Theater Studio at the Contemporary Arts Center took part in what the organizers called the Ukrainian Decameron. But here we need to look at the prehistory.
DAKH has been occupying its place in the Kyiv artistic map for quite a long time. However, it became famous only in the last few years, when it created a musical and ritual performance, In Search of Lost Time together with the Bozhychy Folk Ensemble. Its success was so overwhelming that soon the studio came up with another “ethnic” work, the Stone Circle folk opera. Late in 2003 the vechornytsi (traditional winter village parties for young people with singing and dancing) form, so successfully mastered by the Bozhychy, gave life to a new project, the Creative Salon. It became a specific theatrical genre involving both the artists and public, where acting by the script is combined with free improvisation.
It is yet too early to speak about results, but the DAKH’s initiative is very timely. Precisely a salon or a club is an effective way of communication for intellectuals, which always unites them in an independently active entity able to produce new ideas and works. In other words, if we look at the intellectual community as a kind of industry, a club or salon is leisure that is no less, and sometimes even more, important than one’s so-called full-time job. Recall all these masterpieces of prose, poetry, writing plays, and painting demonstrated in late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Ukraine at private readings, literary Thursdays or Fridays, etc.
DAKH Director Vlad Troyitsky views the vechornytsi as a “theater action, that is, an interactive game space,” aimed “not only at leisure and communication but also aesthetic and sociocultural self-expression” and even “a creative cradle of new projects.” It also envisions the popularization of Ukrainian music (romances, authentic music, rock, and the classics) as well as reviving interest in Ukrainian classical plays and encouraging the creation of new texts for the theater (in fact, there already are some around; it is precisely the theater that fails to show much interest in them).
In any case, DAKH has everything needed to create a perfect club or salon in the old meaning of the word. First, it is a devoted and interested audience ranging from theater lovers to theater critics, from rock stars to ambassadors, and from directors to artists. In addition, many bring their children with them to the performances, and this most fastidious part of the audience feels quite good there. Second, they have a permanent circle of performers: musicians (including, incidentally, Oleh Skrypka, leader of the renowned VV rock group), singers, photographers, artists, and, certainly, actors. Finally, the atmosphere is surprisingly hospitable, relaxed, and simultaneously comfortable. Here everybody feels at home.
Further evidence of this was the last vechornytsi under an inviting title, Ukrainian Decameron. There was authentic singing by the Kralytsi group (Oleksandr Harbuzov, Nina Harenetska, Iryna Kovalenko, Olena Tsybulska, Mariya Dudar, and Valery Hladunets), performance by a rather colorful ensemble featuring a violin (Serhiy Okhrimchuk), piano (Andriy Bondarenko), accordion (Yehor Fomin), cello (Anna Kuzina), wheel lyre — a Ukrainian answer to the hurdy-gurdy, kobza, and bandura (all played by Taras Kompanichenko), and even a Polovtsian horn (Taras Kompanichenko and Ivan Kushnir). The script also included drama excerpts and dramatizations based on the works from various periods and styles: Don’t Go to Vechornytsi, Hryts by Mykhailo Starytsky, Martyn Borulia by Ivan Karpenko-Kary, To the Moon by Orest Avdykovych, and The Poets fantasy by Olha Kobylianska. A film was also shown, The Bielovs documentary by Kosakivsky. Photos by Tetiana Vasylenko were also exhibited; Iryna Zapolska entertained parents and children with games in the Children’s Room. The party was completed with adrenaline-raising music session by Taras Kompanichenko, Serhiy Okhrimchuk, and Salon habituО Oleh Skrypka.
Hence, the second party in a row, this time erotic, was celebrated on a grand scale and with enthusiasm. There will be more. Though there are no doubts that they will prove successful, something should change in the minds of the Salon’s addressees. Otherwise, the DAKH’s enthusiasm alone won’t be enough. One has to go to the vechornytsi to embrace even a part of this miracle.
