SHAKESPEAREAN PASSIONS SURROUND ROMEO AND JULIET

March 30 is a sad date, marking the death anniversary of the celebrated Ukrainian choreographer Anatoly Shekera. He spent his last six years as the National Opera’s chief ballet master, offering and spectacular performances with gripping plots, strict directing concept, large corps de ballet scenes, and an opportunity to best feature the soloists remained his hobbyhorse. He staged a total of 30 ballets, of which Romeo and Juliet, The Stone Guest, Spartacus, Swan Lake, A Legend about Love, Nutcracker Suite, Lileya, Prometheus, Olga, and Symphonie Fantastique are still considered the best. The sad jubilee will be marked by staging Romeo and Juliet in conformity with the ballet company’s unanimous decision. This ballet won the UNESCO gold medal as one of the performances to Prokofiev’s music and in commemoration of the centennial of the composer’s birth. In November, the ballet will mark its thirtieth anniversary, the oldest on the repertory in the company’s history and alwaus with success.

“My husband would conceive the idea long before actually starting on a production,” recalls the choreographer’s widow Eleonora Stebliak, professor with the Ukrainian Dance Academy. “The preparatory period would last a year or two. He would thoroughly study the score until it became his idee fixe. His per phrase was, ‘I’m pregnant with the ballet, so I must be delivered of it first.’ Rehearsals would begin only after he had fully perceived the concept and precisely the message he wanted to convey to the audience.”

“AN ORDINARY BALLET ON A TIMEWORN SUBJECT”

Shekera’s taking up Shakespeare’s story in 1971 took many a colleague by surprise. Delegations were even sent to the Ministry of Culture, saying the company was at a standstill, that instead of modern ballets it was going to stage an ordinary ballet on a timeworn theme. The first Kyiv’s Opera House dates from 1940, starring Ulanova and Sergeyev and Lavrovsky’s interpretation had since been considered canonical. Yet after Anatoly Shekera studied Prokofiev’s archives he found out that the composer did not like it. The ballet master deviated from the score, although the latter was major step forward at the time. Prokofiev did not even attend the premiere, because he was strongly against the intermediate numbers that made the performance longer. Oleg Riabov, the conductor, had to make the orchestration himself because the composer had taken away the score. Anatoly Shekera wanted only good music for his ballets, so he started looking for the author’s score and Gennady Rozhdestvensky proved very helpful. Visiting abroad, he managed to buy Prokofiev’s score. Working on the ballet, Shekera followed the composer’s instructions and the only author’s score of Romeo and Juliet is stored in our theater. Anatoly Shekera was not just a marvelous choreographer, he was keenly aware of the music and could read it as well as the conductor did. The stage setting was designed by Fedir Nirod, the company’s chief artist. Before the ballet Shekera had suffered a failure with his Sleeping Beauty and he was very nervous, not sure where to start with Romeo and Juliet. He supported Nirod’s concept, believing that a performance is successful only when the choreographer cooperates closely with the conductor and production designer.

TWO YEARS OF SILENCE

Things modern were in vogue in the Soviet Union at the time. All companies staged performances somewhat like Yuri Grigorovich’s Stone Flower. Anatoly Shekera, nevertheless, believed that every ballet must be staged using its own means, rather than copying someone else’s renditions, however interesting. Remarkably, the art council did not approve the stage setting and the ballet had to be luck came their way, says Mrs. Stebliak. Nirod’s design won a special prize at a stage designers’ contest in Czechoslovakia and the company’s art council approved it post factum. Anatoly Shekera gave the male lead to Viktor Ryby which was another surprise to his colleagues, because he was a character dancer, different from Romeo’s traditionally lyrical image. But the choreographer insisted that he needed a vigorous, sincere, and explosive dancer. Time has shown that his choice was perfectly correct. Viktor Ryby’s Romeo turned out one his best performances. The part was later danced by many others, but it was Ryby’s interpretation that made the hero look contemporary. Juliet was danced by Liudmyla Smorhachova, a very young ballerina at the time, and it allowed her to claim soloist status. The rehearsals passed very quickly and the ballet was ready two months later. The premiere left the critics in shock; they did not know how to categorize the rendition, for two years they remained practically silent, until Romeo and Juliet was played on tour in Moscow. It became a sensation, considered the best in the Soviet Union, and then it won the UNESCO gold medal.

“Romeo and Juliet is a significant event not only in our ballet, but also in European culture,” says Yuri Stanyshevsky, president of the Ukrainian Dance Academy. “There are plenty of versions of it all over the world. At present, those by John Cranco, Kenneth MacMillan, Yuri Grigorovich, and Anatoly Shekera are considered the best. Kyiv’s rendition appears the most modern one in terms of images, plasticity, and emotional coloration.”

SCHOOL OF BAPTISM BY THE STAGE

For a long time Juliet was danced by Tetiana Tayakina and Iryna Zadayanna. Now it is in Natalia Lazebnykova’s repertoire She first danced the part at seventeen; she has precise technique and heroine’s emotional overtones. Olena Fylypieva is also very good; she is described as a unique ballerina, having a versatile repertoire. Ihor Bulychov makes an excellent Tybalt. Valery Kovtun and Mykola Riabchenko created an explosive Romeo. Denys Matviyenko’s performance, sparkling with temperament, is reminiscent of Viktor Ryby’s first Romeo. Last summer, the ballet received fresh impetus owing to Fylypieva’s and Matviyenko’s skill. Regrettably, Matviyenko will not be seen in Kyiv, he has signed a contract with the Mariyinsky Theater. In fact, this rendition has raised several generations of dancers who polished their mastery, perceiving Prokofiev’s music and revealing Shakespearean images in a new choreography. Anatoly Shekera could see in them not only talent, but also hidden reserves. Paying no attention to trifles, he led them to stardom. He never repeated himself in his stage director’s solutions, he believed that he grew from every performance the way a boy grows out of short pants. He developed his own style, his trend in choreography, his own language of imagery. The scope of his individuality was such that every new production became a true discovery. Many are still the Ukrainian National Opera’s calling card.