Arabesques by the Students of Vadym Pysariev
On May 18 pupils of the famous dancer brilliantly performed Sleeping Beauty by PСtr Tchaikovsky at the National Opera of Ukraine. One of the latter works of the Donetsk Solovyanenko Opera and Ballet Theater was a part of the Days of the Donetsk Region in Kyiv.
The great choreographic fairy-tale by Marius Petipa was carefully and delicately reproduced on the Donetsk stage by director Yevheniya Khasianova, conductor Viktor Lemko, and artist Serhiy Spieviakin. Pysarev’s school of dance gladdened ballet lovers with a harmonious ensemble and an array of splendid actors’ performance by its alumni. Sleeping Beauty is often staged, but there are few truly successful productions. The Donetsk interpretation is executed according to best traditions of the Slavic school of choreography. It answers every classical canon and preserves the principal plot lines. Though the ballet was slightly shortened, this did not spoil it but only added dynamism to the show. Pysariev took risks in entrusting the main parts not to Donetsk ballet stars but those who will become soloists in his troupe in the immediate future, and he proved right. One can speak about a successful debut on the Kyiv stage of the winners of international contests Yuliya Polhorodnyk (Princess Aurora), Yevhen Lahunov (Prince Desire), and also Oleksandr Vykhrest (Blue Bird), Krystyna Balaban (Princess Florina), Anastasiya Diomina (Gold Fairy), Kateryna Tokareva (Silver Fairy), and Olena Kobevko (Sapphire Fairy). Olena Volkova created an interesting character with the evil Fairy Carabosse. In Petipa’s production this role was usually played by male dancers who performed an unpleasant old lady (the same move is used in the National Opera’s version), but in the times of the famous Natalia Dudinskaya a women’s version en pointe was created which is used, for instance, at the Bolshoi Theater. Recently the National Opera’s prima donna Tetiana Borovyk used the same interpretation. Both variants have the right to exist. Corps-de-ballet also deserves special mention. Their dance is perfectly synchronized, being evidence of the ensemble’s coordination. Pysariev’s pupils, along with their adult colleagues, coped with their task marvelously. Their performing of the famous Waltz of the Flowers was moving.
Sleeping Beauty is among the most complicated ballets of the classical repertoire. Only highly professional troupes can cope with it, and the Donetsk actors passed this test, though it was far from easy. While at the Donetsk Theater the stage is straight, in Kyiv it is inclined, and it was hard for the actors, who were not used to dancing on it. After the show Vadym Pysariev confessed that he was seriously worried for his pupils, looking at them from behind the curtain. In his rigorous view, in spite of some lapses, the young dancers handled their job, and he had no reservations about their performance.
For over a decade Vadym Yakovych is not only the theater’s premier dancer but also head of its troupe, which became known the world over due to Pysariev’s acting skills and tremendous gift of a manager and pedagogue. He founded his own choreography school, many of whose alumni form the basis of the theater’s troupe. In Pysariev’s words, in a year, when his school’s graduates join the Donetsk team, there will be ten or twelve dancers able to adorn with their talents any ballet troupe not only in Ukraine but anywhere.
One of Vadym Yakovych’s main merits is that he not only created a wonderful ensemble in a short time, but also it is to a great extent because of it Donetsk became a theater venue. For the last eleven years the most outstanding and original dancers from many countries come to Donetsk every year to take part in the Stars of the World Ballet festival he organized.
Last Monday the choir and orchestra of the Solovyanenko Theater rendered Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina and popular opera arias at the House of Organ Music (chief choirmaster Liudmyla Steltsova, conductors Viktor Lemko and Ihor Shavruk). They passed the baton to the Philharmonic musicians who performed together with young pianist Dina Pysarenko, winner of the recent Horowitz contest. Actors of the Donetsk Artem Theater also demonstrated their skills to the Kyivans, showing their Solo for a Striker by Zahradnyk and Cher Ami by Maupassant.
On May 28-30 Donetsk is holding the Golden Voices of Ukraine Opera Festival. It will open with Carmen, featuring soloists of the National Opera Oleksandr Vostriakov and Anzhelina Shvachka. Then the Kharkiv Opera’s recent premiere, Turandot, will be performed. The festival will end with a gala concert of both the guests and hosts of this feast of classic music.
