Climbing the ladder of success for eight years

Let us recall that this young and then-unknown team, led by ta­lent­ed and charismatic choreo­grapher Radu Poklitaru, clearly showed on October 25, 2006 that they were establishing the Theater of Con­tem­porary Choreography Kyiv Mo­dern Ballet in the Ukrainian capital, and the artists had very ambitious plans. Despite the fact that the dancers lacked their own scene at the time, one look at their hard work at rehearsals was enough to make it clear that their hardships would only strengthen them. Eight years ago, the Franko National Academic Dra­ma Theater saw them presenting play Carmen.TV. This debut impressed the audience and was acclaimed by the critics (the team was awarded the Kyiv Pectoral in two categories, the “Best Performance of the Year” and the “Best Choreographer’s Work,” the latter award going to Poklitaru).

Thanks to the innovative choreo­graphy, stage life of the play’s cha­rac­ters was filled with shrill modern intonations, while retaining the charm of 19th-century Spain; meanwhile, the brilliant music of opera Carmen made it possible for the choreographer to create an entirely new play without changing the spirit of Georges Bizet’s masterpiece.

The Kyiv Modern Ballet is Poklitaru’s own theater (it was conceived as one, and the repertoire and artistic priorities are determined by shows of one choreographer with his own inimitable style). Incidentally, the initiator of the theater’s establishment was patron of art Volo­dy­myr Filippov, who was its general sponsor for many years. The Kyiv Modern Ballet has already occupied its own niche. This is the only Uk­rainian theater of modern choreography. The team holds monthly performances on stage of the Kyiv Municipal Theater of Opera and Ballet for Children and Youth. Its repertoire includes 15 performances, such as The Nutcracker, Two for the Seesaw, Quartet-a-tete, Bolero, Rain, Women in D Minor, Swan Lake et al.

The team won numerous international awards and has successfully toured France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Romania, China, Thailand, Belarus, Moldova, South Korea, Estonia, Russia, and many cities of Ukraine.

In November and December, the Kyiv Modern Ballet Theater will go on a big tour of Ukraine with The Nutcracker. Using music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, while libretto, choreo­graphy, and staging have been all done by Poklitaru, it is mixing fairy tale with tragedy, where the huge mice that had threatened the lovers’ happiness prove to be their best friends at the end, unlike the humans who lead the female protagonist to a horrific death... The tour will begin in Cherkasy on November 27, then continue to Kryvy Rih, Dnipro­petrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Mykolaiv, to end in Odesa on December 10.